LIFE WITH THE TROTTEllS. 115 



star performer. I replied that if necessary I would get the 

 record all right. After talking with Mr. Conklin, I de- 

 cided that the first thing was to do this, and with that end 

 in view, the rest of my stable being entered at Saginaw, I 

 took Earns there, hoping to find the track and day favorable 

 to fast time. On the contrary, I fonnd the track worn out, 

 and the prospects anything but rosy, which decided me to 

 give Rarus only safe work, waiting for a better opportunity 

 to smash the record. There was an exhibition by Earns, and 

 in this he showed me the three best consecutive heats he 

 had ever trotted, the miles being 2:17i, 2:16, 2:16J. In this 

 exhibition, for the reasons stated, I did not pinch Earns, sim- 

 ply letting him go three good rating heats. From Saginaw we 

 went to Cincinnati, and gave an exhibition on the Fourth 

 of July, the second mile being done in 2:17 over a half- 

 mile track. It had rained the previous night, which slowed 

 the track some, but I had never seen Earns when I liked 

 him as well. Toledo was the next place on the route, and 

 here Earns tried to beat his own half-mile track record of 

 2:17. I was sure he would do it. While the track was far 

 from fast it seemed safe and the horse moved like a bird. 

 Up to this time I had given him only moderate work and 

 no fast mUes, simply sending him along in about 2:25, 

 brushing him the last 150 yards as weU as he could go. My 

 aim still was to make with him all the speed possible, and 

 I trained him as you would have handled a sprint runner. 

 When we came out at Toledo, Earns went two trials in 2:19, 

 2:17^. Darkness coming on, the exhibition was postponed un- 

 til the following day, when Earns trotted in 2:16, beating his 

 own record a fuU second, and that of every other horse two 

 seconds, so far as performances over half-mile tracks were 

 concerned. 



The great summer meeting at Cleveland was now at hand, 

 and we went there to trot an exhibition, the terms being 

 that Earns was to go three heats that should average better 

 than 2:18; and if Goldsmith Maid's record was beaten, we 

 were to get an additional $500. In this race, I not only 



