26 LIFE WITH THE TROTTERS. 



The day after this race is always fresh in my mind from 

 the fact that it was the first occasion on which I met Com- 

 modore Vanderbilt, the father of William H. Vanderbilt, 

 who afterward became famous as the owner of Maud S., 

 but who at the time of which I write lived on his father's 

 farm on Staten Island. The Commodore told me that on 

 this farm he had a first-class track, and he thought it would 

 be a good place for me to train horses, as a great many 

 gentlemen from New York lived down there, and they 

 wanted some one that could train, drive, and look after their 

 road and track horses. The following year I moved my 

 stable there, and it was on Staten Island that I met a great 

 many men who have since become famous in their different 

 walks in life. Captain Jake Vanderbilt, the Commodore's 

 brother, and who is now more than eighty years old, was 

 my every-day companion. We had all sorts of races, and 

 Captain Jake was one of the moving spirits in everything in 

 the way of sport. He was always ready to match his own 

 horses and drive them himself, or have anyone else drive 

 them, and, by the way, I have seen but few amateurs who 

 could get more out of a trotter than the Captain. When 

 he was eighty years of age he could and did send the trotter 

 Boston down the road with the best drivers in New York 

 City, and never took a back seat for any of them. I think 

 he Avas better pleased to brush with Mace and the other 

 professionals when he met them on the road than against 

 anybody else. 



Constance showed us a trial that year in 2:26, and I 

 thought that she was a veritable wonder, but like many 

 another man I lived long enough to find I was mistaken. 

 With that speed in my stable I concluded that Staten 

 Island was too small for me. The Fleetwood track and 

 Prospect Park were then in full bloom. I got her owner's 

 check, made an entry in a few races, put my traps in order, 

 and started with Constance for the field of battle. It did 

 not take me long to learn, however, that I was in too deep 

 water. When I struck out with a few drivers like my 



