170 THE TWO-MINUTE PACERS 



detract from the prowess of the winner. In the first place 

 he picked up the biggest field in the history of the event, 

 fourteen scoring for the word and among the lot were a half 

 dozen that were rated as better than 2:05 pacers in a race. 

 Drawing a poor position in the first heat, Single G was 

 nursed carefully until the time came and then he drew away 

 impressively, his own mile in 2:02, which is faster than the 

 record of this event, although the heat was in 2:031/?. Next 

 time he rolled, went bad-gaited in spots, was hard driven at 

 the end and many thought he was through, but in the third 

 heat he won off by himself." 



And that was seven years ago. Certainly some sort of 

 elixir of life and youth must be filtered into the lungs of 

 this Indiana wonder from the air he breathes, for the feats 

 he accomplished that day at Detroit have paled into the 

 almost ordinary in the light of his most recent achievements. 

 It is no doubt true that on that day he was very nearly as 

 good as he has been on any day since, though perhaps not 

 quite so fast. But the unbelievable thing about him is that 

 for seven years in a row he could maintain that very form. 

 The year Napoleon Direct defeated him so often, he was the 

 only pacer in training that could do it, and that year "Pop" 

 Geers' pacer was the pacer of the season yet he was com- 

 pelled to go many, many miles very close to the two-minute 

 mark to stall off the Indiana speed marvel. And yet the 

 very next year Single G came back to the Grand Circuit 

 with all the courage, speed and stamina — and more — that he 

 had always had. How many other horses would have done 

 it? 



In 1921 a Toledo turf writer, heralding the appearance 

 of the old warrior at the local Grand Circuit meeting said 

 of him: "At eleven years of age he is meeting and beating 

 his third successive string of free-for-all pacers, having dis- 

 posed of two generations." 



As already stated Mr. W. B. Barefoot bred Single G and 

 the mating was Anderson Wilkes, then 22 years old and 

 Little Gyp, then 26 years old, by Shoo Fly Gyp. Single G 

 has had many drivers but one owner only. 



