Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1877-06-29
Rarus and lhe NIald.

between Goldsmith Maid and the horse
Rarus. and have also, probably, discussed
the matter from the Doble standpoint with
the interest and feeling so commonly felt
by sporting men. Mr.. Splan's story-Splan
was the driver of Rarus-has not been so
generally seen or spoken of, so it is copied
below, because of its olearness, and the ap-
parent fairness of his story:
JOHN sPLAN's SIDE OF IT.
In last Sundays TRIBUNE appear
ed communication from Il party in
California relative TO the recent race
between Goldsmith Maid and Rarus,
in which the formerFwas defeated
This communication, as the readers
of the paper will remember, charged
that the race was ''fxed" beforehand,
and that the judges "stood in" with
the jobbery. 1t was also charged
that the injury to the Maids foot in
the second heat was not of suffi-
ciently serious nature to warrant Do
BILE in requesting permission to draw
her. 4a,.l a1
Mr.. John Splan, who has driven
Rarus for the past year, and who
piloted him in the race above allud-
ed to, reached this city on Monday
evening, and on being applied to for
statement concerning the matter,
gave it substantially as follows:
81 went to California with Mr.. Do
BILE last fall, because I wished to
winter Rarus there. After reaching
California it was agreed between
Doble and myself that we would
trot Rarus and the Maid against each
other during the winter. l insisted,
however, that these races should be
advertised merely as exhibition trots,
so that the people would not be de-
eeived and bet their money on them.
| never made an agreement of any
kind or description with Doble that
l would not beat the Maid with Ra-
rus if | had chance and saw fit to
do so. We trotted a number of races
during the winter, and, from the ac-
tions of my horse in these contests,
l became convinced that he could
beat the Maid whenever he was right
and was given his head. The week
before the race at Oakland Park,
which has created so much talk, the
Maid and Rarus trotted over new
and not very fast track at Chico
We were to have $1,000 extra if the
best time made in the State: I64
was beaten. In view of this fact,
l told the judges on the day of the |
race TO give the word whenever the |
Maid was going fast and steady, and |
to never mind where Rarus was.
When a send-off was effected in
the second heat, Rarus' nose was
about a good length behind the |
Maids wheel, The heat was trotted |
in q l44, ,and at the finish Rarus was
beaten by throat-latch only. This
race naturally made me believe that
l had the best horse, When the race
al Oakland Park was being arrang-
ed, the proprietor of the track came |
to me and said: John, l want you
to trot over my track, if you will try
to win; otherwise don't come II
told him would win if | could, and |
was fully determined to keep my
word. Mr.. Conklin, the owner of |
Rarus, had told me all along that
whenever [ thought his horse would
beat the Maid to let him know, and
he would back his horse for $40, 900.
Accordingly on the day of the race
at Oakland Park, l sent a man
down to the pool-box with instruc.
tions to buy every pool on Rarus;
to buy my horse cheap as long as he
could, but to keep buying him, even
if he had to give odds of ten to one.
This man followed my instructions
to the letter, and you may be sure
that not many Rarus pools escaped
him. In the first heat my horse
went well enough until the head of
the home stretch was reached, when
he struck his knee and made break,
which allowed the Maid to win easi-
ly in 1926. As the second heat was
being trOtted, the Maid began to
overstride herself, and finally grab
bed off a quarter boot. Then she
struck one of her front feet, not at
the top, between the hair and hoof,
but about half way down, breaking
the walls of the boof, and producing
as bad an injury as ever saw. 1t
was then a physical imposslbility
for her to win, and | knew it. A
veterinary surgeon who dressed the
old mares foot, said it was as bad
an injury of the kind as he ever saw.
poble wanted to draw the mare, but
the judges refused permission. He
then wanted them to put up another
man behind her, but they were sat
lsfed that he was trying to win, and
told him to stay. With her bad
foot, it was easy for Rarus to beat
the Maid, and he did it. Of course,
L tried to win in as slow time as pos
sible-any man of sense would have
done that-but this talk about my
not wanting to drive Rarus out of
the 2-l9 class is sheer nonsense. Mr.
don't care a ten-cent piece
about his horses record, and, in fact,
don't think he intends trotting him
in the 2: 10 class at all. Nobody
was more surprised at the slow time
than he, and it was also disap-
pnlntment, OF course he wanted his
lorse to beat the Maid, but he want
I'd 1t done in such good time that
lobody would have AN excuse to
lick. After this race had been ar.
'anged, and | had made up my mind
hat | could win it, went to Mr..
Fred Collyor, of San Francisco, who I
5 known all over California as a
nan of sterling integrity, and asked
i'm to act as one OF the judges on
he day of the race. He said he
you'd like to accommodate me, but