34 THE TWO-MINUTE TROTTERS 



for this volume. It tells why the youngster was a compara- 

 tive failure as a colt trotter and is as follows: 



"I have been out of the game so long that I am not sure 

 I can write anything that will be of interest for many of the 

 things that would be of value have passed from my memory. 



"Major Delmar was a speedy natural trotter from the 

 start and had he been made a gelding when a yearling, as I 

 so strongly advised, he would have been a sensational colt. 

 In very early life he acquired the habit that saps the vitality 

 of so many colts and all the then known methods and ap- 

 pliances failed to cure it so in his two and three-year-old 

 form he labored under that severe handicap. 



"As a colt he was a little mixed-gaited and wore about an 

 8 ounce shoe and 3 ounce toe-weight. Behind he wore 5 

 ounce shoes. In shoeing him we had to guard against knee 

 hitting which was the only trouble we experienced with 

 him as to gait. 



"When, in the spring of his two-year-old form he was 

 in training at Kirkwood, Del., and that was really his first 

 training, trouble developed in his front ankles which neces- 

 sitated pin firing and caused a complete let-up for two 

 months. About June first we resumed jogging him and 

 about the middle of the month Mr. Spier came to see all his 

 horses there, about twenty, worked. He saw all of them 

 worked except Major Delmar and then asked me why I 

 did not work the colt. I tried to put him off until his next 

 visit explaining the danger of stepping him fast so soon after 

 the firing. But he replied: '0, pshaw! I'd rather see the 

 Major step than all the others put together and I'll assume 

 all the damage it does and not blame you if he breaks a leg.' 

 I saw no way out of it so we hitched the colt (as we called 

 him) to a Miller bike cart and showed his owner a quarter 

 in 32*>4 seconds. I have written at length about this inci- 

 dent to show that Major Delmar's speed was inherited, not 

 made. That year he went as I recall three fairly "good races, 

 had plenty of speed but from his habit lacked strength and 

 energy. 



"At three he started in the Horse Review Purse at Fort 

 Erie and was second to Mobel in 2:2014, 2:191/4, 2:16%. 



