The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-12-10

,o,A Luck" Tale of tho Racetracks. !
U,.uNGToN, ID. C., Dec ga friend OF
,t,c Vho came here from Chicago for the Ben |
,,nes meeting WAS telling me about that Jim
U,rccyv mule" said an old.tmc trainer who !
IL ,,,u,cring a string Of jumpers and breaking
hr,cb of warnings out at the Jennings track.
.rb,, makes a queer story. and there are some ,
.,,.,re things connected with the thoroughbred F,
,.uc nj that This McClcevy horse wasn't
,o,,h a bag ot moist peanuts al the beginning
# the present racing season tie couldn't bca'
, IA, man lie had never been in the money.
I,.u,s legitimate thousand to-ons shot in suy
,,ut,ny lie was a candidate for the shafts
nj, b-ick cart. when by some odd chance he passed
into the possession Of q nice young woman who
"a. going to school somewhere In the State OF
Low, The girls uncle was mixed UP some Csy
=, another with the turf. and he bought the Nc
Chevy plug for a Joke. paying few dollars Tor
him In a spirit ri fun hc wrote To his niece
,h,t he had bought Jim Mctlcevy in her name
and that the horse belonged to her and would
bc min IN her interest The young woman didn't
tnoy the difference between n race horse ana
,h,,.l.ine bag She was an orphan. and suug-
r,ing to get an education for herself Her ambi.
zion Was 10 take course al womans college,
bu, IN 10 the time Of this incident. which LASTED
,hrourbou, the spring and summer. her hope
al put,ing this ambition over the plate was pretty
shadow and IL looked like II was up to her " get
a lob teaching country schoo, In order 70 suppof'
h.,s,It Bu, she wro,. W her uncle that she &C
c.r,cd the gift Of the noaecount racer WIN sfan'
,nd. and inquired u the horse could tot right
,,s, for II 80 she nigh, he able 10 dispose Of him
a. .or,. we'll. 10. do farmer in her neighborhood.
.Iim Mc,leevy was attached TO the string OF q
r,,I trainer who saw at once that the horse had
h,cp Underest,naied. that he had been badly
handled and that II would he worth the effort
10 ,ry to make something Of him He spent
two or three weeks monkcytng with the ska'c
and fixing him up and then he sent him out one
morning with a lummux of a stable boy on his
h,c and put the watch on him. Jim Mctlecvy
bt.r,ed a mile in IA fighting for his head at
IN. finish and two days later he was slapped
into selling race at mile and sixteenth, with
light weight, bum Apr 'n'i'' lad up, ana all
kinds Of a price, for there were some good ones
IN the race which was al the Harlem track. in
,bicay, The girls uncle scattered few dollars
nrrund the rluS on IN, mutt, all three ways. and
uc.,syy cams home on she Bit That the
beginning o, McCleevy. lie was put into couple
ot r,.,s a week at mile and more. al tho Harlem
and Hawth,rne tracks. during the entire racing
season. al Chicago. and he won race after race,
no matter how they piled the weight penalties
lin on him When he didn't win no broke into
the money and as there was always good price
on him seeing tina, almos, every time he raced
h. was pittAd agains, horses that seemed ~ out
Glass him. the uncle OF the girl who owned him
got som. 90 the money every time He parleyed
the money that he mad won for his niece on Jim
McCle-vy's first race. and he got II back and a
bunch besides every time The fame OF Jim
McLle-vy spread around Chicago, and Chicago
newspaper man went down ~ Iowa To interview
the Young woman who ownrd the horse She
Told him artrssly. that while she abhorrei
gambling sh" certainly did enjoy the pros
gst uuc q depostcd between $1,000 and SO 900
in ner nams. the amount he had won for her in
purses and bets on Jim McCleevy. at the wind.up
o the Chicago racing season. ana the horse
which developed quite a bit OF real class, still
inIi .snt il. that an underestimate race
hr-sr should hop out and not only give a nice
rri iIat mad never 80 much as has stroked his
,.r-A nccS a chance to fulfill her ambition for an
,duraUu hut win her start in life that II probab
make ner one n the eligible girls in the State 81
Iowa Bu, l recall a Gueersr Sne na1 nat.
race horsc and paid off a mortgage on church.
That happened out at la,onin four years ago
was racing a few OF my own out there at the time
and saw the affair from the beginning H. TN
wlndup III have 70 duck giving The names
for the good man who prohtcd by the sudder
development 81 the nag he accidentally bean,
pass,sd Of is still the pastor Of oc that congrc
gates in a pretty little debi-iree. brick and ston
Roman Catholic church on the outskirts Of Gin
'lnndNl
"1'hr re was an old trainer hanging around III
LAtonia harms at that time who as in hard lucL
from a whole lot Of different points Of view II
known him on the metropolitan tracks years he
fore. and he hal been, in his day 81 prospi nty
good fellow and horsc. wise man. II ever on
chrwed a straw. When his health went back oi
him however, six or seven years ago. and IN
couldn't personally attend TO his work he raj
an open training stable 1t was all of with him
The strings that he had been handling were talel
away from him by the owners and put in othe
hands and he went up against the day Of adver
MISTY Win rattle lie had ,s, lew h"rses OF NJ
them finally taken away from him 10 pa!
feed bills On top Of it all he developed locomo,o
four years ago. he could barely move around
How he contnved TO exist don't know. hut
guess the boys Clipped in a dollar or 50 ever
that he had left whom | reached I,atonia with M!
little bunch Was an old aS.year-od geldlng TIA
.%aioke Well. call him Caspnr The mention
Caspar looked q good deal like Diggs that came
ho!s that's pulling down the purses now in New
knees on him each as big as your hal, u ali IN
bunged up soured chalky old skates that eve
looked over. this Caspar Eeldine was the limi,
more than fair three-ycar.old. He had wo
four races as a two-year-old and six A. q three
but h he T sss and d%md
year-old Caspar could Just walk and that's al
He was a cripple from every point Of the compass
He was ohronicaly sour and sore, and he Was a
vicious and ugly as the devil. into the bargair
Henever got anywhere near the money as a four an
hveycar-old and he hadn't been raced al all as
six veal. old, when ! first clapped an eye on hi
rheumatic old shape. But the old man a sent
mentast in his way and he couldn't stand IN
idea Of selling horse that he had taken care
AZ a baby 70 some truck driver 10 be overwOrke
and abused So he hung on 10 Cnspar. fed hin
nursed him and took care of him generally iu'
as II nrold plug was making good for all Of tn
attention Chspar was standing gag nroun
the Ih'pn.a stables
''Waitll jogge CaSpar under the string b
four lengths in the kentucky Derby! monkey
faced apprentice jockey would say soemnly
the other Kids. and then they'd all hollrr
We'll, about month after | struck Latonia-
IL WAS then getting on toward midsummer I'll
old trainer in hard luck who owne' Cnspnr toO
70 his bunk, not 10 get up any more. He onl
zen, 10Y an old Irish priest that he had known 4
q number Of years The priest was the pastor
that little brick and stone church on the outskr
81 tinclnnnti that spoke about The old train
had been a good Catholic all his life, and he =
,"iyed the last offices Of his faith Then he sa
10 the priest:
Father there's Grabbed, battered-up old dc
nj mine over al l,atonia that I'll make you a pre-
en- Of He's worth ab9u, or" dollar and ,cgh
cents but he was a good rsring tool when he W
Young and I've never felt like turning him loo
"a hustle for himself He's crippled up some, b
Won might get him broken TO harness, ~ that