The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1901-08-18
Made the Fastest Mile in Contest
That Was Ever Covered
by a Racing Gelding
CLOSELY PUSHED BY ALERT.
Duel Between the PAGERS Equallcd
in Interest Only by the
Cresceus-The Abbot TrOt-
ting Race.
SPECIAL

A6G oA4@ 6SAAA
New York. Aug. H.-With a heat in a ract
in 2:ol%. won In a jog by E. B. Rice's grea1
PAGER Anaconda. the New York Trottinl
Associations first meeting ended brilliantly
at Brighton Beach to-day. The star per.
Torrance was seen in the final heat Of the
free-for-all race. which. through withdraw
ais. had simmered down to a duel between
Anaconda and Prince Alert. They had met
At ~Poughkeepsie one week earlier and
Jack" Curry had driven the hoppled horse
to victory in 2,ols. but when they came to-
gether at Brighton, Anaconda was made
favorite on the strength of his fast win
ming race against Joe Patchen last Tues
day. In the auction pools sold before the
first heat, The Snake horse" as the auc-
tioneer called him, brought Sle0 as against
go and $5 for the Providence PAGER.
SparrinR for Wind.
In the first heat Curry was merely recon-
noitering, to ascertain the enemy's strength.
He made no great effort to win. but let his
lcng-bodied. bloodlike bay horse take It easy
twenty lengths in the rear. while gray
haired Jack Trout sent the favorite
around the turn IN :ni2. on to the half in
10lk and back home in 2:05 for the mile.
anaconda Out for . killing.
Both horses Were boiling when they came
out for the second round. Curry seemed as
IL he meant business this time, and when
| Frank Walker shouted "Go.' he gave the
hoppled wonder his head in an attempt to
pace Anaconda of his legs or into the
ground. With his nose where Jack Trout
could have reached out and touched II,
Prince Alert chased his meteoric rival three
quarters of a mile at a two-miuute gait,
| each quarter being paced In exactly 30.
Anaconda was pulling a ton and Trout
laid back like a man in a BARRIERS chair as
he tried to hold his horse together. So
smoothly and swiftly did the rival flyers
cover ground that from the grand stand
they looked to be sliding or flying up the
back stretch and around the turn.
! Went the Pace That Kills.
| Every horseman in the wrought-up crowd
knew II was simply a question as to which
would be the first to blow up." for all were
aware that the record-smashing pace would
never be maintained throughout the mile.
Into the home stretch the crack side-wheel-
ers swung. with less than half a length be-
tween them.
Like The Abbot In his race with Cresceus.
Prince Albert closed gamely on the leader
until his admirers thought the heat be-
longed to him. At almost the same point
In the track where The Abbot faltered and
fell back beaten. Curry's PAGER wavered.
weakened and began to die away. a beaten
horse. Trout eased away on Anaconda the
moment Curry stopped driving. From the
short-distance stand to the wire neither
horse beat q 30 clip. and both were jog
BIN ~ AN "a o1l ~ tHC NA1s
Anaconda might perhaps have paced the
mile th~ree-quarters of a second faster. but
he was all out and under a hard drive when
Prince Albert threw up the sponge.
New Record for Anaconda.
The time Of the mile. 2.0l%. is a new rec
ord for him. his fastest former record hav-
ing been 2.02Z. 1t was the fastest mile OF
the year by a PAGER in or out Of a race. and
has been surpassed only three times In the
history of harness ~racing-by Star Pointers
2!ooh. Joe Patchen's 2:olh and John r. Gen.
try's 2:01is. No gelding ever equaled II in
a race. Prince Albert's separate time to-day
was 2!2.
Anaconda Is a bay gelding. by Knight. son
Of Woodford Wilkes. son OF George Wilkes
His dam was a full sister to Flying lib
Cos. the sensational green PAGER OF 1892.
Anaconda was bred by James B. Haggin
and was foaled at Rancho del Paso. near
Sacramento Cal. in 1888.
Joe Patchen's great son. Dan Patch. that
gained a record of 2:04h in the second heat
Of the 2:15 trotting race on Friday. won the
postponed contest with case
to-day in two more heats.
Curry won a good race with his fast
young mare Onoto in the 2:15 class for
PAGERS. driving her first three miles In Zion.
2:l0k and 2:10h-
The meeting was one Of the most success
full trotting meetings ever held In New
York, the gate receipts for the day Of the
Cresceus-The Abbot race exceeding $4,000.
h fastest race records of the year were
made by both ~trotters and PAGERS and the
contests were close and exciting through
out the week. Another meeting will be held
next year and 1t may continue two weeks.
W. A. Engeman said to-day that he would
resoil the track and build new stables be-
fore the trotters visited Brighton again.
Summaries at Brighton.
a.0S class, pacing. purse $3.50 Diminished FIJI
Il