The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-05-21
WAS n c A Il
Congressman Curtis, OF kansas, Has
Ridden I'm Many Hot Races.
Washington Post

w oAA ~ LOSG
Few who listened to Representative Cur
tbs, of Topeka, make his mastery defense
of Kansas against the imputation or the
dascmssS n %Snid s uprnng that seven seven years. years.
of his early boyhood were spent In the
saddle as a jockey.
in the West" he said. II was reared by
my grandmother, who owned a good string
of horses. and In 1869 took TO the saddle
a stable of race horses. From that year
until 1876 never a race season passed that
ment. I travelled the Western States, rid
ing races in Kansas, Missouri, Colorado
and Texas, and / had got such a reputation
Kentucky stable, and would have gone East
but for my grandmother.
1T was in 1876. My. grandfather had been
dead several years. when one Sunday after
noon. while We were at Topeka, after a
weeks racing, 1 went TO the house where
Kansas City the next day and join the
stable Of Kentucky t~horoughbreds. / had
made considerable money. and.used 20 spend
race season was over. As i called on my
grandmother she begged. me 70 Civ up
horse hoSSe racing and doa.t tak keo a th hny Q = course SSss
thought had never entered my head before,
but 1 got to thinking the matter over and
mother was right / went back to the fair
grounds and told Phil Gilman, now the
well-known starter, that L was going to
thought it was a good idea. but said he
would not engage a jockey for a few days
change my mind and join him in time to
ride the next big race. He was mistaken
in his conclusions, however, for started
until in 1879, when / completed my course.
AS soon as / had done this l entered a law
office in Topeka, and from that TINE 70 TINS
"You want TO know something. about my
experience as a jockey We'll. Tor one
Little Casino, probably the fastest and GER
tainly the best-known horse in the West
Then 1 rode Tilden, probaly the fastest
half-mile horse i'm the United States, and
Beecher. the famous two-mile horse. One
Of the fastest quarter-mile horses In the
Wess was Bob Ridley. and nobody put me
anything on the track, he had an ugly
haS.t of throwing back his ears and balk-
ing. ! carefully studied all his habits. and
i fixed things so that Bob would win.
whether he wanted TO or not. / got me a
pair Of spurs with rowels an inch long and
sharp as a needle. To this formidable
equipment l added a whalebone whip that
would cut through the skin, and, so armed.
position. Well. the word was given and
away we went like a cyclone, Bob Ridley
and me in the lead as l knew we would
be. / was sure Of the heat if i could keep
Bob level, but just at the critical nioment
1 saw him throw back his ears. and I
Rn o,,,d that hn the con next down ynln sir ne ON ~H b1s two we
front feet and stop. l didn't wait for him
to do it this time. / just buried the rays
of the rowel i'm his heaving sides, fetched
him a cut with the whalebone that made
the blood squirt, and Bob and I shot under
the wire easy winners He never tried
hat trick on me again, but I heard after.
ward that he had gone back to his old hab-
it's.
II rode one race at Independence that
would have gone down in horse lore as the
greatest of the kind if it hadn't been for
the slow time. 1t was a two-mil and re-
peat race, best two in three, and we ran
five heats. 1t was between Boston and a
mare called Lady Soothing Syrup. I rode
the Lady and won the first heat. The sec
ond was a dead heat. Boston won the
third, the fourth was another dead heat,
and the fifth fell to my lot.
81 could go on for a day and tell you
of my experiences, but / am not anxious TO
gain notoriety in that line, though / am
not ashamed Of what 1 did as a boy, as I
made the money that enabled me to get an
education"