TROTTING RACES. 109 
under similar circumstances. Only the winners of 
heats, Felix, Florence, and Nobby were allowed to 
start; the others, who had not secured a single one 
out of the five heats that had been trotted, being 
“sent to the barn,” in accordance with a rule already 
stated. The pools sold fast and furious on Felix 
against the field, twenty-five dollars to six, for what 
slight chance Nobby ever had was thought to be 
gone. 
Now came one of the most stubbornly contested 
heats ever seen on a trotting course. At the start. 
Felix showed much more speed than the others, and 
was a length ahead at the quarter pole, with Florence 
second, and Nobby trotting steadily in the rear. At 
the half-mile pole Felix had gained three lengths 
more, and looked, as the sporting phrase is, a sure 
winner. Soon after this point was passed Florence 
gave place to Nobby, and “now,” said the Spirit of 
the Times, “Splan began to show his tactics, ‘wait 
and win.’ His gain to the three-quarter pole was 
almost imperceptible, and Felix still kept a long 
lead; but from this point Splan began to use every 
particle of speed that was in his horse. When they 
turned into the home stretch Felix was swung out to 
the middle of the track, where the footing was better 
but Nobby was driven close to the pole. ‘I can’t 
spare a foot of distance, was my thought,’ Splan 
afterward remarked.” 
“Nobby gamely entered into the spirit of the task; 
a stern chase, it is true, but gradually he lessened the 
gap. At the drawgates, where the path was hard, 
he wavered, as if about to break, but Splan steadied 
him with a slight pull, and on recovering his stride 
