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ON THE PADDOCK The colt, experienced that nervous agitation to which brave horses as well as cowards are subject; with this difference, that the one sinks under it, like the vine under the hailstorm, and the other collects his energies to shake it off, as the cedar of Lebanon is said to elevate its boughs to disperse the snow which accumulates upon them. Spud McSord, after Sir Walter Scott. Three years ago a mare and weanling celt were led into a sales ring. They had not yet produced a horse worthy of consideration as such. The colt was sired by a stallion bred to run fast and to get winners. But no colt of his had obtained the grade cf a good selling plater. So mare and colt were knocked down to a Kentucky racing man on his single bid of 00. The buyer thought so little of his buy on reaching home he presented his brother with a half interest gratis. The colt was trained and sent to the races in the following June. In July he was hailed as the best colt in the West, possibly in the country. Frederic A. Burton In August, Frederic A. Burton, Chicago coal baron, decided hed like to own a good race horse, the best obtainable. Through his trainer he purchased the colt, Wise Counsellor, for 6,000. The Kentuckian still owns the dam, Rustle. And now Wise Counsellor at three is looked upon by many of the shrewdest judges among racing men as the American horse best qualified to take Epinard into camp in the second of the International Specials, a mile gallop for 5,000, to be run at Aqueduct in the near future. After that race all of us will know more about both horses. Now that a chance for an argument looms, an opportunity to disagree with everybody, the lads willingly disclose their opinions on the best three thoroughbreds we have had since Longfellows time. George Shortly Wenrick, who was clocking horses before Upson Downs opened its gates which was before Hickory Jim was a two-year-old and that was prior to the day W. F. Burch sported his first long pants, desires to cast his vote for Artful, Man o War and Grey Lag. His chief regret is that the last named pair did not meet. He would have enjoyed seeing Man o "War give Old Reds big heart a real test. Walter House, veteran of Guttenberg and Charleston, S. C, prefers The Bard, Sysonby and Man o War. Walter avers that Tho Bard was one real honest-to-goodness race horse. Hed place Firenze in his trio of greatest, but cannot take a mare against an - equally good stallion. Jack Adler, whose stentorian tones used to tell the boys in the old wagering emporiums that it was "all-1-1 r-r-ight," likes Salvator, Artful and 3Ian o War. Jack began his racing career in the summer of 1877, when Ten Broeck beat Mollie McCarthy and made the Native Sons wire home for getaway stakes. Says the first requisite of a good racehorse is speed ; that all the other requisites are more speed. Claims his trio of great ones had the first and last requisites. Man o War now has fourteen votes, Hindoo seven, Salvator six, Grey Lag five, Sysonby four, Artful three and Luke Blackburn, Firenze and Eterminator two each. Several horses that were truly great have but one vote so far and nobody has yet mentioned Ten Broeck. Well interview a few Kentuck-ians foday, for we know that Ten Broeck, as John Galsworthy once wrote "Oo, man, q was a ell cf a orse!"
