DAN PATCH 121 



proved himself to be a horse of wonderful constitution and 

 with a disposition the very best. He never worried or fretted 

 — everything was all right with him. 



"Mr. Savage was very anxious to beat the world's record 

 at home, St. Paul. I tried to discourage him as the track 

 at Hamline had never, up to that time, been a record break- 

 ing track. But he insisted we would tiy, so we made all 

 preparations in his bookings and other details to bring him 

 to Hamline to try for his life. The record was 1:5514? 

 held by him and made the previous year, 1905. The Board 

 of the Trotting Register had barred records made with the 

 runner in front but Mr. Savage thought the public would 

 be pleased with a phenomenal mile following pace. When 

 the day for the trial came it was a perfect one. The track 

 had a three foot grade from the half-mile pole to the stretch 

 so we planned to go the first eighth in fifteen seconds and the 

 next three in fourteen seconds each, which would bring us 

 to the half-mile pole in 57 seconds; we figured the three- 

 foot grade would stop Dan one second if we could make it 

 and we would go the last three-eighths in 14 seconds each. 

 He went every part of the mile exactly as we had figured it 

 and finished well in 1 :55 the fastest mile to harness in his- 

 tory. Had it been on a track like Columbus or Lexington 

 it would have been much better. My recollection is that the 

 paid admissions that day to the Minnesota State Fair were 

 102,000. The big crowd surely w^ent wild for there never 

 had been a world record made over any track before in that 

 part of the country. 



"We gave an exhibition at Des Moines one fall at the 

 Iowa State Fair and as we went around the track the crowd 

 was five or six deep. Near the quarter pole the man driving 

 the runner in front asked me if I saw the woman with the 

 green umbrella and I shouted 'y^^.' The next trip around 

 the weight of the crowd had broken down the fence and the 

 woman and green umbrella were out on the track. The 

 runner missed her but I brought the green umbrella to the 

 wire in the spokes of the sulky wheel. 



"We put on a mile at the half-mile track at Oklahoma 

 City and the fair association offered extra money if we 



