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REMINISCENSES OF THE TURF A group of horsemen seated in an uptown hotel one aitcrncou recently were discussing the turf as it was thirty years ago when somebody mentioned the name of the veteran trainer Jacob Pincus known In England and this country as Jake and whose friends in both countries are legion A famous rider in his youth in England Pincus came to America upward of forty years ago and trained some of the best stables of race horses being in tile employ at one tine or another of almost every owner of prominence around Now York Pincus is a small sedate man with a humor all his own and many are the stories told of him lie is well past seventy years of ago some say upward of eighty and is still active having trained a few horses for J B Huggin last spring springI I shall never forget the time they appointed Jake starter at Monmouth Park remarked a man who had known Pincus in England There was a stake race on the card one afternoon and August Belmont the father o the present head of the Jockey Club had the favorite for the race and the plungers were down on her to a man Mr Belmont bad become disgusted with the riders we had here at that time and through some friends in England lie engaged the wellknown English jockey Luke It was Lukes first mount hi the Belmont colors and lie went over to the post with McLaughlin Spellmau Fit patrick and other Americans There never was a smarter trio at the post that these lads and the English boy who was accustomed to having his confreres pull up into line at the start and move down to ¬ gether for the word go was nonplussed when AIcLauglilin turning behind the field for the running break at which he was an adept came tearing at full speed Fitzpatrick and Spellmau were right there with him but the Englishman was asleep at the switch and Pincus eyeing him narrowly re ¬ marked that it would be policy to sleep soundly nights and escape the necessity of napping during the afternoon afternoonOnce Once more they sparred for an advantage con ¬ tinued the speaker and this time Jake thought the field well enough bunched to warrant his dropping the flag which he did in his usual deliberate manner To his astonishment Luke pulled up the favorite and looking up gravely at Pincus touched his cap with the butt of his wliip and inquired Beg pardon sir but is it a goV goVJake Jake leaned far over the railing of the starters stand and said with freezing politeness acknowl ¬ edging the jockeys salute It is and I think they went that way pointing down the course where the rest of the contestants were disappearing in a cloud of dust dustJake Jake always carried a stick and when thinking deeply or under pressure of excitement he had a habit of whistling softly and tapping the ground or the floor with the end of it It is a characteristic known to everybody at all familiar with him Dave Clark long since dead held the advance flag for him when he was starting as he did afterward for Cald well and other starters Dave told me on one occa ¬ sion when Jake had left three horses at the post in a stake race the howls of the crowd whose money had been lost by the mishap came strongly up on the breeze to the backstretch Pincus leaped to the ground walked up and down the track a few times listening to tlic hoots and catcalls and thump Ing the ground with the butt of his stick asked in his soft voice Shall we go back to the stand Dave or take the fence Of course that was one of Jakes jokes for he was never afraid to face the music and the incident was forgotten the next day dayJimmy Jimmy Sheridan was a starter that had some humor too spoke up a listener Did you ever hear of the message he sent to Capt James II Roes when that distinguished turfman was secretary of the Memphis Jockey Club The captain it ap ¬ peared never met Sheridan and when he engaged him to come to Memphis and start the horses ail the negotiations were done by letter Sheridans letters were short afiQ to the point and the captain will tell you how proud he is to have in his pos ¬ session an epistle from the famous starter which con ¬ cludes in this way I shall start the horses with a flag instead of the drum I know there are some deaf jockeys but so far havent seen any blind ones Sheridan was tlie first man In this country to use the flag in starting horses Before his time a drum was iised and some remarkably funny tales are told of happenings when an amateur or an over excitable man officiated as starter starterThere There was the case of Johnny Merrill for in ¬ stance Johnny had been Sheridans chief assistant for a number of years and he finally got some small meetings of his own where the compensation was not sufficiently large to tempt his chief Mer ¬ rill had a habit of getting down on the track to line Ills horses up and then walking back to the stand where his drum reposed One day as he walked backward facing the horses and admonishing the jockeys to come slow one or two of the ner ¬ vous lads started off and in a second the entire field was bearing down upon him like an avalanche Mer ¬ rill sprinted for his perch missed the drumstick in his haste and knocked it far away from his grasp Quick as thought he drew back his foot and dealt the drum a mighty kick so much power being be ¬ hind the effort that his foot went clean through the head The race was in front of the stand and the spectators cheered and laughed at Johnny as he danced about on one leg trying to extricate his imprisoned foot footThe The late Colonel Montgomery who for many years was president of the Memphis Jockey Club used to start the horses at Memphis thirty years ago and the manner In which he performed his du ¬ ties has probably never been equaled in this coun ¬ try The colonel was an oldtime southern gentle ¬ man courtly in the extreme and he wielded the flag with the same deliberation as he would have han ¬ dled the gavel in presiding at a meeting of the governing committee of the Tennessee Chib of which he was a charter member In one of the races at Montgomery Park the course of the Memphis Jockey Club named in honor of the old gentleman himself he left at the post a mare owned by a good friend from Kentucky KentuckyAfter After the races over a toddy continued the speaker the owner of the mare chided the colonel good naturedly for the bad start his candidate had received Make it up to you next time suh Yoh health was the colonels rejoinder rejoinderTwo Two days later the mare was engaged to start and the owner had forgotten all about the conversa ¬ tion Not so Colonel Montgomery When the horse reached the post the colonel beckoned the rider of the mare to approach Take that marc in front boy and stay there He then sent the mare away with a winning lead Everybody in Tennessee swore by Colonel Montgomery and nobody thought of even questioning his methods But that was the colonels way of squaring a man for leaving his mare at the post postIt It was at this point that the veteran turfman and soldier of fortune Charles Reed passed the group and acknowledged the salutations of all allThere There goes the greatest philosopher I have ever known was the remark of a man whose business lias brought him into close contact with all shades of men on the turf for the past thirty years You all remember how lie went to Buenos Ayres to buy Ormonde twenty years ago only to find upon arriving at the Argentine that young William OBrien Mac donough of California had secured the famous stal ¬ lion for 150000 Ho straightway returned home and upon my attempting to commiserate with him lie merely said Its all right sonny God Almighty has his own way of doing things Perhaps its all for the best bestOrmonde Ormonde has gone down into history as a com ¬ parative failure as a sire mighty nice horse though he was and Reeds philosophy so far as he was concerned was sound Then came the purchase of St Blaise at public auction for 100000 I shall never forget that evening at Tattersalls when Easton the auctioneer who like the horse ho sold is dead and gone Killed for a bid on the superb stallion The arena was thronged with men anil women main of them in evening dross The horse his head hold high looked about with startled eyes ami perhaps there came to him a memory of the dav when lie led the pride of KnglamVs thorough ¬ breds homo in the Derby The ovation the horso received was fully as warm HS rewarded his efforts at Kpsom and lie lionndcd from side to siiie in the sawdust Easton held up a warning hand finally and stilled the applause remarking that the horse in his excitement might hurt himself or some of the spectators who were massed all alKiut the roped off arena within which the stallion stood stoodWhen When the auctioneer had told of the prowess of St Blaise on the turf and in the stud he called for a bid and for a moment there was absolute still ¬ ness Then like a pistol shot came that one bid One hundred thoui in l dollars dollarsAll All eyes were turned to the broad figure In the chair by the side of the arena The instant Charles Reeds squaretopped hat and plaid waistcoat were noted the applause was tremendous It tookmin utes for the auctioneer to secure quiet and then ills pleadings for an advance on this princely figure were In vain It was well known Jit the time that hero were at least throe men at the sale who bad ile tormlnoil ti buy tin horse They sat dumbly by ami hcanV the hammer fall without opening their months monthsThat That evening after St rlaiso liittl lneii put away in his box stall I wont to the old gentleman and after congratulating him on bis nerve and enter ¬ prise asked why lie hail not started the bidding at 50000 in the hope that there would be no com ¬ petition after say 75 llO or SOOOO Sonny lie always called me sonny Sonny ho says I wanted to earthquake em That was his way of stopping competition He wanted th lorso and ho figured that lie was worth 100000 to him and he came prepared to offer that much in one lump It eartliquakod the others all right 1 was in Saratoga ono day put in still another member of the parly I had not been particularly fortunate in my sHHMilation nor yet had my health been all that I roiibl have desired Walking up Broadway I mot Mr Reed who stopped He shook hands heartily and inquired how tilings wore going with me Though my jtocket was light I responded bully Thats right my Imy never be down on your luck Though you have no money today put on your best suit of clothes your most attractive scarfpin and throw out your chest Be awinner The world lias no use for a Ioser IoserIve Ive thought of his remarks many a time and they have tided me over soine periods when my spirits were about as low as my finances financesThey They tell me of an occasion at Fairview when that famous nursery for thoroughbreds in Tennessee was at its bost There was a terrific storm one night Tlie elements raged and finally one of the broodmare barns in which there were a score of valuable mares was struck by lightning There were two of the structures one of brick and stone and one of frame The stallions and the best brood ¬ mares were in the former and when they roused the sleeping master he asked which Iwrn was burn ¬ ing Somebody said the frame one whereupon tin old gentleman murmured thank God its not tlie brick turned over and was sound asleep in i moment New York Sun
