The Anaconda standard., 1899-08-15

incompetent as a trainer. Never one
went to the post in his colors that he
did not have a man betting for him.
The god of fortune is good to the man
who keeps on trying, and one day he
guided into the stable presided over by
Smith a gelding called Oakland. He
was the ugliest animal that was ever
carded on a race track: 16 hands high.
bony, angular, long of limb and head
and with a body that had as many
curves as a sea serpent in action. He
Galloped with the combined graCes of
a COW and a giraffe.
No man who ever had an idea that
he knew a horse when he saw him
would have played a dollar on Oakland
to win a bronCho dash. Oakland and
Smith fitted each other, and when
Smith elected to put 'Skeets' on the
animal of strange contour and stranger
method of navigation, the trio seemed
to be in perfect accord as to general
incompetency.
Sad it is to tell the tale of that first
effort of Smith, Oakland and "Skeets.' y
1t was a hot betting race. with two or
three fancied horses played hard in it.
The track was muddy. By some mis-
chance ''Skeets" got off first, and his
mount went striding over the streak of
yellow mud as if he were on stills.
Far behind him struggled crowd Of
gallant thoroughbreds, completely an
chored in the sticky going. ''Skeets"
was scared the horse did not know
what was happening to him, and Smith
was leaning over the track fence in a
condition of passive hysteria when Oak
land came cantering home all alone.
The betting men cursed loud and i'm
pressive oaths, swearing at owner, boy
and horse that had upset their calcula-
tions.
Ia
stand to dismount he was white as a
ghost. He did not even know that he
had won. The other boys were covered
from head to foot with mud that had
been thrown by Oaklands heels, and
when they tumbled off their horses
and gathered in the scale room they
looked at "Skeets" as if he We're a
stranger. Thorpe was one of the jock
eys. He took a look at "Skeets' clean
face and garments and then draWled
out:
Which way did you go when we
left the flag?"
That was the first bracket which
"Skeets'' ever scored. He has ridden
more than a thousand winners since
then, but he will never forget that
Oakland day.
Oakland got to be a good horse, that
is, horse that could cover ground fast
enough to win frequently, and that
means a good horse to. a gambling
man, no matter if he does violate every
tradition of the turf in his makeup
and manneriSmS.
After that first race he was always
figured, and in the overnight events
he became so much a factor that there
was violent protest against "Skeets.' -
You see, a likely horse in a race ought
always to be provided with a likely boy
to ride him. and although Oakland had
shown a capacity for winning, nobody
could stand for "Skeets" as a jockey;
at least. nobody but Smith
He insisted that "Skeets' was as
handy a boy on a horse as could be got
in the West, and every time that Oak
land was entered "Skeets'' was named
to ride him. Time after time the
judges took "Skeets' down and substi-
tuted another lad.
Each time Smith would make fervid
cry for "Skeets." He would argue it
out with the judges in his own fearful
way, begging, pleading. demonstrating,
explaining why "Skeets'' was a premier
jockey without opportunity.
He finally became so great nuisance
in his loyalty to "Skeets" that he was
told in so many words that whenever
he entered Oakland with Martin as the
jockey the entry would be refused. That