The Hawaiian gazette., 1901-04-26
A RACING
CONSPIRACY

Soc Nichols. the Jockey who rode
Nifgie \ ln her race with Aggravatiun
last saturday left for the Coast yes.
tDtday on the Sierra ia company with
man named sdmuuds. VINO was one
W the largest winners over the race.
with Nichols departure much Of the
mystery surrounding Saturdays race
H. removed. and the anfair stands re-
NoHlcd, one OF the most barcfaCed swim.
dies and diHgruccful conspracies ever
pcrpetrated on the Hawaiian turf
\ few weeks ago Nirgie a and Ag-
giaNatiun met at seven furlongs, and
the former. ridden By Nichols. won
with ridiculous ease, Aggravation max
ing no showing whatever In the final
three eighths. The winner was backed
for dollars and dimes. and "A small for
tune was won over the result. Opio-
Pic, who rode Aggravatiou, put up a
criminally bad ride, and the opinion OF
many prominent turfmen expressed
without hesitation, was that Opiopio
had sold the race to Nichols. one OF
the biggest winners over the race was
Soldier" O'Donnel the Camp McKin-
ley plunger.
\ second race between the horses
was arranged, this time at mile, with
Nichols engaged to pilot Virgie a, and
II was in connection with this that
Nichols got in his fine work.
Nirgie a is Jointly owned by Lieuten-
ant Hamilton, of the Sixth Artillery,
and "Al' Moore. Soldier" O'Donnell,
also of the Sixth Artillery, is an adj
mirer of the mare, and stood ready last
week to back her to the extent of his
roll, which runs into the thousands
| 1t was O'Donnelps money that Mich
OILS and his associate were after. To
this end the jockey spared no pains to
Empress on the soldier that Virgie A
won the first race on her merits, and
was absolutely sure of winning the
second.
The plot went smoothly enough until
the morning of the race, wnen the
news went forth that O'Donnell had
been robbed of $4,000. This was a sad
blow to the conspirators, but it was
decided to carry the job through and
rake in all the money that could be
obtained at the track.
| When the betting opened the stable
money for Virgie A was soon placed,
and several hundreds of outside money
was laid in the same direction. AS
| yet no decided move in favor of Ag-
gravation had been made. Suddenly
the whisper went around that Agra
walton was the goods, and that it was
a case of beg, borrow or steal, but
get on.
The response was marvellous. Peo-
| pie who never bet more than ten dol
lars on a race unless they have it al
ready won, dug up hundreds, and
worked harder than ever before In
their lives getting their money cover
ed. Through the crowd moved Mich
OILS confiding to all and sundry that
Aggravaton would have to sprout
wings in order to beat Virgie A. Mich
OILS partner distributed a couple of
thousand dollars in chunks among
friends to be bet on Aggravation even
at the sacrifice of shade of odds.
With wads of money still unbet at
the Aggravation end of the deal, and
| ing over each other in order to secure
some of the vile thing, the flag fell.
! Nichols started the performance In
thorough accord with his book, and
succeeded in getting the worst of the
start in a most fragrant manner, To
make matters surer he allowed Agra
walton to open up practically unclose-
able gap and passed the quarter pole
at least two seconds in the rear. OF
| course Aggravation won in walk
and Virgie A staggered home IN a
manner which very strongly suggested
bucket of water or worse, inside her.
Virgie's undoubted speed should have
carried her on equal terms with AS-
gravation to the half at least, ana
Nichols instructions from Lieutenant
Hancock were to keep close up and II
possible pass Aggravation at the half
and take the pole. Nichols was act
ing as his own instructor in that race,
however, and after the race he care
fully avoided meeting the Lieutenant,
Lieutenant Hancock was astounded
at his mares showing He bet heavily
on her and was naturally anxious to
find out the reason for such start
ling reversal of form. To this end he
conn ced a searching investigation,
and Tuesday Nichols told a friend that
he Intended to depart on the Sierra.
He k-pt his word and with him Went
lIdn uuds who boosted last week that
he owned Nichols, and who won over
$1,000 m the race.
Nichols was warned off the Oakland
track t"u years ago for suspicious rid
ing. He came down here last year and
rode for the Sam ParlSerPrince David
stable at the June meeting. Several of
his rides here have been exceedingly
dubious but his most open piece of
rascality was committed at the Hilo
track last December when he pulled
the neck off Frank S.
Frank S started a hot favorite for
the half-mile dash. but was ignomin-
iously beaten by Rejected. week
later Frank S, ridden by
different boy, won easily from the same
field in second and half faster run
race.
made a great show of having backed
his mount so far as to advise his most
intimate acquaintance to do likewise.
After the Hilo affair Nichols was in
rank disodor with local owners, ana got
no riding at all, but gradually the
thing blew over, and of late his SER
vices have been in considerable de-
mand. He was taken into the conf
dence of the stable he last rode for,
and rewarded the compliment in his
customary fashion by throwing his
best friends down.
Only a few weeks ago Nichols re-
ceiVed notice that he had been rein
stated by the California Jockey Club,
and was free of its tracks again. He
left word in town that he was going
straight to Montana.
Al Moore is reported to have bet
little or nothing on Saturdays race,
and It is said that he and his partner
will retire from the local turf, disgust
ed with their brief experience,
For Church and State.