MAJOR DELMAR 35 



Before we left Ft. Erie an agent sold us an electric shield 

 and it worked well for a few weeks. At Readville he started 

 in a race against nine of the fastest three-year-olds of that 

 time. Emma Winter won the first heat in 2:15 and the 

 owner of Major Delmar was willing for her to take the race 

 but she was not good enough and our colt won the next 

 two heats and race in 2:15, pulled up and 2:1614- I have 

 always thought he was capable that day of a mile in 2:10. 

 We remained at Readville four weeks waiting for the New 

 England Breeders' meeting and during that time the Major 

 succeeded in beating the electric shield, just as he had all 

 other appliances but at the meeting he had a walkover in 

 his stake, value $2,370 but any ordinary colt could have 

 beaten him. 



"I advised against shipping to Kentucky for the Futurity 

 but Mr. Spier thought the colt might surprise us and so 

 we went but the surprise failed to materialize. So, after 

 that race he said to me: 'Charley, I think your idea is 

 correct. Ship home and have the farm vet. go to work.' 

 And that is what we did. Through the following winter the 

 Major had regular exercise and as the drain on his system 

 was stopped he grew strong and muscular and had plenty 

 of energy. But we were not to go on with him for just as 

 we had begun the preparatory training Mr. Spier died and 

 so we did not try to get anything ready for the races though 

 I did step the Major a mile in 2:10 during the summer and 

 he did it comfortably. 



"There was one marked peculiarity about his gait and 

 that was excessive hock action. He required a sulky so 

 high that it made one feel like he was riding on a load of 

 hay. I firmlv believe that with the present day long shaft, 

 low sulkv he would have trotted to a much lower record 

 than 1:593/4." 



Charley Baldwin was a highly capable and successful 

 trainer and while he did not have the honor of driving Major 

 Delmar a mile in two-minutes or better he did show him the 

 way to go and use his natural speed. 



The photograph of Major Delmar, with Alta McDonald 

 driving, used for the illustration leading this chapter, shows 



