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SENSATIONAL MATCH RACE1 How an Old-timer Raced a Quarter Horse Before Hostile Crowd. Victory of American Racer Over Mexican Starter Failed to Settle the Question Problem of Er,caping Across Border. "The toughest proposition that I ever ran Against during my early racing career," said a man whose name was formerly well known in England as it was in the United States and who ha3 trained winners in both countries, "was when I was a youngster and owned only one horse in partnership with another man." The speaker, who has retired from active participation in racing, was sea Jed among a crowd of turf followers, who were discussing their favorite sport. "I was a youngster then," he went on, "and didnt have many cares, and my partner was a good mate for mc. Wo had picked up a quarter horse in the western portion of Texas that could outrun anything that I have ever seen in any country. He could beat such horses as we have seen on our race courses around New York the last twenty-five years about three lengths in a dash of a quarter of a mile." Remembering the speed possessed by Hanover, Domino, Correction, Kingston, Voter, Roseben, Commando, Sysonby, Colin and many other turf idols that the speaker had seen race, to say nothing of the fleet sprinters of England and France, and he has seen Kagcr, Royal Flush, Kilcock, Victor Wild and horses of that class on foreign fields, the listeners sat up and took notice. One of them finally found his tongue long enough to say : "Do you mean that he could beat our best thoroughbreds three 1 ngths in a quarter?" GREAT MUSCULAR POWER. "Yes, and he weighed more than any thoroughbred you ever saw, too. I have i.e.. r .-eon a horse before or since that ap-3r on, hrd him in muscular power. "I lis thighs and second thighs were de-;,-i so that they bulged when he walked. 31.- had as fine a head as any thorough-1 r. il. but he showed his cold blood in a heavy mane and tail, the hair being coarse and harsh to the touch. "He was said to be a well-known quarter horse and out of a mare of unknown breeding, probably a close descendant of some of the wild horses which roamed that country in droves. We had heard of the horse and we were told wonderful tales of his speed. "Having a prrtfy fair ir.iro fit tli.it lime that l.a.i kii.i . v. .-; I ! iu n ,r p.ui of conclusions with the so-called thunderbolt of the West. We found no difficulty in arranging a match on our arrival at the ranch of his owner and they found no more difficulty in beating us. That big fellow simply smothered our mare and she was good enough never to have tasted defeat before, you will remember. "Wo took our medicine like little men and went back home considerably poorer in pocket, but a heap richer in experience. That fal we sold quite a bunch of cattle, and among the men wo did business with was a cowman who had a story about an old Mexican in Chihuahua who had a quarter horso that had trimmed everything below the Rio Grande and that if anybody could go down there and beat him he could win all the old fellow had, cattle, land and money in the bank. PAYS 55,080 FOR HORSE. "We put our heads together after things had been arranged for the winter, and I went out and bought the big fellow that l ad beaten our mare. We had to pay ,000 for him and we had to sell our mare to get enough money to finance the scheme, but we figured on making the Mexican pay us back in one race. Tho next move was to make the match, and the first preliminary was a trip to the ranch where this wonderful horse was owned. "So one day I jumped on a pony I had that was tough enough for anything that came along, and after ten days of leisurely travel I arrived at the ranch. I was made welcome as a stranger and a traveler who was seeing the cattle in that part of the country and I found that the tales about the owner of the place had not been misrepresented, either his wealth or his belief in the prowess of his horse. There were 40.000 head of cattle on the hundreds of thousands of acres and there was a small army of cowboys constantly coming and going at headquarters. It didnt take long to learn all I wanted to know about the horse, and one evening I broached the subject of quarter racing to my host. "I could speak enough Spanish to get along nicely and it didnt take long for me to make a race for ,000 a side. I wanted them to come half way to run it, but the old man, who was upward of eighty, urged his age as an excuse for not leaving home and offered us 00 for expenses if we would come and race at the ranch. I knew what that might moan. It meant thut we would have to win the race decisively and it might mean a fight at the getaway. FORFEITS POSTED. "Finding that the match could be arranged in no other way I consented, and we each put up a forfeit of ,000 and agreed to run one month from that date. His horse, a big chestnut of the regulation quarter-horse type, was ready to race. I could see that at a glance when he was shown to mi- after our forfaits were up. That was tin-iif.st 1. ok I !,a.i at him, too, ;i s tli.y w, ;. appearance would frighten me and negotiations would be declared off. "On my return home we prepared for our journey, taking along throe clcse friends, who could be depended upon, and our jockey. We made the journey in easy stages and it was a week before the race when we reached our destination. Quarters were assigned us. Young beef was killed and hung for us and nothing was too good for us. "They had all inspected our horse and, while they liked him, they were willing to bet on their own candidate, and when the day before the race came, our party stood to win or lose more than 0,000. We could have wagered an indefinite amount, so confident were cur opponents, but we had reached our limit. "Tho evening before the day set for the race the aged Mexican and one of his sons came for us to look at the course over which the horses would race. There were two level paths about five feet apart laid out across the prairie and there was really no choice between them, though we went through j the ceremony of tossing a coin for a choice. We won the toss and chose that on the left, so that our boy could use his whip if necessary without any charge of interference on ! the part of our rival. We were in a strange country and knew that whatever we got we would have to get by the hardest sort of work and then perhaps fight to keep it "The race was set for 9 oclock the next morning and, when I walked out toward the course about an hour befcre the time of starting, I had the shock of my life The Mexicans had raised the end of their path by cutting chapparal and banking it with earth, so that for tho first fifty yards their horse was on a veritable toboggan. "A great light broke on me. I then knew why the Mexicans were so eager to run the race at home. Our money was up, and thero was no chance for it but to run or fight, and after a consultation we agreed to the former. "The news of the race had spread far and wide and there were fully 3,000 persons on hand to see it, some of the Mexican sports coming on horseback many hundreds of miles to seo it. These crowded around the course, and the horses were to run between solid walls of men and horses, for every man mounted his pony in order to see the contest better. "Our jockey was famous for his quickness at the post, and our big horse, which had a sleepy way of walking to the start, was chain lightning once he got there, and he knew his part of the job so well that no-lody could beat him away at the word, even if his rider had been replaced by a bundle of straw. "The start was ask and answer, and after a few minutes preliminary sparring, during which there was absolute silence, with every eye trained on the point where the champions were maneuvering, the horses dropped into position and the race was on. The Mexican, aided by the inclined path, 1 ud an advantage tor the lirst huajnd , i UJ Xj iXiid hxa WU.. fiduf ply Jig the quirt he carried with all tho vigor he possessed in order to hold it. "Our big horse was tearing the gro.m3 up at every mighty stride, and his t;nl was switching in a manner characteristic f h m. The Mexicans were shouting thr-rrs -ve3 hoarse and you couldnt hear yourself ti nk. Our boy, leaning far over his ? t s shoulders in much the same style thai .- ns and Sloan rede here years afterward. r touched the horse with his whip. Sic c o had never used cold-blooded hors. - a n t stand for them and when about tir v is remained to be covered the Mexican ! , ; id been cut down to a neck and shouMn- n that out our champion had him. o chestnut horses nose was at i.iir g girth when the judges were reached. "It looked like a fight at first. T. i cans, beaten at their own game, t hot, but when they saw our little i determined, they paid up with t bad grace and. losing no time v, trail for the North and that . ;ht a Texas soil. I "What became of the horse? Oh. t every match we made with him ar-i lost him in a railroad wreck near Sa o City, Utah, a few years later."
