Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1906-09-01

race track operator. With one horse
Rhadamanthus, he and his brother Phil
won many races and then, giving up
the butcher business, turned all their
attention to horse racing. For nearly
twenty years they owned the most for
midable stable of thoroughbreds in
America. They never bred horse
contenting themselves with buying
tried performers.
The story is told how one day Dwyer
and Father BiIl'' DAILY met in the
! judges stand at Gravesend just before
a race in which one of Dryers favor
lite horses was starter.
Have you bet on your horse, Mixer
asked Daily.
No, Father" said Dwyer calmly.
well, well,' unused DAILY, 81 wanted
to put $40 ON him myself, but if you
don't think him good I'll back my own
horse. 1t is between them"
Mr.. DAILY hobbled away. NJ. F.
| Dryers commissioners made the
rounds and bet thousands Of dollars
| for their chief on his horse.
| When the race was run the, favorite,
Dryers horse. won. and Days horse.
an outsider. was second.
TOO bad you didn't bet on him.
said DAILY to Dwyer. with sigh.
why, did you bet on your horse,
Father?"
Yes" said DAILY, land! I'm glad it
| was only for place"
| DAILY won $50 on his horse and Dwyer
| $4,000 on his. DAILY was happier than
| Dwyer, who never seemed to rejoice
after the manner of men who win or
| bemoan after the manneriof those who
| lose.
Mike Dwyer was by, long odds the
greatest plunger ever seen on any
American race track, while his brother
Phil was careful and conservative in
his turf speculations.
1t was u common thing fCS Mike to
wager $4,000 on the result of race,
and there were several occasions when
he wagered $50,0e9 to win 5000, the
odds on his horse being 1 to 10. Phil
was strongly opposed to this method of
betting and the result was that the
partnership which had lasted for four
teen years was by mutual consent dis
solved After the separation Phil built
the Brooklyn Jockeys clubs track at
Grayesend, which he still owns, and
which has made him q, millionaire sew
eral times over. Mike went to New
Jersey and built Il race track at Eliza
beth, but its gates We're closed by the
enforcement of law passed by the
New Jersey Legislature against racing
and bookmakinE
a 70 n
Dwyer, and his good luck of previous
years seemed to have deserted him.
Nevertheless. lin 1898, he won almost
100000 with. Banquet, Raceland and
others, but attthis time, he made dis
astrous trip to England and returned
broken in health and spirit.
Mike Dyyyer figured in the greatest
betting Kentucky Derby in the long
history 'ef that classic event. 1t oc-
curredti fin 1886. and Colonel Barnes had
the famous Blue Wing in the big race.
Thattwas the spring Colonel NJ. Lewis
Clark, then PRESIDENT of the Louisville
Jockey club. had his famous fight with
the Western Bookmakers' association.
The outcome of that disagreement was
no bookmaking on Derby day that year.
The auction pooling,was the heaviest
that afternoon in the history of the
Louisville track. Mike Dryer stood ON
one side of the seller bidding in every
pool on Blue Wing, while the New
York turf1nan L. o. Appleby was ON
the other buyinglfor ]. B. Haggln
the latter's great colt, Ben Ali, in ev
cry ticket. The pools faveraged $1,000
and upward, and hundreds of tickets
were/ sold. Blue Wing swerved all
over the track near the finish, and
after a battle royal Ben Ali won.
Horsemen who's witnessed the great
race contend tos this day that had Gar
rison held Billet's sons head and rode
with his hands and heels instead of
the whip the Barnes and Dwyer coup
would surely have gone through and
Dwyer would have won a fortune in
stead rof losing one. Blue Wing after
wardt finished in front of Ben Ali in
the American Derby won by Silver
Cloud, which would seem to indicate
he was really. better horse than the
son of Virgil
1t was alsOta Kentucky. Derby which
caused the only turf fraud Mike
Dwyer wast ever charged with. In an
interview at one time Captain S. s.
Brown, owner of the Kentucky asso-
citation race course, was credited with |
saying that Dwyer Bros. had Run |
nymeade pulled in the Derby won by |
Green B. Morris Apollo in order to aid |
the winter books, which had made |
a big favorite for that |
event, while Apollo was a rank outsid- |
er- Mike, Dwyer took the charge be-
fore the officials OF the Louisville
Jockey club and demanded an inyesti- |
cation. Captain Brown denied that he
had said such thing, and the article
was traced to an unreliable reporter