LIFE AVITH THE TROTTEES. 247 



chances thought of that at the finish of the race the only- 

 man proven guilty of having had a pool-ticket on him was 

 a Yankee of the name of Skinner, who was Mr. Gordon's 

 superintendent, and had been instrumental in having him 

 buy the horse. In rigging Nobby for the race, I put a very 

 easy bit on him, with a nose-band attachment, an over-check 

 and long martingales, and stuffed his ears with cotton, as 

 at this particular time the twitter of a canary bird on a 

 limb would have more effect on Nobby than a full brass 

 band on an ordinary horse. He could Jump higher, farther, 

 and quicker without any provocation than any horse I ever 

 saw. 



I decided to lay him up the first heat, and Florence 

 won from start to finish in 2:22|, which was rather a sur- 

 prise, as she had never before shown anything like that 

 speed. In this heat Nobby seemed to have his mind on 

 everything else except trotting, but after giving him a 

 thorough cooling out I found, in scoring for the second heat, 

 that he acted somewhat better, and determined if he got off 

 well, to try and get as good a place as I could. When the 

 word was given Nobby was the last horse, which position 

 he held until they turned into the back stretch. Going 

 from there to the head of the stretch he trotted by about 

 half the field. At this point Felix, Florence M., and 

 Secret had the stretch to the)nselves and the only open place 

 that I could see was in the middle between Secret and Flor- 

 ence M. I drove Nobby in there, but as the hole was not 

 very large it made him ui^easj-, and just as he reached the 

 wire, which he crossed first, he and Secret made a break and 

 finished the heat with Nobby first, Secret second, and Flor- 

 ence M. third, all lapped on each other. In deciding the 

 heat the judges gave the heat to Florence M., setting the 

 other two horses back for the break, and no time was given. 

 In the third heat, Felix rushed away and at the half-mile 

 pole Nobby, in trying to out -trot George Voorhies, who 

 had his long whip with him, went to a wild break, and 

 I made no further attempt with him that heat. 



