The Portland daily press., 1895-10-19
Jack Sprat'' Distinguishes His Old
Age.
BY TROTTING A HALF MILE IN
1.14.
He Did 1t at Freeport Yesterday-The Last
of the Maine Fairs Ftnished-E1it
Trots, Pulling Matches, Fakirs, Side
Shows and the Festive Pumpkin Til
,96.
ESPECIAL TO TEE pREss.J

| Freeport, October 18.-The season OF
country fairs has closed and the ground
may now freeze up without interfering
| with the horse trots. The close OF inc
trotting season at Maine parks was
marked by an event of unusual interest.
It was in many ways a remarkable per-
| formanoe, for it is almost an unheard OF
thing in trotting circles for horse Il
years old to travel a half mile at 2.24
Clip Had the conditions been little bet
ter it is not unlikely that the time for
the half mile might have been made as
low as 40. There was a good-sized
crowd on the grounds and when Jack
Sprat appeared to make his attempt to
beat LA for the half mile, he was given
q hearty greeting. Ira Woodbury. held
the ribbons and gave the old horse pre-
liminary half mile to warm him up for
the task. Meanwhile the appearance of
the running mate set the crowd to laugh
ing. He was little broncho, about half
as big as the old ia shioned cart to which
he was harnessed. 'sLook out for the
pole house." cried youngster, as the
broncho dashed down the stretch with
the big road cart, which looked like an
arm chair on top of a high wheeled sulky.
AS Jack finished the first half mile, the
broncho was guided in behind and away
they went. Jack. was going good deal
faster than the brOncho wanted to run
and thespacemaker was about six lengths
in the rear until the. back stretch was
reached when his driver induced him to
get up alongside the trotter. During this
time Jack Sprat was plodding right
along, never even lifting his nose. There
over and the time was announced as
/. 10 IA Had the track been in little
better shape and the runner been little
more vigorous, the time might easily
have been two seconds less. The track,
which is an exceptionally good one, was
a-little hard, owing to the weather, and
also somewhat rough. 1t Is said that
he is now, will be trained at Rigby next
year and given some exhibition heats
there. He is now much too fat to do his
| best.
The racing began with1the 2.35 race un-
| finished from yesterday. 1t was drawn
battle last night. Bradford b. having won
two heats and Dimple p. two One heat
today settled it, as Dimple p got the odd
heat. The summary:
235 Class-Purse 500. Completely
sDimple F., Chimney -Trafton), a31 / l
Bradford, B., g, (Jordan), 2 6
Ben MoGregor, b S.. (Jones), 6s3 3
Daniel, b g, (Je4kins), 8 4 2
Annie D, m, (Stanwood), 8 5
lamont, bis. (Atherton,) 555 a A
Time-2 So ga, 2.35 IA, 2.35, 2. 81 10,
2. Sc.
The 2. 40 class was the first on today g
! card, and lamont, which was near the
end Of the parade in the 3. 35 race won
| this one in straight fheats. King Bird.
| the Brunswick PAGER, was in the field
| and still at his anotics. Yesterday, Mr..
Morrell, one of his owners, drove the
horse.
Today "Jed'' Woodbury. tried it. He
managed to land the horse in third place
in the first heat. but in the second the
PAGER was so rank that the last place in
the procession was his. In the last heat
Ira Woodbury. tried it. He got the PAGER
on his stride and went through the field
| like Cyclone through western city. but
King Bird had no sooner virtually won
the heat, than he broke. When Jay Bird
breaks, it is no little. HOP, skip and jump.
He pulls and see-saws about until his
driver gets him down to walk and
then it is too late, with all the PAGER S
peed to get him to the front again. So
lamont had it practically his own way.
The summary:
q 40 Glass, Purse 500.
lamont bl S, (Atherton), II 1
Mary Matt, b m, Chimney, 80 8
| Col. Dyer. bl g, (Buck), So 2
King Bird. b g, Woodbury. 8 6 5
| Chester, e, (Merrill), As 4
Harvard, b G, (Kane), 6
Time-2. 36 IL, 2.39 IA, 2.36 3D.
The free fOr-all started with Glendale
an easy winner of two heats and then
Philios won the third and there it stands
at this writing The summary:
Free-for-All. Purse 500.
Glendale, b 8, (Richards), 112
Philios, b g, (Giroux- Roynolds), 54 1
Ned Allen, oh g, Jordan, 22 5
Gen Mac, br 8, (Stuart), 33 4
Blalck Medium, bl s, (Brackett), As 3
Time 2.s7 1-2, 2.2S ga, 2271-4
The Freeport people deserve congratu-
lations on the success of the fair. They
intend next year to greatly improve the
/