176 LIFE WITH THE TKOTTEKS. 



time. The following week at Gincinnati, lie trotted two 

 races, and here the luck of St. Louis followed Mm, as they 

 were both desperate affairs of five heats each, where he was 

 defeated after winning a heat in 2:23^ over a half-mile track. 

 I then said: " No more hard races until he is in order, if I 

 don't win a dollar with him." Right here I wish to state 

 that I have seen a great many horses cruelly punished and 

 injured by trying to win with them when they had no 

 chance, and were in no condition, simply to please the spec- 

 tators, and pool-buyers and satisfy the judges. In the sec- 

 ond Cincinnati race I soon found that it would be impassible 

 for me to win. There were sixteen starters, and as Wedge- 

 wood was the favorite over the field they combined to at 

 least not give me any the best of it. I believe that when a 

 man knows he can not possibly win, he ought to have the 

 right to drive his horse as easy as he likes, but in this in- 

 stance, as in many more, after the horse had made every 

 effort to win, and could not, the judges called me up and 

 wanted me to punish him just to satisfy the public, some- 

 thing I very plainly told them I would not do. I informed 

 them that I would rather have the public dissatisfied than 

 to pimish the horse, as I saw there was no chance for him to 

 win. One of John Turner' s strong points to my mind, is 

 that when he is beaten and he knows it he stops punish- 

 ing his horse right there, and instead of wearing him out 

 trying to do something impossible, saves him for another 

 day. The best race-horse trainer I ever saw had one rule in 

 regard to this. The order he always gave his jockey was: 

 "When you find you are beaten, stop riding; don't punish 

 your horse to win second or third place," and I believe that 

 the trainer who does this wiU save his horse and make more 

 money than the man who hammers him out and drives him 

 those several races for the sake of getting a place. 



From Cincinnati, I took Wedgewood to Pittsburgh, where 

 I stuck to my resolve, as I drove him a very easy race. From 

 there we went to Philadelphia, where he had another easy 

 race, and was a much improved horse. About this time 



