, 1884-10-23
PREPARING JOHNSTON
For Pacing MilsHin Trsbssi1sAnd
one-fourth-
-svith-John
nsPian on Hus SETfaihsne-A q
Trainer who II WILL


Chicago Tribunal p
YES said John Splan. the driver Of John4
ston, when referring 70 the wonderful mile
which his horss paced at the Driving park
reeently. 1T seems like a wondsrfuI
thiIg for a horse to go as fast as that, and
yet it has been my opinion all along that
some day he was going TO beat 2Os. OF
course didn't know to a certainty that he
could do it, because I had not driven him q
mile at anything like that rate Of speed. but
from what be had howu me for q fraction
Of the distance It seemed as II he ought to
beat ? 10 quite a little bit
Then you had never tried him very
highlyf
No. In training horses, as in anything
ele, you can't have your cake and eat 1t too
Il has always been MY idea that in order to
get the very legt work possible out Of a horse
he should naver be drirsn 80 fast or so much
rs to get sick Of the work himself. remem-
her we'll enough that the winter after l got
Rarus this fact was Impressed upon
me I Very strongly. Up TO that time
l had nsver driven a nile better than
geo and knowing that Rarus could
beat that quite a little bit. 1 was naturally
anxious regarding his training. 1t struck
me then that a man b might be very
clever at sharpening a jack-knife would not
do at all when 1t came TO putting an edge on
a razor. / thought hat Rarus was the fast
est trotter IN the world, and 50 In the winter
OF Is75-'0, when We took him 30 California
in company with Goldsmith Maid, | resolved
10 profit by another mans experience. 81
asked Budd Doble how to go along with my
horse, and he told me. I had him put
in a stall adjoining that Of the
Maid, anil tried to learn exactly how
Doble trained. We were a pretty good
pair. lie was willing 10 tell me what he
knew about training very fast horses, and |
was willing 10 learn. | very soon found out
that a man could get q fast trotter right at
an edge in point OF speed and condition with
comparatively little work-nothing like the
old fashioned %poundings and long drives that
we used to consider necessary before a horse
WINS TT 10 go to a race. Doble, by the way.
Is the best conditioner OF horses / ever saw.
and he Is a man that Is always learning
something. You never see him splitting out
a horse as inst as he can go two or three
Times every week. Onfi the contrary, be
always drives them within themselves, and
the result Of this Is that when the day Of the
race arrives they are able and willing 10 go
fnster and further than bo has ever asked
item to in their preliminary training.
'That is the system that I adopted in deal
ing with Johnston, and the result shawn that
it is the correct one. When / got, the horss
last fall he was rather thin, having been sick
during the summer, and my first move was
to get him In good fesh, for / never zasAn
advocats of the theory, held by some people,
that a horse after being reduced to skin and
bones by a thorough coufse Of oidsfashioned
training isthen IN shape 10 make aAcReditA-
BILE showing, The fact Of the matter IL that
l trained johnson just the same as I trained
Rarus. I took him to Cincinnati and gave
him Q great number OF allow mica II never
asked him % 90 fast, but kept letting him
step along every day agood many miles
or course l knew that he had speed, but l
mover kept asking himto showit 10 mssevary
day as a boy would look at a nav ~jaokfknife.
What l wanted to do was to beat
ali the trotting aud pacing records with
that ehorss so far that there would be a
mark for the rest of them 70 -sAOot
at thai they would not be likely
to hit for some time u come. ~Consequentiy
1 was always careful, both in his work and In
trials against time. The fastest mils chat he
has had in his exercise this season was 2iI3X
At Cleveland some time ago l drove him a
half mile in los, the last quarter being done
In thirty seconds, and the last eighth was
paced at the rate of a mile in 1856 This was
last June, and II was enough fast work for
isnel It showed me that my hofssihad all the
speed that was wanted, and that my business
lay In preparing TO carry that spesd for a
mile, When we came to make public trials
against the watch i made 1t my business 70
never get excited and try to do something
wonderful with him when the conditions were
not favorable. We never had a really first
class day and track until we came bore to
Chicago, but | was dstsrmined not 20 drive
AZ 49,. o..& - eba LET f,oh4 fbar. -. q,
him until 1 did so at a plnee where 10 would
3 do some good. He seemed to me ut Mlwau-
kee to be in Just about the right
trim, but the day and track did not exactly
suis me, and although he went 10 2:10 there
there was no part OF a mile that he was
forced or driven out" .telI De-.
How did VOC drive the mile at Chicagof'
-Well, it was like this; l made up
my mind some time & that in order
- do a mile in ~phenomenAlly fast time
b a horse must rate his speed in such away
Rs to make the beat possible use of his
powers The idea of going away from
the wire with a horse at the very best clip
Z he is capable Of showing and keeping IL ap
as long as he will go is the wrong one, Con
sequently | have been training myself. for
Come time TO time a horse while ! wus driv-
ing him, and ] have got thatpart Of the
business down pretty fine. i hadia good
strong hold on Johnston all the way 70 the
half mile pole, n I never began driving
him Mt all until we rounded into the home
stretch, and evenatben 1 did nothing but
rouse him a little withthe lines. 1t was only
after We got inside the distance hat ] spoke
10 him, and he went away from IL ms II he
was lust from the barn for exercise. Every
tinng was In the horses favor, and he did
Just what l expected him To do-that Is pace
a mile n good deal faster than 1t had ever
BEEN done before. His fastest mile this sea
con was the one in ,2.10 at Milwaukee. md
previous to that be had never gone better
than 2.i1L. So, you see. that TO drop from
there to 2:06h was quite a job. l didn't know
to a certainty that he could do 1t, because !
bad not been trying him syery week to end
out. A horse will stand one grand drive,
but when you come to ask him to do his very
best every week he will begin to get sick Of
it, and the minute a trotter or PAGER strikes
that frame Of mind he Is not going to beat
his record much. And that Is why / am not
going to drive Johnston another mile thii
season at the, very top Of his speed Next
spring l shall GO along easy with him, just az
I have done this year, and IL no bad luck be
falls him he viii 60 a mile close to two min.
utes. | know that sound like pretty big
talk, but when you come 10 look at the mat
ter carefully there Is nothing unreasonable Of
extraordinary about ii. The horse can speed
4 quarter OF a mile now Al better than a two
minute gait, and as he is young, sound, gam,
aud Of the improving kind don't sec any
thing in the way of his l~sarniIg to go.a mix
ct pretty near the rate Of speed that he nov
shows for a quarter" r