Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-01-27
TWO 0UTCAsT RACERS

nsade his first appearance at the Benning
track at the fall meeting. He was pushed
into race at mile, or mile and
sixteenth. or some such matter, and be-
cause there were lot OF pretty fair ones
in that event, none of the bettors could
see Latheron.
With q long price against him--2o or 70
to 1-Latheron came home that day In what
the straw-chewers OF the paddock call a
'.traipse'
Nobody in the llorsy line around Wash
ington has heard much about Latheron
since. 1t has been known that Latheron
has been running at the bush. ",or small
meetings in minor cities. but the major
dope hasn't contained his name often
enough to have It noticed II at all.
Well, this son of the Irish horse Atheling
showed up with rattle down In New Or
leans about ten days ago. and he clinched
his performance OF that day on Monday
last.
Latheron. 1t appeared, had drifted into
the possession of A. C. McAnerty. we'll
known owner of selling platers. Latheron's
legs like the legs of good many Of the
Atheiang progeny, had gone bad. McAf-
ferty had picked up Latheron somewhere.
buying him despite his bad underpinning.
The horse looked to have a race or two in
him. and McAnefty figured on getting
one race to win him out McAnerty not
only needed to win out Latherons pur-
chase price. but the price of lot of vet
Urinary treatment which the horse required.
The horse had to be nerved. and it took
long time. and lot of money. to get him
around to any sort of shape where 1t look
ed as he might stand training. McAf-
ferty got him around to that point, and
then, merely as an experiment, after
few weeks OF training, showed Latheron
into race at the New Orleans fair grounds
track. He wanted to see il the horses legs
were going to do. Latheron's legs did"
all right HIS price that day was so to /.
and he came home like Mississippi river
steamboat with pfckaninny sitting on the
safety valve. He Just went away and hid
from his field, and few Of the other horses
in the race knew which way L.atheron went.
McAnerty hadn't put dollar on Lathe
ron. He had no idea that the horse would
win. Friends of McAfferty found him NUT
tering strange and outlandiSh gibberish to
himself in a corner Of the paddock after
the race, and for days afterward the mega
phone shouters in the rubberneck wagons
of New Orleans pointed McAfferty out as
the sorest man that ever Wore galluses
south of Mason and Dixon's line.
When the race was over and Latheron
was cooled out his dicky legs were found to
be looking pretty bad. 1t didn't seem pos
sible that he could be got to the post again
for long time. So. McAfferty decided to
get rid of Latheron at the first opportunity.
He did get Nrid of him. He put Latheron up
on the following day at a weed-out sale in
the Fair Grounds paddock. Nobody bid on
the horse. His legs looked too bad. Any
how, the horsemen had it all doped out
that the horse was just a once-in-a-while
animal, whose swan song had most likely
been sung with his win on the previous day,
and so they didn't put in any bids Final
ly, when the auctioneer. almost with tears
in his eyes, was begging for any old kind
of bid, an owner of badge horses named
Henry Simuns said he'd give $50 for Lath-
eron.
He's yours" yelled the auctioneer, before
Simons had a chance to change his mind
or disappear in the crowd, and so Simons
led the dfcky-legged Latqleron to his barn,
ing him on the way.
On Monday. last Simons. after doctoring
Latheron's bad legs up bit, but the son of
Atheling into a Fair Grounds race with a
pretty tidy lot of milers. Simons is known
to- his turf friends as lone of these here fool
bettors." Anyway, Simons felt bit sorry
and he wasn't going to let Latheron run
loose, whether he got run for his coin
or not. So he put $500 on I-atheron to win,
500 place and $500 to show, getting the
coin on in Covington pool rooms as not
to affect the price at the track. Latheron's
price was 20. s and 4. all three ways.
Latheron came on a-noddng. He was
Just sound asleep on his chin strap when
he finished, and there wasn't any part of
the journey during which he had really had
to run. Mr.. Simons got $4,000 in currency,
his winnings by express from COyingtOQ
couple of days later.
Right after the race the frenzied McAf-
ferty walked UP to Smons, who was sur
rounded by a bunch OF congratulating
horsemen and, said he to Simons, You're
the only son-of-a-gun on earth that 1 really
hate, and then walked away. refusing to
listen to Simons' admonftion that he try to
forget 1t and not take it to heart too Sc
verely
All of which brought to the mind of a
veteran trainer, now wintering string at
Benning, the recollection of another re-
markable outcast horse, whose perform
ances nve or six years ago will be well re-
membered by many of the Washington fol-
lowers of the game.
'Latheron," said the old-time trainer,
"cost his last buyer $50, but the one have
in mind was $40 horse. His name was
kriss Krfngle. The man who picked him I'D
for $40 got him at sale of supposed scrubs
at the Latonia track. Each of Kriss Krin-
gle's four knees was at that time the size of
an old-fashioned bell-crowned plug hat.
When Kriss Kringle walked around in his
stall or in the paddock you could hear him
creak. He'd been fired and blistered and
nerved so often that his legs looked like the
embroidery portions of a peek-a-boo waist.
and Kriss Kringle was SO tired of the whole
gag that he often used to refuse to get up
in the morning to eat, preferring to lie down
and just try to die.
"This was the kind of shape he was In
when the man with the ten-case note got
hold of him. When this man bid $40 on
KISS krlngle all the merry wagS attending
the paddock sale hauled him around in their
uncomfortable glee, and pulled his hat dewn
over his eyes, and handed him around like
medicine ball-he was such joke so he
was for giving up ten good round metal
bones for such a piece of Camembert as
Kriss Kringle.
All right for you bone heads was the
$40 bidders reply to their jibes; all you've
got to do is to watch me. I'll get a race
out of this old hunk of glue yet
Then they laughed at him and kidded
him more than ever.
This so bidder knew a lot about the vet
Urinary business The strnging to which
he'd been subjected ranked within him He
made up his mind that he'd get Kriss krin-
gle to the post again or bust. He went to
work Systematically at Kriss, who'd been
shamefully neglected by his previous own
ers. Kriss appreciated the kind treatment
and began to chirk up. He was a wel-bred
horse, and, as long as his legs had held out
hed been a game runner After month or
so Kriss, despite his big knees struck his
owner as being fit to try for something Be-
fore the horse was sent to the post how
ever his owner accidentally found out some
thing about the horse. This was that Kriss
was morta1ly afraid of the sound of tin
being whacked. The stable cooks used to
beat the bottom of a dishpan to summon the
hands to dinner. and every time they did
this Kriss kringie would all but Jump out
of his skin. The owner decided that Kriss