EVERY MAN HIS OWN TRAINER. 1 53 



After dinner Mr. Marvin hitched up a team and drove 

 me down to the stables of the thoroughbreds, and after look- 

 ing" them over we took a look at the new Stanford University, 

 which is situated at Palo Alto. From there we drove over 

 to the residence of Senator Stanford, which is a lovely place, 

 very large grounds, beautiful shrubbery, and everything that 

 delights the eye and pleases the mind. There is no use for 

 me to attempt to describe the many things I saw. The only 

 way to appreciate Palo Alto is to go and see it. 



The next day I was invited down to San Mateo to visit 

 William Corbet's place, the home of Guy Wilkes, 2:15^, and 

 his son, Sable Wilkes, the fastest three-year-old, 2:18. This is 

 one of the handsomest places I ever saw in my life. It is a 

 farm of about 500 acres, bounded on one side by the Pacific 

 coast. It lies very level and is laid out like a landscape gar- 

 den, well arranged pastures, paddocks, stables, etc., in fact, 

 everything was in perfect order and kept so by its efificient 

 superintendent, the great reinsman, John A. Goldsmith. John 

 went to California when a boy and has grown up with the 

 country. He is to-day one of the brightest stars of California's 

 many great horsemen, and best of all is self-sustaining. They 

 have a three-quarLer mile track, where their colts are trained. 

 Guy Wilkes, of course, is the premier stallion and I think he 

 is as good a son as George Wilkes sired, if not the best. He 

 is"',a finely formed bay horse with plenty "of substance and 

 plenty of speed, as he has demonstrated, and as game as a 

 horse could be, and is the sire of trotters as well. Sable 

 Wilkes, his son, is a very fine horse and the greatest three- 

 year-old yet produced, trotting to a record of 2:18. I saw a 

 handsome three-year-old filly by Guy Wilkes step a quarter in 

 thirty-four seconds with ease, and several others that could 

 show from 2:30 to a 2:20 gait, ranging in age from two to four. 

 I tried to buy one, but my purse was not long enough. I was 

 invited in by Mr. Corbett to a bounteous dinner. He is a 

 very fine, courteous gentleman. He enjoys showing visitors 

 his stock, which he is very proud of, and well he may be. I 



