TWO-MINUTE HORSE TRADE 217 



harrow and thought they had caused the commotion; just 

 then he heard a horse coming at them from behind, one 

 that was stepping at a fast clip. The horse behind and Lee 

 Axworthy reached the wire together — the other was the fast 

 mare Ruby K. with M. McDevitt driving. Mike inquired 

 the name of the little fellow^ and when he was told he was 

 a two-year-old that had recently been bought he expressed 

 his doubt with the familiar expression, "Go on," and went 

 his way. Two weeks later Harvey Shorts reported that he 

 had the same experience except that he had been carried to 

 the quarter pole from the wire. These two little incidents 

 were believed to be proof that Walter Cox had been shown 

 something of the same kind or he would not have kept on 

 training the colt. 



That fall the colt was shipped with the other horse to 

 Thomasville and while he was worked with steadily, the last 

 of March had arrived before Mr. Andrews was able to get 

 him to go a full mile on the trot. He simply would not 

 learn. Side poles, side straps and everything that appeared 

 to be worth while found a place in his rigging at some time 

 during the winter and early spring. Billy Andrews had a 

 fertile brain and he would try anything that appeared to 

 have a reason for its use. Along in late March or perhaps 

 it was in April the colt trotted a mile in about 2:30 and 

 never lifted his nose. When his trainer brought him in he 

 exultantly shouted: "Fve got him". From that time on he 

 made but one break in a race, which was at Kalamazoo when 

 he was bumped into in a stake for three-year-olds. He made 

 two or three breaks in scoring that day but that was in 

 efforts to get away from a bad actor. 



From all of which it appears that with Lee Axworthy it 

 was not so much a matter of rigging to make him trot as it 

 was a matter of inclination. It may be that Mr. Andrews 

 finally got him "hung up" so that he was quite comfortable 

 and he is entitled to great credit for his perseverance and 

 his display of great ability for without them Lee Axworthy 

 would have been sold at work horse price. But there may be 

 something in the belief that the colt suddenly discovered 

 that he had a career before him and that having had his play 



