84 MEMOIR. 



feet. Under the wire she shot with a do-or-die rush, the 

 watches stopped and the crowd held its breath. The pent- 

 up feeling then found vent. Cheer followed cheer, and 

 the crowd rushed through the gates and fairly blocked 

 the quarter stretch. With difficulty the path was cleared 

 for the mare, who walked slowly back to the stand with 

 bowed head and throbbing flanks. The official timers, 

 Wm. Edwards, N. L. Hunting, C. F. Emery and George 

 AW Short, consulted their watches and unanimously 

 agreed that the record had been broken. I looked over 

 their shoulders at this supreme moment and noticed that 

 while Mr. Hunting's fifth-second watch marked 2 :o8 4-5, 

 the others were full 2:08^4. Leaning over the stand 

 President Edwards said : "Ladies and gentlemen, I am 

 pleased to inform you that on a track which the directors 

 do not consider fast, Maud S. has trotted and made a 

 record of 2 :o8^." The official announcement reawakened 

 the thunders of applause, and the storm did not abate 

 when a rich floral collar, from the garden of Mr. Gordon, 

 was placed on the neck of the queen." 



To commemorate this performance the Cleveland 

 Driving Park Company ordered a golden horseshoe to 

 be hung in the arch over the entrance to the grounds with 

 the words, "Maud S., 2:08%," in the center of it. It is 

 still there to remind all race goers that the record made 

 July 30, 1885, is still the world's record to a high-wheel 

 sulky over a regulation track, and it is liable to be for all 

 time. 



The 2:16 trot proved the best race at the Grand Cir- 

 cuit meeting in 1885. The starters were Maud Messen- 

 ger, Clemmie G. and Phyllis. Wagner had his big mare 

 in good fix and it might be added that he ordered her 

 according to his own idea. He hired a boat and every 



