LIFE WITH THE TROTTERS. 315 



next heat. There was a great crowd of people there and I 

 asked Mr.- Gordon to take a position wliere he could watch 

 the heat all through, as I knew he always enjoyed a good 

 battle and I thought he would see one. Bessie had captured 

 the second heat in about 2:17, and everybody, including the; 

 plungers and talent, considered it a sure thing for her to win. 

 the race. In scoring for the third heat I changed my tactics; 

 a little and came up in the front rank. For this Mr. Edwards; 

 reprimanded me, threatened me with the usual penalty, and 

 I believe did fine m^ once or twice. After scoring ten or 

 twelve times they got the word. Sparkle and Bessie. rushed 

 away like two quarter-horses, and J. Q. broke in a wild 

 attempt to keep pace with them. From there to the head of 

 the stretch Bessie and Sparkle fought it out alone; Sparkle 

 staid the longest and won the heat in 2:17, which is the 

 fastest heat she ever trotted. Billy Button beat her the 

 next heat, and the race was postponed on account of dark- 

 ness until the next day, when it was fought out from end 

 to end, Sparkle winning the eighth and ninth heats. To show 

 that this was a more than ordinary contest, I will state that 

 the nine heats in this race average better than 2:20, which is- 

 the fastest average in any one race of the same number of 

 heats ever paced or trotted. Some of the horses which took 

 part never were heard of afterward, and when you take into 

 consideration the distance they must have gone in scoring 

 from ten to fifteen times in each of those nine heats and the 

 rate of speed that they went a part of the way it is not to be 

 wondered at. After the race I took Spai'kle' s shoes off , 

 turned her out in the paddock for two or three days, re-shod 

 her and took her to Buffalo, where she won a five-heat race 

 in the same class. She was not as good a mare in this race, 

 the severe ordeal in Cleveland having taken the edge off her 

 to a great extent. The following week at Rochester J. Q. 

 beat her in four heats. I gave Sparkle scarcely any work 

 between her races, contenting myself with nursing and trying 

 to allay the soreness and inflammation in her feet. At Utica 

 the next week in the 2:19 class, the battle narrowed down 



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