Omaha daily bee., 1899-09-17
DOWNFALL OF STAR POINTER
Last Week Saw the cthronemen of
the King of the Harness
Performers.

Last week witnessed the DOWNFALL of Star
Pointer. He was showing a trihe lame
even before the start and while in shape
good enough for a trial against the watch
was not fit for a hard race more than one
heat. 1t had not been possible to give him
work enough, efaring a breakdown in train
! ing, so that, although he was decidedly
lame when pulled up a beaten horse in the
third heat, yet 1t was as much lack OF
condition as anything else. Joe Patchen
was driven by Dickerson and his defeat Of
Gentry shows that there was no mistake in
the late Goshen race, the result of which
was attributed to Patchen having the luck
to draw the pole.
Unless most of the men who follow the
harness horses are much mistaken, Star
Pointer has paced his last race. He has
been aptly termed the John L.. Sullivan of
harness horses, and like the great pugilist
he seems to have fought just once too
often. For four years the big bay stallion
has been on the point of breaking down.
In fact, he broke down in 1894 when Ed
Geers campaigned him for his then owner,
]. w. Titley of Chicora, Pa. Titley patched
him up, but put him in a public sale at
Cleveland the next spring, fearing to keep
so risky a piece Of property. Geers and
his employer, G. ]. Hamlin, then believed
Star Pointer to be the fastest PAGER in the
world, but they were afraid to buy him
on account Of his ailing legs. Smith C
Mills of Boston got him at this sale for
about IS, 900, whereas twice that sum would
hardly have bought him If his legs had
been as clean as those of his great rivals,
John r. Gentry and Joe Patchen.
The Boston horsemen got nervous after
,r,nt,- Ill., 80, ,o-- .- .-~t--1
him to one of the big auction sales at
Madison Square Garden in the fall of 1896.
His record was then 2:02A, and 1t was gen.
orally admitted that he could beat it two
or three seconds. The Hamlins wanted him
worse than ever at this time, but again the
big fellows bad ankles kept the Buffalo
horsemen from bidding on him. The Chi
cago phnger, James A. Murphy, decided
to take a chance on the horse and bought
him for So, 100. Murphy owned him when
he set the worlds record at 1894 in 1897,
and as he had stood up through the cam
paigns the Chicago man held on another
year. But the worry of owning a s15, 900
was at last too much for him and he sent
the champion back to the Garden to be sold.
This time 1t was forme Congressman W..
]. White of Cleveland who became the
owner o: tie fastest harness horse in The
world. Mr.. White paid SIS, 900 for him. He
owns a big stock farm near Cleveland,
which he calls the Two Minute Stock Farm,
and he bought the pioneer two-minute PAGER
just to make the ambitious name CT his
breeding stud sound right. 1t was his in
tention to retire the stallion to the stud at
the end OF he present campaign at all
events, so that the Cleveland breeder will
not be a great loser by the sudden termin-
alton of the Pointers racing career. The
great PAGER pulled up very lame in the last
heat of the race, and nine trainers out of
ten who were interviewed Immediately after
the contest expressed the belief that the big
fellow had started in public for the last
time.
That Star Pointer was the greatest PAGER
ever foaled few horsemen have a doubt. He
could carry his clip further than almost any
horse OF the day, and his stroke was at
once SO long and so rapid that 1t carried
him over the ground at a rate of speed that
none could equal. His record of 1851 is at
least a second too slow to indicate his true
limit Of speed, according to the belief of
nearly all critics. 1t was not the superior
speed of Joe Patchen that defeated Star
Pointer, but the lack of s~taying-up work on
Star Pointer before the race, and finally the
lameness which caused him to go all 10
pieces in the third heat. In the first two
heats the champion showed a turn of speed
such as has seldom been surpassed any
where by any harness horse. He went to the
half each time in less than a minute, and
he paced the second quarter at a 1855 clip,
when he set out to take the pole from
Patchen in the first round. That the cham
pion was not stayed-up to carry his speed
the full mile Is no fault Of Trainer Nc
Clary, for the driver OF Pointer was afraid
to give him as much fast work as he
needed, lest the dreaded breakdown should
occur before the race.