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PRETTY POLLYS TRIUMPHS Gilpin Recounts Wonderful Fillys Two -year-old Racing Career. How She Won ChcTcley Tark Stakes at Newmarket in a leather Shoe A ZS"car Accident That Threatened Disaster Pretty Pollys two-year-old career is the subject of the following article by P. P. Gilpin from the London Weekly Dispatch: Pretty Polly won all her races as a twcr year-old with great case, and was always a hot favorite. For the valuable Autumn Breeders Foal Plate at Manchester the filly started at the ridiculous" odds of 25 to 1 on, having only one opponent, which gave her no trouble at any part of the race. When the race was over we discovered that something alarming had happened to Pretty Folly. She had picked up a nail which, badly piercing the sole, caused her a great deal of pain. We took her home, but could do nothing with her for some while, and when the time came for her next race, the Cheveley Park Slakes at Newmarket, she was still shod with a leather sole, in which we had to run her. This, of course, was a heavy handicap, but I dared not do anything else in -view of her engagement in the Middle Park Plato two days later, and the last important event for two-year-olds of the year. All went well until she was going down the hill from the bushes, where she slipped and gave most of her backers an unpleasant thrill. She recovered herself and won, but some of her press critics declared it to be rather a poor performance. Had they known about the nail which had recently been extracted from her foot they would have said that she had performed exceptionally well. Her price for the race was 100 to S on. The next day Pretty Polly had to be out again as she was due to win the big race of the meeting, the Middle Park Plate, but, of course, she only walked in the home paddock. We kept the leather sole on until just before the start of the Middle Park Plate, so as to protect her foot till the last moment. But now we removed this, and she ran in ordinary plates, winning with her customary Continued on twelfth pase. , i PRETTY POLLYS TRIUMPHS Continued from first page. facility. But we had to be careful of her foot for a Ions time afterward. The qualms that were ours after Manchester were renewed at a later date when Pretty Polly was exercising at Newmarket. She had completely recovered from the soreness resulting from the nail she picked up at Manchester. One morning she broke free from the stable lad and ran upon a large heap of earth by the side of the Moulton read and at the foot of .the plantation. This caper would have been of little importance if there had not been lying on each side of the bank at this spot two harrows, which were used on the heath. As fate would have it, Pretty Polly began jumping up and down on and off the bank and frightened me to death. It was a time for great tact. One false step meant the end of Pretty Polly as a racehorse, and perhaps her speedy destruction. The whole string of horses stood perfectly still while we hoped for the best, but could no nothing. Eventually, having several times missed the harrows by inches, she came down of her own accord and started to eat grass. We then caught her. A hair-raising incident had passed away safely and without accident. During Houghton week Pretty Polly ran for the Criterion Stakes, starting at 100 to 7 on, again with only one opponent, as the remainder of the opposition had been frightened away. She won again. On the following day she came out as fresh as ever for the Moulton Stakes, and won from three others by two lengths, again starting at 100 to 7 on. This was the winding-up race of her two-year-old career. She had won a small fortune in stakes, yet beyond the honor and glory, the stable had not benefited much otherwise, as she nearly always started at such prohibitive prices. But it is a nice thing to have an animal such as she was in the stable ; you can look on with great pleasure and see her run, even though you cannot back her. Anyone who really loves a good horse will thoroughly appreciate that. In one race she started at 33 to 1 on. No sane man would back a horse at that price, for accidents can always happen and, as we all know, frequently do on the race course.
