The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-08-19

Sweet Marie would trot a mile in 2:07 or better before the season Is over. As the mare occupies the center of the stage in harness circles just now local horsemen will be interested in her his tory which Is given by a Chicago paper as follows:
 Sweet Marie Is a remarkable trotter. She is also one with a remarkable his tory. She halls from California and is now something like eight years of by rubber. or stable boy, of Los Angeles Cal. who got hold of her dam. well bred mare called Lady Rivers, by Carr's Mambrino, for a song
 He was then working for c. A. Dur fee. the well known Los Angeles trot- ting horseman. who allowed him to breed the mare to the celebrated stall lion Mckinney. 2:1l 1-4. then Durfee's years ago for $25.000 to H. B. Gentry of Bloomington. Ind. Mckinney Is to- day the sire of more 2:10 trotters-fve than any other horse on record. while Rivers. was by Mambrino Patchen, for many years .the premier sire of trot- ting brood mares. Therefore, while the breeder of Sweet Marie was cer- tainly plebeian. her breeding is ahst cratic in so far as her blood lines go. It was three years ago last spring that she first began to make a noise in the world. She had then become the property of a hotel-keeper named Milo Potter of Los Angeles. who be- gan racing her at the matinees held in the City of the Angels" She was absolutely green. but 1t was not long
 before she showed herself next to a phenomenon. for she beat everything brought against her. both trotters and pacers, including many with fast turf records, and made an amateur record
 to wagon. of 2:13 IA Naturally these 4v-P~ to her, which spread from California to the East Many horsemen endeavor- ed to persuade her owner to race her professionally. but he steadfastly re- fused In December of that year 1901-Mr. Potter left Los Angeles and before doing so held public sale of his horses. Sweet Marie was offered at this sale and was there purchased by her present owner William Garland of Los Angeles. for S3,150.
 It was comparatively small price for mare of such known speed, but l have been told that Potter refused to allow the mare to be raced on the turf, where. with no technical record she looked to be able to win heavily in slow classes. had led many horsemen to think that there was a blemish in her somewhere. and so there were few bidders when she was led before the auction block.
 It has turned out that never was a story more unfounded. But it gained wider credence till the next season, when her new owner followed her old ones policy and started her at a few matinees only. Her speed was greater than ever. and she lowered her record to 2:11 1-4.
 This was in the spring of 1903, and among others who witnessed the per formance was a well-known Chicago horseman. then spending a few weeks on the coast Upon his return to this city he mentioned the mare to me one day and said that she looked to him like remarkable mare. but that he was told that she would hardly do" Tor race mare, with other significant hints of like nature: For himself. however, he was unable to see any thing about her to lend color to such an idea.
 Whether this report reached her owner and nettled him, or not. I didn't know. But in the spring of 1903 much curiosity was aroused when it was an- nounced that she had been placed in the hands of w, G. Durfee, son of the former owner of sire. to be raced pro- fessionally. Durfee decided to cam paign her first In the far Northwest and she made her turf debut in Au- gust at Seattle, Wash. Here she won SIX races In succession without an ef- fort. the fastest time in any of them being 2;l5 1-2. She was then taken to salem Oregon. Here in a race for . 5000 prize. she won the first heat m [:LS l-2 In the next she was third in 2;12 l-2 The judges considered that Durfee had pulled her and order ed him out of the sulky for the third heat. He fatly refused to obey. and after sensational scene the mare was led to the stable and she and Durfee were indefinitely suspended
 This ended her campaign of 1903 abruptly. But last winter the sus- pension against her was revoked and her owner then placed her in the hands of Robert smith Smith Is a wealthy young man who went to California from Philadelphia several years ago to regain his health, his lungs being affected Being fond of trotters he began training them purely for his own amusement, and he Is now racing Sweet Marie for that rather than for any desire for emolument His driv- ing. moreover is considered nearly as remarkable as the mares racing ouaii- ty His handling of her has been be- yond criticism and in a hot finish he can sit still and win almost like n Geers.
 She races very high in flesh, but re- ,peats in a way that shows her to bel