240 LIFE WITH THE TEOTTEES. 



Wilkes could not by any possibility out-trot him. At the 

 half-mile pole when I heard Van Ness cut Wilkes loose, while 

 I did not sit down and drive Clingstone, I let him sail along 

 at about the top of his speed. Wilkes closed the gap and 

 came to Clingstone's head and in doing so had to trot out 

 around him on the turn. I made up my mind that when 

 he turned in at the head of the stretch I would send Cling- 

 stone for all he was worth, which I did, and he did to Harry 

 Wilkes what I had not previously seen a horse do, and that 

 was to fairly trot him off his feet. When Wilkes broke he 

 acted to me like a horse that had for once found out when 

 he had enough, 



After the heat I sent word to Mr. Gordon that, barring 

 an accident, the race was over. Clingstone would win sure. 

 To show the difference between the public and the driver 

 sometimes, I wUl state that after the first heat Wilkes was 

 a bigger favorite in the betting than he was before the 

 horses started. In the second heat Clingstone beat him 

 easily from start to finish in 2:17^. In this heat Wilkes 

 gave it u]3 at the head of the stretch, having had made his 

 brush early in the mile. About this time the boys about 

 the pool-box who had been betting on Wilkes commenced 

 to trim their sails for a storm. When the horses scored for 

 the third heat and got the word they went away head-and- 

 head, and trotted like a team to the half-mile piole in 1:08. 

 From there to the judges' stand the race was as close and 

 exciting as one could wish, and ended by Clingstone win- 

 ning by a short head in 2:16, Wilkes making a much better 

 finish than he had in the heat before. I have been asked 

 how I accounted f oi* WUkes trotting himself to a standstill 

 in 2:17^ and then coming back the next heat in 2:16. I do 

 it in this way: Van Ness had not come across any horse 

 that Wilkes could not out-trot easily, and for that reason 

 the horse had not been keyed up or asked to go his best for 

 a long while, and when he struck Clingstone, who had 

 speed enough to go a 2:10 gait, it put what the boys called 

 ' ' a crimp ' ' in him. 



