154 LIFE "WITH THE TKOTTEKS. 



horse brought to the West Side track at Chicago, to make 

 a grand effort. 



At this time Johnston was doing as well as I could wish. 

 He had, to a great extent gotten over his disposition 

 to be nervous, ate heartily, took to his work kindly, and 

 rested well. Dave never left him alone for a moment, not 

 even to go and get his meals. He had them brought to the 

 horse's staU, and ate them there. He slept there, and I 

 never saw him away from the stall all this time, further 

 than to go to the pump. After his horse was done up in the 

 morning, Dave would go inside the stall, shut the door and 

 stay there. This treatment was just what Johnston wanted, 

 as, with Dave and the dog in sight, he felt contented and 

 lost his nervousness. On our arrival in Chicago we found 

 the track rather heavy from recent rains and set to work to 

 try and put it in first-class condition, which we succeeded 

 in doing to our entire satisfaction. I never for one moment 

 doubted that Johnston would go a grand mile, for every- 

 thing about him pleased me. At this time I had him shod 

 with a shoe and pad and sponge forward, the whole weigh- 

 ing nine and one-half ounces, with a five-ounce shoe behind. 

 When the bell rang for his trial I never saw everything 

 appear to be in better shape for fast time. The day was 

 simply perfect — warm, with plenty of sun and no wind; 

 the track as fine as you could wish for, being perfectly 

 smooth and not too hard. I gave Johnston four slow heats, 

 twenty minutes apart, before the trial, commencing with a 

 mile in 2:40, winding up in 2:19, the last half in 1:07. The 

 reason I gave him these slow miles was that I wanted to 

 have his stomach thoroughly empty before making his effort. 

 Johnston was a horse that did not need any particular 

 warming up to thaw him out, as he always had his speed 

 with him, and was not tied up from being sore. 



In talking the matter over with Mr. Woodmansee, I said 

 that I was sure Johnston would beat 2:08. My idea was to 

 drive him to the half in 1:04 and then step him home as 

 well as he could go. Mr. Woodmansee cautioned me not to 



