ONE of the bright stars of the Village Farm pro- 

 duction is The Monk, a bay gelding, foaled in 

 1893, sired by Chimes, dam Goldfinch by Mam- 

 brino King. This horse is the same age and bred in the 

 same lines as The Abbott, and at the time he met with 

 the accident hereinafter mentioned was a faster horse 

 than the now world's champion. He was taken up when 

 three years old, while I was away, and his speed at- 

 tempted to be developed ; but when I returned in 

 the fall he could not trot a three-minute gait, and 

 was as awkward and clumsy as any three-year-old I 

 ever saw. They had him shod with about sixteen- 

 ounce shoes in front, and he simply would not, or 

 could not, show any speed to speak of. I had those 

 heavy shoes taken off and shod him with eight-ounce 

 shoes in front and added a light toe weight, and 

 after he was thus shod he would shuffle and mix 

 his gaits for a little way, then strike a square trot 

 and go a few feet, then commence to shuffle again ; 

 but every time I drove him he would trot more and 

 more, until finally he quit shuffling and would trot 

 square, and after I got his gait straightened out he 

 could trot fast. I first started him at Detroit in July, 

 1898, when he was four years old, in the 2.27 class, 

 which he won in straight heats, the best time being 

 2.16^. I also started him at Cleveland, Columbus, 

 Fort Wayne, Glens Falls, Readville, New York, Hart- 

 ford, Portland, Louisville, in the 2.20 and 2.30 classes, 

 and at Lexington in the Transylvania Stake and the 

 2.17 class. He was first in every race in which he 

 started, except at Fort Wayne, Readville, and in the 



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