Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1883-01-22
anighss OF thg RMeone-Das. Mace.

Grattan of this state, now being published
in the Breeders Gazette, Chicago:
It is possible that Dan Mace may have
BEGUN his career as a trainer with some of
the animals landed by Noah after that
memorable fceshet, which 1t mas remained
for Minnesota man to identify as the one
which submerged Atlantis. Whether the
Auantean trotters and tracks were indu-
enced by the wlles of the artful Daniel
not he of the lions denim antediluvian
times or not, would be another fitting
problem for the active intellect of my
famous compa5riOt; but there can be but
little doubt but that Dan started
in as early as Noah. Having fixed the
period of his apprenticeship at such re-
mote date, consistency requires some e.
PLANTATION of his prolonged soiouru among
the eluines. Mayhap i'll ancient times ne
drove horse trife scant of winning be-
cause of an upward and backward glance
at some bewilderingly beautiful daughter
of a prophet whose representations re-
garding that especial event were thereby
falsifed. Possibly this irate ancient, in
his anger, doomed Daniel to drive forever
on and on, forever glancing upward and
backward, forever wearing the sky-blue
tint so incongruous with his complexion.
Perhaps this is all an idle fancy; but
where is the horseman so aged that he can
remember the time when Dan Mace did
not drive? There is something
uncanny about it. Dan must certainly be
the wandering Jew among drivers. Another
fact strongly supporting this theory is the
superIative artfulness with which he plays
delicate manipulations with the ribbons in
the mouths of strange horses. How else,
save with ages and ages of practice, could
he do so smoothly, so easily, with so little
effort. what requires such determined et-
fort in others? Certainly this does not
come from commanding intellectual pow
er, for has not great critic pronounced
Daniel "a genius in the sulky; an idiot out
of it," Then, again, how often has it
been remarked that he does not grow old;
and is not his persistent refusal to tell his
age another most suspicious cor
roborative circumstance? In the
language of a great poet, slightly modi-
fed, Horses die and men grow old, but
Dan drives on forever" He did not ap-
pear this year behind any of the fast ones
in the circuit, and it is possible he is at
tempting to obtain a release from the curse
that is upon him; but it will do no good.
Next season must find him in his old place
through the grand circuit.
Dan Mace is a small, dark man, with
irregular features, and wiry, enduring
look about him. He drives horse as if
it were as natural to him as eating; in fact,
he drives too well-his great skill, para
doxical as the statement may sound, often
having led to defeat. He has relied upon 1T
whom a poorer reinsman would have built
his hope upon extra attention and care.
This will account for the fact that the
king or the queen had never been his.
Doubtless the old mare of the wild-goose
flight might have been queen. A poorer
driver would have seen to it that no
chances were taken in getting on to that
car, and would, for all these years, had a
record to point to, instead of mysterious
trial; but the most proficient reinsman in
the world has only ruined trotter to look
back to in Lady Thorne. One of Mace's
greatest triumphs was the memorable
handicap when the little gray gelding
downed the great Rarus. Hopeful was
such horse that day and the next Satur-
day as he never was before or after. While
he reduced the record to wagon and failed
to equal his OWE to harness Thursday,
it must be remembered that this
performance was a race, while the
Minneapolis performance was simply
a speed trial. The little fellow could both
trot fast and stay that day. He had brush
III him at the end of every mile, and he
had sore need of it, with Rarus thunder
ing close on his heels. In the last heat Ra-
rus got to him, and looked sure winner;
IL ,o1.,
upon that answered to his every artiice as
reinsman clear through to the end. In
after years this speed lasted only to the
three-quarter pole. Who can explain the
change? have my notion about it, right
OF wrong Mace was crippled by fall at
Dubuque; the horse got little or no speed
work; he went lazilyjogging over the pleas
ant Chicago drives, with good-natured
rubber behind him, both seemingly
taking solid comfort. did not see him
on the track during the week, except in
his races. He was storing up energy, bot
ting up speed, laying up strength to both
trot fast and stay. How many men there
are who, to perform great feats, physic al
or mental, require long periods of quies-
cance, or, at best, but gentle exercise; who
lose the edge of superlative effort by the
hammer-and- tongs methods. Of course
such men aud such horses are not so use
full those who can stand up 20 the rack
every day, with steady, persistent endeaV-
OR, often reaching the acme of achieve
ment for long periods; but the less gifted
ones are capable sometimes, by judicious
humoring, of brilliant performances, and
the horses of this stamp are
more Numerous than many. drivers
imagine. Parole was run
ner of this stamp, and Hopeful seemed to
me, from his makeup and temperament,to
be just such trotter. His speed was like
an electric battery, that can be charged
but slowly and the accumulated force DIS
sipated in an instant. With this treatment
in 1878, or at least a good share of the
year, he was a great trotter, and after
wards he had work in accordance with his
rank. Instead of that, if he had been
turned over to some lazy, good-natured
person to jog around over soft country
roads five days of the week, on the sixth
he would have been great race-horse, not
only to the three-quarter pole, but from
end to end. The speed of one of the SEN
sational trotters of this year was wasted
in the same manner, but time enough for
that when his driver is reached.
Mace at times inadvertently discloses
the secret of his endless task as a Jehu.
When coming to the wire 2:10 clip on
the dav RaruS was defeated q great huIk