Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1878-06-03
TEN BROCK.
card from ColoneI CIark.


Card from Colonel clark.
To the Editor of the Courier Journal
For several days there have been ru
mors most industriously circulated con.
corning the great match race between
Ten Brock and Mollie Mccarthy, hint
ing that the two horses we're to be con,
trolled by one party and a %hippodromt
affair to be perpetTated on the public,
Ordinarily, these rumors would be IN.
worthy Of notice, but TO settle all doubts
/ propose, briefly to review the matter,
Frank Harper, the owner Of Ten Brock
is known far aud wide, belonging to a
family against whom, on the turf, there
has never been q breath of suspicion.
On the contrary, the Harper family are
knoSn everywhere to run their horses
from eend TO eend." Mr.. Harper is
worth at least $500. 900, and Ten Brock
is his pride. his price for the great horse
last year being 500. 600. These facts
are mentioned to show the ~absurdity OF
imagining that Harper would stoop to be
q party to a fraud, or allow the reputa-
ton of his stallion as q breeder to be
i~eopardizsd by defeat. When the match
was arranged certain gentlemen who de.
sired to bet on Ten Brock we're anxious
that he should be placed in the hands of
a trainer more experienced than Harry
Colston, who has hitherto managed him,
but Mr.. Harper would not even listen to
sach a suggestion, stating that the horse
should never 60 from under his immedi.
ate supervision and control, and that his
trainer should manage, and that William
Walker the jockey who has always
backed him, should ride. Under no
other circumstances would ne listen to
the idea Of his horse running. Alter
the match was agreed upon absurd ru-
mors were a~ssiduously circulated in re-
gard TO Ten Broeck's having sD siling
leg, but the capture of the great sweep.
stakes at Lexington effectually settled
that falsehood. After this race, the
horse was brought to Louisville and
rested, his trainer believing that he
needed grass and rest to prepare him for
the hard struggle on the 4th OF July, and
that be should not travel, but train here.
he is fast becoming the Ten Brock Of
last spring, and Mr.. Harper thinks he will
be as good as he was then.
Mollie Mccarthy is owned by Mr..
Winters, a wealthy gentleman from Win
Lersville, Cal who is as proud Of his
mare as Harper is of his horse, and with
the purpose of testing the merits of his
fsvorite, chose the king as one worthy OF
a trial, and expressed a willingness to
run four-mile heats FOR q certain sum
Friends of Ten Brock accepted the
wager and arranged the details with Mr..
Harper, the race to be run over the
course Of the Louisville Jockey Club,
under its control and auspices com.
pletely, as the balance of the events of
the July meeting are. Mr.. Winter, who
seems to have been as firm in regard to
the management of the race aud his
mare as Mr.. Harper was about the horse,
stipulated that Henry Walsh, his man.
ager, shoSld take her in charge, aud that
George Howson should 20 from Califor-
MIA to ride her. Mr.. Doble's car was in
California, and was chartered to bring
the mare the round trip. / have bean
thus explicit in giving the precautions
taken BY the two owners to show to the
public the absurdity and impossibility Of
any hippodromiUg affair over the Louis.
,ille course, even if the race was not
under the control Of the Jockey Club,
forif there was the slightest grOunds Of
suspicion, the racing rules give the club
the power OF changing the jockeys and
assuming entire control of the animals.
The record Of the Jockey Club, / think,
will be guaranty to the public that no
such fraud could occur or be attempted
here. When the bell rings on the morn.
leg Of the Fourth of July, and Ten
Brock and Mollie Mccarthy start, the
contest itself will be the greatest rebuke
to the absurd rumors circulated against
it. Excursion trains and boats from
every quarter will bring thousands Of
strangers TO witness the great event, and
as Mr. Walsh remarked to-day, he has
no excuse for his mare. As to Mr.. Har-
per, be would rather lose half his blue.
grass farm than 10 see the Ten Brock
shield and horns taken to California.
NJ. LEWIS CLARK, in
President Louisville Jockey Club.