138 THE TWO-MINUTE PACERS 



not asked to go two or three exhibitions a week, I believe 

 his record would have been materially reduced. 



"Charles Dean brought out this great little horse and 

 I am depending on him to give him his just dues." 



It is left to Mr. Hersey to decide whether Mr. Dean has 

 fully justified his expectations and it is almost certain that 

 he will say the work was well done, despite the modesty of 

 the man from Palatine who never was easily induced to 

 toot his own horn and even then would not do it very loudly. 

 The evidence of two men who loved him is that Minor Heir 

 was one of the world's greatest pacers and that evidence is 

 also by the records. This pacer is, so far, the only one that 

 has started the season as a green horse and ended it with a 

 time record of 1:59^ and a race record of 2:00^. 



There are others who testify to the impressive manner 

 and lovable disposition of this champion. One of them 

 is the noted turf writer "Volunteer," who wrote of him some 

 three years ago, when Minor Heir and The Eel, the two great 

 rivals of the 1907 season had become but memories, and 

 feelingly said: 



"If I had to select one among them all" (the great pacers 

 of that period) "to remember forever it would be him" 

 (Minor Heir). "I do not propose to string together all my 

 reasons for holding this opinion. But I will mention one or 

 two. For instance, he is the only pacer in history that began 

 the season without a record of any sort and ended it in the 

 two-minute list. He was the first horse to do a mile in two- 

 minutes flat, in actual contest and the first to beat two-minutes 

 in one. He was an exquisite individual and one of the 

 most lovable horses I ever came in contact with. * * * 

 Few people have ever known or realized how superlatively 

 great a horse was this son of Heir-at-Law and Kitty Clover. 

 * * * He was a horse that you could not become fa- 

 miliar with and not love for he was as sweet-tempered as a 

 mare, without trick or fault and apparently unaware of his 

 greatness." 



