The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1895-01-03
SECRETS OF THE RACE COURSE
How FlectfoOted Animals are Sometimes
'Doped" to Make Them Lose.
From the San Francisco Call

How Flect-fOoted Animals are Sometimes
"Doped" to Make Them Lose.
From the San Francisco Call.
The recent alleged dosings of the Ameri-
can derby winner. Rey ell Santa Anita, and
| the suspension of counselor Bill Brien,
trainer for the Baldwin string recalls some
incidents of famous racers that were
| ''doped' and the methods most used by
crooked trainers and INSCRIPTIONS horse
men. In England the crime of dosing is
called "n0bbing," and was much practiced
I in the early part of the present century.
| In the year 1855 Dan DansOn was caught
at the nefariOus practice in that country.
was condemned to death and executed.
| The most celebrated case of recent years
was the dosing of Orme, the favOrite for
| the English derby of 1892. The horse was
given drug short time prior to the
great event by some unknown miscreant,
and his owner, the Duke of Westminster,
was compelled to scratch him, thus throwing
THOUSANDS, of pounds into the bookmakers'
Golfers. 4 large reward was offered for the
| apprehension of the offender but no trace
of him was ever found.
Great excitement was caused in the cOun-
| try at the time by the poisoning of the
great race horse, Wagner, at Nashville,
Tenn, when he suffered defeat from the
gray mare, Gamma, not as good II race
mare by many pounds as Wagner. At st.
Louis in the summer Of 1889 Ed Corrgan's
great son of Longfeow, Freeland, was
poisoned in most fiendish manner. A
hole was punctured in one of his legs and
the deadly drug inserted therein. This
threw him out of training and he ran no
more that season; but he recovered and
was fine 3-year-old, and practically I'M
beatable MS Il 4-year.Old. Another case
the details of which were similar, was the
poisoning of the great tlly, Clipsetta, be-
longing to Y. j. Megibcn, the well known
Kentucky distiler. She was treated in the
same manner in Chicago shortly after the
Freeland case. She had beaten all the best
FLIES in the South and was a hot favOrte
for the Ladies' stake. but on the night be-
fore the race a tiend in human form by
some means gained access to the stable
and she met the fate of Freeland, only
with much more serious results, as the
splendid lilly died in awful agony on the
day the stake was run. Miss WOOdfOrd,
who became the queen of the turf, won
the event easily, it being her first start in
public
But of late years. as in every other
science and profession, horsemen have
grown wise and less dangerous drugs and
methods are used that answer as well and
leave no Ill effects on the animal. One
very ingenus method that has been used
trils of the horse. After running we'll for
some distance his breathing becomes la
bored. and, in the language of the swipes,
he will "cough it up Another stopping
two or three drops of this on a lump of
sugar given to n horse will make him think
he has passed the wire when about three
quarters of the distance has been ira
yersed, and he will slow up despite all urg-
ing on the Jockeys part. But, unless well
cooled off after the race, this is apt to have
injurious effect on the animal. A good bran
mash, with liberia lseupply, of salt in it
is a pretty sure guarantee that the book
makers will not be troubled with paying off
many tickets on that horse.
very clever trick was once worked at
the Bay District track by some parties that
owned a very fast Splinter. a piece of gut
was tied tightly around one of the animals
legs She was then taken out and warmed
up through the stretch, and of course
pulled up dead lame" This report soon
spread around the ring and the horse from
favorite Immediately became a long price
in the betting. The owners then played
their money, the piece of gut was removed
and soon after the race they had plenty of
money. At the last Jockey club meeting
the horse Alto Mic was said to have been
run in race shOd with lead shoes, and fin
iShed in the rear of his field. But this be-
came nOiScd about and he was never cut
loose for the intended killing. At another
meeting Il horse was started with shOtted
boots and was supposed to be a dead One.''
The owner and his friends on the inside
then proceeded to play another horse in the
race. hn 1.-THE dead one, getting off in front
ran like Il wild horse ana was never headed
But the method most in vogue when an
owner figures that his horse will be a favor
tie mt short price is to run them ''short"
and is entirely harmless in its after effects
For Instance. if the race is over Il distance
u enc mile the horse will be worked three
quarters and after that distance has been
run in the race he will elbow up and fin
iSh with the also rams. These are but
few Of the many tricks that can be reSOrted
to by crooked horSemen to fool judges and
public: but the best proof that honesty is the
best policy is in the fact that very few of
the uOrSemen who resort to the methods
above referred to ever have any money.
They generally get 20 the end of their rope
with one lonely plug as reminder of the
days when bill and me used TO get the
stuff -