WHEN Nightingale was placed in my hands, she 

 did not promise to be the great race mare she 

 afterwards became. Her gait was awkward and 

 rough and her feet in bad shape. She had run away 

 once or twice, which affected her disposition ; and when 

 I commenced with her she could not trot a mile in 2.20, 

 and to go anything like that fast seemed to be a labored 

 effort for her. I soon discovered that she was not 

 shod according to my ideas of shoeing, and after I had 

 shod her as I thought she should be, she commenced 

 to improve in her speed and, by kindness and patience, 

 she finally got over her cranky notions. She was 

 strong and game, but her speed was more the result of 

 patience and education than of a natural gift. I 

 started her in a great many races and defeated nearly 

 everything in her different classes. The most impor- 

 tant race in which I started her, in 1891, was for a 

 $10,000 purse for 2.20 trotters at Hartford, in which 

 were Little Albert, Abbie V. Reilman, Prodigal, Miss 

 Alice, and Frank F. As a test of speed, gameness 

 and endurance, this race will, I think, go down in turf 

 history as one of the most remarkable ever trotted. 

 It took nine heats to determine the winner, which were 

 trotted in 2.17^,2.181^, 2.18, 2.19^, 2. i8>^, 2.21^, 

 2.21 14^, 2.21, and 2.221^. Nightingale won the sixth, 

 eighth and ninth heats and trotted a dead heat with 

 Little Albert in the fourth heat. Her best race in 

 1892 was at Chillicothe, Ohio, in the 2.13 class. In 

 that race she defeated Little Albert, Ryland T. 

 Charleston, and Lakewood Prince. This was a six- 

 heat race, Nightingale winning the third, fifth and 



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