210 LIFE v,-ITn THE TROTTERS. 



pended if I did not Avin. Tliey tlien announced their decis- 

 ion to the crowd and told what course they had taken in 

 regard to«Brigadier. 



Of course Mr. McDonald and myself felt as if our lives', 

 had been spared. When they gave tlie word in the next 

 heat Brigadier went out to the front, and was never headed. 

 The people who had bet their money against him were dis- 

 posed to kick up a row, but the judges awarded him the 

 heat and race, and we not only got the purses but the pool- 

 box as well. Now here is a case where I think the judges 

 erred. This horse was distanced fairly, and they had no 

 right to allow him to start again under any rule in the book, 

 unless they thought I liad willfully had him distanced. 

 Brigadier was a horse with a wonderful turn of speed, a. 

 good actor, feeder and campaigner, and with horses that 

 were no faster than himself he was pretty hard to beat. 

 Mr. McDonald afterward took Brigadier back to California, 

 wliere he improved his record to 2:21^, and is now used in 

 the stud. He was by Happy Medium, and his dam was a. 

 mare by Jack Pierce. The best race Brigadier ever went 

 to my knowledge was when he beat Chestnut Hill at Buffala 

 in a race of five heats. The public thought that if Briga- 

 dier did not win in three straight heats he would not win 

 at aU. In this race we let the other people do the fighting 

 and laid Brigadier up the first two heats, and when it came 

 to the finish in the next mile he outstaid Chestnut Hill, 

 beat him the heat, and finally won the race. 



Among my old-time horses was the chestnut gelding- 

 Planter, who came into my hands with a record of 2:29i^, 

 and was owned by a gentleman of the name of Andrews, — 

 a contractor from New Jersey. Mr. Andrews was not very 

 much posted about trotters, but he had unlimited confi- 

 dence in his own horse and a disposition to back him every 

 time he started regardless of the class he was in or what I 

 might think about the matter, and as it often occurs in these 

 cases he made some winnings tliat a more careful and 

 prudent man would not have made, as Planter dragged oflC 



