Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-07-28
BRUTAL FLOGGING

warning OF OF Tod Sloan. and who has won
practically all OF the great English turf
events this year, has got himself into trou-
Bile. with the English turf authorities
through his savage and ungovernahle tenn
per. said man who keeps abreast OF the
big affairs of the turf
He recently administered a frightful
f1ogging to a beaten horse he was riding on
one of the English tracks. The way IN
which he whipped the unfortunate horse
aroused the wrath of the crowd. particular
ly when It was seen that the whipping was
the result of pure devilish temper on the
Jockeys part, for the horse he rode was
beaten on at the time, and Maher was
treated to q scorchinB reception when he
rode back to the stand to weigh in. Tbs
stolid English folk were simply moved out
of themselves to see the animal slugged oy
the jockey when there wasn't chance In
the world of his even getting into tne
money. The racing authorities have taken
the matter up at the universal demand OF
the English racing public. and Makers rid
ing career In England hangs In the balance
at the present time. He will be fortunate
young man IL he isn't ruled on, fer the
English Jockey Club Is exceedingly strict In
It's punishment Of horssmen who abuse their
animals either publicly or privately. s.
s'It would naturally be supposed that one
Incident OF this kind in jockeys life
would serve him as valuabie deterring
lesson for the remainder of his days, Dat
the impetuous Maher. who. barring his tenn
per- is unquestionably one of the greatest
horse riders in the history OF the game.
seems to have profited not at all by the
narrow shave he had OF It at the time ne
so numerically cut his mount tho great
Banastar, when that horse was left at the
post in the Suburban Handicap six or seven
years ago.
THAT was as disagreeabIe an incident as
ever saw at race track. and 1t sat hard5
upon the nerves of thousands or persons
who saw 1t for many days afterward.
"Banastar was the favorite In that race.
He belonged to wealthy New York man
who had but lately entered the racing
game for the pure love of 1t. The owner
naturally thought that he was doing the
best thing in getting Maher to rice. lot
Maher was the legitimate successor OF Ioo
Sloan in riding skill, and he was at tnat
time before he'd ever seen Engiand.the
star jockey OF all America. The public as
well as the plungers played Banastar as II
the race we're all over, and. consiaering
the class of the field and the comparatively
poor time In which the race was actually
won. it seems impossible that Banastar
could have lost had he got away from the
post.
But Banastar had always been an ex-
trernely nervous horse. and he was particu-
larry so on this hot. humid afternoon.
when he was keyed up for the race OF ms
life He did not, however, exhibit any
more fractiousness at the post than some OF
the other horses in the race, and, In the
hands of a jockey of more GOODNESS ana
soothed down so that he'd have got away
from the barrier with the rest. But. IN
stead of endeavoring to calm the morse
Maher only scourged him at the post Wltn
his whip, and that sent the high-strung
Banastar into the air. The horse wheeieo
every time there was break-st,s was at
the time when the recall system of start
ing was still in vogue-and every time ne
wheeled Maher gave him additional
flashing until the horse was In state OF
actual madness and really Co. not know
what was expected OF him.
! Finally the starter caught the horses on
! what seemed line to him, with the nerV-
| GUS Banastar facing the webbing. and ne
squeezed the bulb and gave the snout.
starters calling out however. Banasts.r
wheeled again and propped himself, with
| his back to the barrier, while the hylng
field was well on its way down past the
| stand for the acknowledgements jaunt.
"Banastar was thus left dat-footed at the
| post. There was no chance for him ever to
catch the swrling field even II he could De
| got going 1t was piece of bad luck, ana,
| as such should have been accepted by the
| Jockey and all hands-a bitter pill for the
| rider to swallow, certainly, but no more
bitter for him than 1t was Tor the owner 7
| of the horse and for the thousands or
people In the stand who'd played the ami
| NAL to win and who had expected great
| things for Banastar
| to swallow the pill. He drove the rowels
| of his spurs into the wild horses sides TIL
the blood flowed in streams from the wounds.
Then Maher got Bansstar turned the right
! 'Maher was beating the horse, with all
| the power of his strong arms, with the
metal-bound butt of his whip, about the
/ head particularly about the eyes.
! sAngry men yelled at Maher to forbear,
but he paid never the slightest attention to
| them.
! thousands OF men stood literally trans
fixed with rage as they watched the per-
| formance Women clutched at their threats
! and then toppled over faintfng, and stu.
| around the first bend, Maher kept up the
| rataplan of blows upon the unfortunate
| horses head, the crack of the wallops be-
| Ing plainly heard above the din.
| XIII him, Banastart men howled. lean
! Ing far forward Savage the dogl Reach
| around and grab one OF his legs with your
| teeth and pull him off your back and tram
| pie him into the dirt till there's nothing left
| of him, the hound!
Never was such a scene enacted on a
| race track as that. It spoke superbly for
/ the good hearts of the men and women IN
| that immense crowd, and 1t was direct
| slap in the face for the adage which pirates
! about the brutality of crowds. There WASH [
| a man in that enormous bunch whose fin
gers didn't tngie and ache to be wrapped
| around Makers throat
Far around into the back stretch Maher
| continued his smuggling of the mighty Ban
astar and then, his first hot rage passed he
| wheeled the horse about for the return to
| the stand.
Meanwhile, the Suburban had been run,
! but the people In the stand were paying no
| attention. Pale men were seen massng
| themselves at the fence around the judges.
stand and this looked so ominous to Rob-
| ert Pinkerton that he summoned all OF his
men on to the track in front of the judges
stand. When Maher brought his bleeding
| horse up such a seorching as that little man
| got you'd think would linger in his bad
| dreams for the remainder of his life. The
men massed against the fence tried te
| jump out on to the track TO get hold OF
Maher, but the Pinkertons beat them back
with clubs. and thus only was Maher saved
from being torn limb from limb.
1.-THE wealthy owner of Banastar sat and
watched the whole performance like a man
in a state of paralysis, perfectly immova-
BILE When 1t was all over he merely whis
pered-he couldn't talk above a whisper
that. as he had two years contract on
Makers services, he'd see to it that Maher
stayed on the ground for those two years.
Then the owner of Banastar went away
from the track, and he never returned 10 it.
Very shortly afterward Ii was announced,
that he was suffering from acute melan-s
cholia He died not many months later, al
together out of his mind, 1t was said at the
time
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