120 CANADIAN TURF RECOLLECTIONS 



ELEVEN-HEAT RUNNING RACE. 



Do not favor me with a smile of incredulity, for I 

 experienced that once before when, with a party of 

 friends seated around a table in the Windsor Hotel, 

 Montreal, I made the statement that I had once witnessed 

 an eleven-heat running race in Canada. 



Three men's hands went immediately to their trouser 

 pockets to hand me out the historic penny for proposing 

 to tell such a whopper. I refused the coin, but wagered 

 them a cold bottle with shell oysters, as an appetizer, if 

 I could not prove the truthfulness of my declaration. 

 Each one accepted the bet, and it cost them $25 to settle. 

 For the benefit of other doubting Thomases, I will give 

 the particulars here. It was up at Elmira village, in 

 Waterloo county, in the year of grace 1880, that I saw 

 the race in question. It was half-mile heats, three in five, 

 for a purse of $100, and the complete summary follows : 



Paladin 531613333*1 



Mischief 263534411*3 



John Logan 62615214232 



King Harper 41534122644 



Priscilla 3 2 6 5 dr. 



Ella Walker 7 4 2 6 dr. 



Oscar 8 4 4 dr. 



Lazy Harry 1 5 2 dr. 



Time not reported. 



I am inclined to think that the above is a record. I 

 have witnessed many long-drawn out contests, but not 

 one of them equalled this, and the little German village 

 of Elmira can lay claim to having had the longest drawn- 

 out running race in the history of the turf decided on 

 their track. 



