STAR POINTER IO5 



bus. At Fort Erie he was started to beat 2:021/) and paced 

 the mile in 2:01%^. At Mystic Park he started against, 

 and defeated Joe Patchen, in the first two-minute class ever 

 put on a program, but over that slow track the time was far 

 away from two-minutes. Pointer winning in 2:03'%^, 2:04^. 

 That same year he lost a race to Joe Patchen at Milwaukee. 

 He set a number of track records, among which were the 

 following: Terre Haute, 2:001/2; Ottumwa, la., 2:011/4; 

 St. Joseph, Mo., 2:02; Omaha, Neb., 2:0214. He started 

 in several match races against Joe Patchen, the pair making 

 an extended tour of the west, and won most of them. Their 

 most sensational race took place at the Illinois State Fair 

 and came very near to being the most disappointing contest 

 ever staged by fast pacers. In the first heat Star Pointer 

 made an all-day break and Joe Patchen won in 2:14. In 

 the second heat Joe Patchen "obliged" and his break slowed 

 the mile to 2:06 — it was made at the head of the home 

 stretch to which point the pair had gone at a two-minute clip. 

 The immense crowd groaned and jeered and hissed. But 

 the third heat made history and slaughtered records. Both 

 horses paced straight and true the entire mile. It was an 

 evenly rated one, the pair passing the three-quarter pole in 

 1 :30 and almost head and head, with Star Pointer at a 

 slight advantage which he maintained to the wire and the 

 mile was done in 2:001/^, Joe Patchen but a quarter of a 

 second away. This mile set a bundle of records. It was 

 the fastest heat ever paced, by a horse of any sex; it was 

 the fastest third heat ever paced and it presaged the two- 

 minute race heat. And yet it stood as the world's race rec- 

 ord for pacers for nearly a dozen years. 



Star Pointer's crowning achievement of the year, was, of 

 course, his mile in 1:591 4, at Readville. A contemporary 

 account of the performance is somewhat unique and is as 

 follows : 



"The big 1200 pound horse seemed stiff and sore, as he 

 jogged down the track. The first score, accompanied by a 

 running mate, was not satisfactory and starter Walker called 

 them back. The next trial was worse for just at the wire 

 Pointer went into a break while not stepping a 2:20 gait. 



