LIFE WITH THE TEOTTEES. 6& 



I was positive I could have driven him a good deal faster. 

 I went out to give him another mile, and told Mr. Crawford 

 I would take him to the half-mile post slow, and let him 

 come home as fast as he could. I was rather anxious my- 

 self to see just how much speed he had. 



I drove him down to the half in 1:13, and, when I spoke 

 to him there, he cut loose at a rate of speed that, to say the 

 least, surprised me. When I finished the mile I asked 

 Mr. Crawford how well he had gone, and he said 2:20. I 

 could not think it possible, as I knew I could have driven 

 Rarus the last half very much faster than I did. That made 

 the last half of the mile 1:07. Quite a number of the 

 betting men around saw it, and they could not make up 

 their minds what was in the wind. They fancied I was a 

 little too liberal in showing my goods. One of them asked 

 Crawford why I had done it, and he told them we had every 

 confidence in the horse, and wanted to show the public 

 something that would give them a little confidence also. 

 The gentleman answered, ' ' All right, Crawford, but I will 

 have my money on May Queen the day of the race," which 

 promise he kept, as he was the first man I saw at the pool- 

 box when the race came off. May Queen, by the way, was 

 the same mare that, under the name of N^ashville Girl, had 

 made a record of 3:20 the previous year, and had shown 

 herself to be a first-class race mare. At this time she was 

 owned by Mr. Joseph Harker, of New York, a great friend 

 of Commodore Vanderbilt, and was in the stable of Mr. 

 Charlie Green when he was in the heyday of his glory, 

 and, under those circumstances, it was not strange that she 

 wg,s a favorite at $100 to $20 over the field, as she had beaten 

 the other horses, and everyone supposed she would do it 

 again. In talking the matter over with Mr. Crawford, we 

 concluded to put some money on Rarus, and take our 

 chances, which we did, and it paid us a handsome profit. 

 In looking the field over we saw no one in it that we thought 

 could make a fight with May Queen, and started in the race 

 with the determination to go at her right from the starts 



