AND OTHER SKETCHES 59 



the lamented Sadie Mac. It was the highest price rea- 

 lized at the great New York sale, and it was the highest 

 price paid for a mare in America during 1904. Miss 

 Wilks' judgment was brilliantly justified early in the 

 summer of the following year when Mr. Smathers, of 

 New York — the former owner of the mare — sent an 

 agent who offered her $30,000 for the return of his 

 favorite trotter. The offer was refused, and again many 

 of the shrewdest horsemen on the continent thought the 

 Canadian owner had made a serious mistake in declining 

 such a princely bid. Again results proved her judgment 

 correct and the critics in error. Sadie Mac, until that 

 fatal day at Hartford when she dropped dead in her race, 

 was the bright meteoric equine star that outshone all 

 rivals on the Grand Circuit. It was with Sadie Mac a 

 mere question of health to annex all the great stakes in 

 which she was entered. The best trotters in the land had 

 joined issue with her, yet each and all were disposed of 

 with such consummate ease that every trainer and driver 

 on the Grand Circuit recognized and admitted that she 

 was in a class by herself, but now an earthen mound 

 within the enclosure of the Hartford track marks the 

 last resting place of Cruickston's famous mare. 



Cruickston Park is one of the great show places of 

 Ontario. Situated in the heart of one of the richest 

 agricultural districts in the province, its fertile fields, 

 forest-crowned hills, lovely valleys and superb avenues 

 bring to the mind's eye recollections of some of Eng- 

 land's beautiful country seats. 



The question will naturally arise in the minds of 

 many people: Does Miss Wilks take much personal in- 

 terest in her horses ? My reply is that she is apparently 

 acquainted with every one of the seventy-five to one 

 hundred, young and old, that own her as mistress. She 

 is a rarely good judge of conformation, has a keen, quick 

 eye to detect faulty action, and is a clever, fearless 

 driver ; whether holding the reins over her favorite mare. 

 Lady Cresceus, or sitting behind her world's champion 

 team, Rhea W. and Easter Bell, driving at a four-minute 



