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STARTS WERE ALWAYS GOOD A. B. Dade Was Most Popular Starter in Country — His Great Patience Was Feature. In the course of an article concerning A. B. Dade, who probably was. entitled to be regarded as one of the most successful of starters on the thoroughbred race tracks of America, a newspaper writer says: "Starter Dade was a crank, on the subject of barriers, having tried them all. from the old wooden kind to the McGinnis gate, which was his favorite. He achieved considerable success with the Vine gate in St Louis years ago, but relegated it to the waste heap for the McGinnis barrier. The barrier used on the Canadian Lacing Associations tracks, at Jamestown and in Maryland, by Dade, was a McGinnis machine, formerly used exclusively by Chris. Fitzgerald, and invented by his brother-in-law. Phil. McGinnis. of London, Ont The McGinnis gate, according to Dade, is faster and always clears the horses head, no matter how close the horses may be. Hanging the barrier was starter Dades pet aversion, and the one thing that most quickly exhausted his stock of patience in making a start "Starter Dade said there never was a boy that rode under him to be compared to Edlie Dominick and none who required more careful watching. C. H. Shilling was another who was expert at getting away a horse, and, moreover Shilling resorted to the twisting and turning tactics used by others, and almost invariably beat them off. The late "Monk" Coburn and Terry Higgins are two other boys who often gave starter Dade trouble in making his starts. " Higgins. who rode for T. A. Gay, when I was starting at St. Louis, always was trying to prejudice the start, Mr. Dade said, and for that reason I could never let them go without. first turning to look at him. He was a wonder for getting a step as the gate was sprung and that meant a good lengths advantage. "Xo matter what the weather, starter Dado never hurried his work. His patience was little short of remarkable and he handled the riders without inflicting many penalties, in which he differed from Mars Cassidy, Jim Milton, Jake Holtman, Dick Dwyer and others high in their profession. Xo horse was too bad an actor for starter Dade to get away, and his tactics of getting down off the stand and personally straightening up the field, with a direction there, a word here or a motion, earned him the sobriquet of the King of Starters. "Starter Dade took pride in the fact that he studied the peculiarities of every horse that ever faced him and once the animal came to the post, the wily Kentuckian said he could tell by the look in its eye or intuition what it would do as the barrier rose. This may be an exaggeration, but results count, and the horsemen were unanimous in saying that he was the best starter that ever handled the meal tickets." "It was the absence of horses left at the post that particularly endeared starter Dade to the devotees of racing. He first took up his profession in the days of yore in Kentucky on the bush circuit The leviathan Kentuckians first real effort came in St Ixniis, Mo., when he was appointed to do the starting at the Fair Grounds, Delmar and other courses, when racing was flourishing in Missouri. He made good from the beginning, and successfully handled the barrier at Xew Orleans, Baltimore, Buffalo. Hot Springs. St. Louis. Montreal, Toronto, Hamilton. Windsor. Fort Erie and other important tracks." •
