94 MEMOIR. 



and 1886 he had lost but three races out of twenty-nine 

 starts and two of his defeats were driven home by Cleve- 

 land horses, Clingstone stepping away from him in 

 straight heats at Detroit, September 26, 1885, in 2:15^, 

 2:17^2, 2:16, while at St. Louis, October 9, 1886, he 

 trotted second to Oliver K. in 2 :i6ji, 2 :i6ji, 2:17, with 

 Arab, Charlie Hilton and Phyllis in the field. At the date 

 of the Cleveland race Patron was a five-year-old. He had 

 been before the public from the day that "Cope" Stinson 

 won a two-year-old race with him in 2 142^ over the half- 

 mile track at Brantford, Ont. This performance was, 

 however, scarcely noticed until he won the three-year- 

 old race at St. Louis in 1885, defeating Manzanita, Sil- 

 verone, Eagle Bird, Iona and Greenlander, after a contest 

 of six heats and followed it two weeks later with another 

 victory at Lexington, where he made a record of 2:19^2 

 in a third heat, and in doing it equalled the three-year-old 

 trotting record of the world held by Hinda Rose. A 

 first and a second was Patron's tally as a four-year-old. 

 The following season he acquired his reputation as a race 

 horse and also made the record of 2 :i4 T /\. that stood after 

 his name at the end of his turf career. In the first heat 

 of his race with Harry Wilkes at Cleveland, Patron 

 marched off in front and won as he pleased in 2 :i6. Van 

 Ness made his move on the next trip. Rushing Harry 

 Wilkes off in front he led at the quarter in 33 seconds 

 and at the half in 1 :o6. In the third quarter Patron came 

 to him. They raced like a team around the upper turn, 

 but before the three-quarters was reached the gelding 

 faltered and Fuller won the heat in 2 :i6y 2 . The regulars 

 that had followed Harry Wilkes for several seasons could 

 scarcely believe their eyes when they saw the popular idol 

 beaten by a five-year-old, but in the third heat, when Pa- 



