over I concluded to ship my racing stable to California, 

 and try the experiment of wintering in that far-away 

 southern climate. Robert J. was one of those I took 

 along. The owner and driver of Joe Patchen were not 

 satisfied with the results of the different meetings 

 between Robert J. and that horse, and when they 

 found I was to take Robert J. to California they 

 shipped Joe Patchen there to continue the turf con- 

 tests. We first met in California at Los Angeles, 

 where Robert J. again defeated the fast son of Patchen 

 Wilkes. In February, 1895, a special race was arranged 

 for these two horses at Fresno, California. The date 

 set for this race happened to be in the rainy season 

 which every winter visits the just and the unjust of 

 that State. When the day of the race came it simply 

 poured, and the mud on the track and everywhere else 

 was ankle deep, so the race was postponed from day 

 to day, and the rain continued to come down in such 

 torrents as to dampen our spirits as well as the track. 

 Of course, we were familiar with the usual appliances 

 used in drying tracks, but they were of no use in face 

 of such a deluge as we were then experiencing. 

 Among the horsemen who were there were Monroe 

 Salisbury, Andy McDowell, Tom Raymond, Jack 

 Curry (driver of Joe Patchen), and myself. As we 

 were confronted with an unusual condition, unusual 

 methods must be employed to accomplish our purpose, 

 so we arranged for the use of 2,300 sheep owned near 

 there, and every day the gentlemen mentioned, includ- 

 ing myself, would gather these sheep together and 

 drive them several times over the track, and by night 

 the track would be in fairly good condition, but it 

 would rain again in the night, and the next day the 

 mud would be as deep as ever; then the sheep would 



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