Omaha daily bee., 1902-06-26
FAST TINE AT OMAHA TRACK
First Day Of Meet Brings Out Some Sem
s%ational Performances,
LOCAL THREt-YEAR-oLD BREAKS RECORD
Ella Range, Going Alone without
Driver, Covers Mile Three
Fourths of y Second Better
han Ever Before.

An Omaha horse was the first 3-year-old
to go a mile in $3.50 anywhere this season.
and the feat was accomplished Wednesday
afternoon on the half-m!le Sprague street
track In the second event OF the first
days racing Of the meet being hell there.
When The Critic, a handsome chestnut
stallion from the Keystone stock farm. led
his field twice around the track In the
second heat Of the 2.40 trotting class. no
one realized that B.. F. Thomas was driving
him to a record. but when two of the
three watches in the judges stand had
clapped It of exactly on the 80 mark, and
the other at 20k. the glad news was her
aided forth.
This fact helped to make the second race
the best Of the day. but after all his phe-
nomenal showing The Critic did not win.
His unstesdiness cost him the race, which
went to Ollie Miller, a little black mare
that took the first and third heats from
The Critic because the latter could not
keep on his feet. The Critic had the speed.
but Ollie had the steadiness. All three
heats were between these two from the
start, and The Critic could always step
away from the black lady Just a little bit,
but in the first heat three breaks cost the
victory, and in the last, just as the stall
lion had 1t won at the final eighth, a bunch
Of hooting boys on the fence sent him Oft
his feet again, and he lost. The best time
In the race was what The Critic made in
the second heat.
Ella Ranges Wonderful Race.
Even more remarkable than this was the
work OF Ella Range, the guideless wonder,
for this mare broke her own record Of
2:11 for a mile, pacing without rider or
driver twice around the track In 2:10A.
Ed Fitzsimmons, her trainer, was over
| joyed at the time, as he did not expect IL,
and he says that the horse would certainly
have done 2:0s yesterday had It not been
for an unfortunate accident on the first
start, when the hobbies broke. letting the
horse gallop all the way around the track
once before being caught. She was quieted
down and the hobbies mended, and even
then broke her record, laying to her work
like a soldier at the wire, taking the pole
at the start and never skipping once all
the journey. So evenly did she stride that
the speed did not appear great. and the
time, when announced, brought great APP
plause. This horse is one real guideless
| animal. There is nothing on her but q
| bride, surcingle and some ribbon streamers.
She is brought in covered. head and all,
with a blanket and is kept thus blinded
till let loose up the stretch. She gallops
for the wire, and strikes well into her pace
before reaching It. She never leaves the
pole, never slackens, and there are no
prompters around the track to urge her
on. Fitzsimmons says that 2:0s on a half
mile track is as good as 2:o5 on a mile
oval.
A fine crowd was present to see these
two record-breaking events and the first
day OF the meet was In every way a sue
cess. The quarterstretch was filled with
handsome equipages, the grandstand nicely
stocked as we'll. Add to this ideal weather,
a perfect track and competent manage
ment and you have the whole story. Then
there was one thing more that the horse
men liked especially, and that was the
cry, Come to the judges stand and get
your money now" that followed each race.
Blind Horse shows Well.
Jim Underwood. a swagger-looking bay
gelding, with heaps OF fire and style, but
blind in both eyes, was the sensation OF
the third race. a $3.50 trot. At hrst the
animal was frightfully unsteady, going up
in the air every sixteenth or SO, but he
showed in bursts Of speed that he was
faster than any Of his competitors. By bad
breaks he lost the first two heats, but then
bNCahA0d y" Az PNCPAS AaN ANSN ~
that time the horse was blind, and they
hal also been able to see he was fast, so
he was a favorite, and in the third heat
the work had steadied him down, so he
took that and the fourth readily. In the
fifth he went up again. however. and Bach
elor Maid, who had won the first two, took
the last one and the race. Lady Downing ran
second in each heat, but Jim Underwood
took second money. He also made the
best time Of the race, 2:24, in the third
heat, in which he did not break.
Dulcie s had simply a walkaway In the
fourth event, the 2:25 pace. Sumner Bruen,
the famous old Iowa horseman, was driv-
ing her, and in the first heat he lay back
all he, knew the whole distance. holding
Dulcie S clear back OF the field till the last
sixteenth. when he dashed up and took
second place without any effort. These
tactics suficed to keep Dulcie s from
smashing the class time, which was what
Bruen wished, but his work did not go with
the ofielals and Starter sapp called SUM
ner up and told him to take that race or
suffer the consequences.
Wins In a walk.
So after that Dulcie s simply ran away
from them all. getting big leads from the
start, and then Bruen would pull her down
almost to a walk the last 100 yards, thus
killing time, and still coming in winner by
lengths. In the second heat the little mare
reached the distance pole in 2:1o and could
have easily made the wire in 2:15. but 1t
was 2;21A when she got there. She is a
wonderful little horse, with the smoothest
gait imaginable, and she never fickers.
The first race. the amateur trot, from
which so much had been expected. proved
rather unsatisfactory, because only two
entries appeared, Almont, IT., owned by
w. H. Dudley Of Council BLUFFS, and Polly
Fox, by w. A. Paxton. jr. The latter horse