228 CANADIAN TURF RECOLLECTIONS 



either during the first round of the half-mile track, but 

 going up the back stretch on the second half-mile of the 

 journey the local horse moved away from his opponent, 

 and though the latter was apparently driven to the limit 

 of his speed he was unable to close the gap and was 

 beaten to the wire by a liberal length. There was a good 

 deal of cheering over the result. The owner of the win- 

 ning horse was a popular citizen and his friends, evi- 

 dently under the belief that the money they had wagered 

 on the result was already in their pockets, surrounded 

 the pool-seller and cheerfully bet the odds of $20 to $6 

 that their favorite would win the race. 



When the horses scored for the second heat a close- 

 observing Toronto horseman who had wagered $100 on 

 the Montreal horse, noticed that the rigging on the ped- 

 dler's nag had been changed, and suspecting from this 

 circumstance that there might be a nigger behind the 

 woodpile, he decided to hedge his money, and this he suc- 

 ceeded in doing, and to keep an interest in the game he 

 bet $30 against a century on the Yankee horse. When the 

 word was given in the second heat both horses started 

 head and head. They trotted like a team the first half, 

 and until they rounded into the home stretch at the finish 

 of the mile, the proverbial blanket would have covered the 

 pair. Now, however, the black horse, responding to the 

 call of his driver, forged ahead, and though the finish was 

 an exciting one, the stranger had the best of it by half a 

 length. The result in the second heat cooled the ardor of 

 local bettors and only a limited amount of business was 

 afterwards done. 



In the third and deciding heat both horses were again 

 sent away on even terms, but, evidently determined to 

 take no chances, the black horse was rushed to the front, 

 and at the end of the first quarter was a length to the 

 good. Passing the judge 's stand the first half-mile he had 

 a lead of two lengths, and though his driver slackened his 

 efforts when finishing out the journey he came home an 

 easy winner by about the same margin in the fastest mile 

 of the race. 



