The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-06-11
AT THE RACES WITH JONAH
MEM DRIES OF AN UNLUCKY DAY
RECALLED BY BdN9STdR.
First Section Of the Remainder of Roll of
Money Lost by N Run Made in IA Black
FoR-Anothcr Sure Thing Took the Reat
An A rrnat nnI IL Enmn of Enrn.

| night about some Of the queer doings on the
| old half mile tracks
"Thc win OF this horse Banastar in the Brook
| lyn Handicap said one Of them. certainly
| did bring back to me, good aud strong. the
| memory Of tho rumkest Jonah day Of my life.
| Banastar wasn't born when that HAPPENED but
| Blessing. Banustnr's ma. was. and If Blessing
| wasn't the beginning Of the cusS that seemed
| to hang over me on that day. then don't know
hooIoo when look 1t between the two eyes
blessing. Banastar's dam. after having
done moro than creditahly on the big track s.
became one Of the stars OF the half milcrs.
One day at the wnd-up OF period Of two
months, during which hadn't enough luck to
float toy balloon. got 1t right that Blessing.
Banastars dam. was ready. 1t was to be a
| mile race. and this was at one OF the half mile
tracks. They started in front of the stand. and
OF course they had to 80 around twice. had a
horse-Ill tell you about that horse later on
and 81. 100 when the sun rose that morning.
The blessing proposition was ripe, and knew
it. She hadn't been out for some time, and [
knew therc'd be price. l had seen her morn
ing works, and they were track -siH2ers Her
trainer and the trainer Of my good skate were
pals. ana they had it between them that Bless
ing was moral all right She was. That's
the worst OF it. She was. But it didn't go
through.
There was 3 to l about blessing at the open
ing. and went straight to the big man on the
block hes still in the game and on top at tho
81 Iouis track and offered him 50 800 st rnirht
snJ rI,ro on D,.s.iny lilo r,In n hig hook
was !, nInr,,rr from the inside AM, ln took ,ho
mnrtsr. Inn, hr wos n friend ~ mine. and he
frankly said that, in view of the vicious luck
I'd been having. he'd rather not take my bed
rock cOin for he knew how near the rail was
e" Blessing may DO it, he said. but |
wouldn't stand to go broke on it. Why don't
70" wait for your own plug to win Hen walk wal
to-day and there II be even money about nun
Il figured that had an air-tight good thing
III n'Ie,." ~ mo"o,vi, ""t "'1 a.. w.
TAXED on 1t, Blessing race was ,he lrst one
hloct,st rop 7 cvnr sow in his country como
w. w., so that man with rood eyes could barely
see the horses parading In front OF the stand
A how named B.n,ler whn droppod ont long
AGO and " was gooI nt skimpimp the rail at the
halt-miers was atop of Blessing
They got of to a ragged start Blessing last.
nat ''e Iast any oouS eou'u SEQ Vi ''eii'
They jumped into the dense fog. and as the
io0. oroia'o' So y. ,.'o we
Jumps there was no description linen 'n'le
was the muilcd SOUND OF hooloea's on sou
iai. n'1 w. 800, H.,
'heir way around again puhcheu ike 30 hany
Thorn J,vo COT strong eves. and was close TO
tho tro, w. w., NAV, 60 p,aosto ma
knew every line Of her.
"'Sbc's fallen down. said T. and I'm n good
deaI Oh dead one at this stage oil the game
I'm not a dead hard loser, but | don't mind
saying that felt pretty sore had calculated
on Blessing being such q pipe and here she
was dista need. waited for her to limp up to
the stand. Then l heard the thud of the finish
ing horses again. and ono Of them was ont in
front twenty lengths and more in the lead. Ii
was Blessing. | couldn't understand it. 1t
together and then i knew that the boy on
Blessing had made stab at one OF the
racetrack in this country. He had only
taken the mare around the ring once.
He had purposely pulled her up ut flag
fall in order to get Off last and then he had let
her trail her field until she got around out OF
sight In the black fog. Then he pulled Blessing
field to come un behind him the second time
around. When he heard them coming up he
gave the mare a dig with his spurs and she
boy expected to put one like that over the plate.
but hr was crazy enough to try it.
60 Blessing walks! shouted the crowd down
near tho fence and not one in a hundred OF
them was next to the phony dodge. Even
some OF tho boys in tho race We're mys'iilel.
Several Of them however had got on to the
thing. and they made their kick right of. The
tanning that he had gone around twice Ii he
had owned up to the thing when he saw ii was
n n soS sn'I MIX" It he M sort et say
from being thrown over the fence. or some
thing like that, he would have saved his
license but he absurdly stuck to 1t that lie
had made the circuit twice. He could have
won with Blessing, at that by taking her right
out in front and kecping her there: and tho
only reason | can give for his not doing thi,
was that he was too lazy to ride the mare, and
| preferred taking the chance on n trick.
" His dodge cost me my 50 300 That was n
| swell beginning for a DAY, wasn't II Z | had
| 5000 left and my skate. This horse could pick
| up weight and 20 a -ix-furong or mile route
| with the best Of them. His name wasn't very
| different from Hot sport. and you fellows all
| remember him. / had bought him for less
| than 50 600 had pulled down many n purse
| with him. and had been offered as much as
| $4,000 FOR him when he developed under my
| trainers care into u more than useful animal
| He had gone wrong in front however. at the
wind-up OF this regular season that I'm talk
| ing about, and had been turned ont for a
| couple OF months before being taken up again.
! The report was spread broadcast that Hot
sport had dicky legs whereas he had nothing
| oil the sort lio had simply suffered in front
from having a bit too much work, and when he
| was taken up he was found to he all right and
| a. good as ever he was
| lie was entered in the six-turlouC race that
| followed the dump | had got on the Blessing
| business and OF course he opened at Il short
| price for tho field wasn't up to him in class