1878 MEETING. 45 



McNair in 2 :i8, 2 1193/2, 2 'ao l / 2 . This race was paced in 

 the rain, being sandwiched with the 2 125 class. The fair 

 in 1877 was held in October, and as the premiums for rac- 

 ing were more than doubled, the entry list presented the 

 names of the highest class lot of horses that had ever 

 taken the word at Cleveland in the fall. Aside from a 

 2 45 class which proved nothing more than a workout 

 for Cottage Girl, one heat being trotted in 3 114, the time 

 made was fast and all of the events closely contested. 

 Badger Girl set the ball rolling by winning a seven-heat 

 race, defeating Deception, Lew Scott and Little Gypsy ; 

 while Sweetser gave the Clevelanders the first taste of a 

 fast pacing race by disposing of Sleepy George, Lucy, 

 Bay Sallie and Straightedge in 2:16, 2:16, 2:16%, the 

 fastest time made by him in a race, but which he reduced 

 to 2:15 in a trip against time at San Francisco, Cal., on 

 Christmas Day, in 1878. The other winners during the 

 week were Calmar, Shepherd Boy, Nancy Hackett and 

 Rams. Rams defeated Hopeful to harness and Great 

 Eastern to saddle. Great Eastern won two heats in 

 2 :i9^4, 2 \\y]/2, the half-mile mark in the second mile be- 

 ing passed in 1 :oyjA. On the third trip Rams went on 

 and won in 2:21^4, 2:21, 2:22. 



The hard times which began in 1876 soon made itself 

 felt in the amount of premiums offered at race meetings. 

 For example, at Cleveland in 1875 the trotters were 

 awarded $33,500. In 1876 the amount dropped to 

 $25,000, and in 1877 to $17,500, with an additional $1,000 

 for a pacing race. At its Grand Circuit meeting in 1878, 

 the Cleveland Club paid the trotters $13,500 and the 

 pacers $1,000, while the public clamored for a fifty-cent 

 gate. Aside from Hopeful's victory in the free-for-all, 

 and the three miles that Rams trotted against time, there 



