Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-07-22
TALES OF THE OLD
TRACK AT IRON HILL

The dead game. with the close-c-opped
Erayish hair. the tiny lines, denoting deep
foxiness trailing away from the corners oil
his eyes and mouth. and the inch wide
horseshoe pin OF sarronish diamonds, was
conversng derisively.
This Go Between gag makes mo very oo-
koop on-way" he said disdainfully, splitting
at a mark
He was adverting to the recent case OF
the clever horse Go Between, the winner
OF the Suburban. and well known by Ben
ming players Go Between, Il Will be re-
called by turf followers was allowed to
race for several years az geldlng' getting
the geldinK's weight allowance, whereas he
was recently proved to be in reality stall
hon. Go Between's people-the Shleldses,
well-known Canadian turfmen-felt the
weight Of the Jockey Clubs displeasure
when this fact WAS proved, the owner being
suspended and the trainer losing his license.
But 1 spose." went on the dead game,
that they've got to make four flushing
stab nowadays at running the gee-gee
game according to Epworth League by
laws II only to keep the fat-neads who do
that S3-a-throw dig thing at the gate
buckled up TO the notion that the Wnoie
rig-up Is on the level. Why say, l can re-
member a time when a little question IKE
whether a racing crab was a stallion or a
gelding-what's that7 You say you never
happened TO hit I'D Iron Hill. the old out
law track over yonder in Maryland, that
was running for Hogan and sweeney OF the
end book about ten to a dozen years ago!
We'll, II you didn't trail along any at tina t
desperate merry go-round you sure uiu
miss meeting uD with lot OF sure-enous n
smart people, YOU can take Ii from me. Ana
they weren't the kind OF folks, at that,
who'd toss and tumble restlessly In their
little white hunks o nights II they happened
TO make a mistake-yeh, mistake that the
word-about such a foolish little thing as
the sex of a horse. or the age OF one, or
anything like that.
II saw a geldinR run as a mare at Iron
Hill one day. Nm, ye-eh: Won, too as
the mare. and the people cleaned up
bank wad the size of an arc lamp seen
through a fog. They took a chance. and
they got by on sheer bull-head luck and
nerve.
That was what you might cali double
ringer job The gelding was ringer for
Q ringer II YOU can get that. Happened
this way:
partners in an outlaw string racing at Iron
Hill decided to Put something big over and
then drill. They had mare that had lost
her edge and couldn't get out OF her own
way and thev decided to run a ringer for
this mare They chose this one because
they knew where there was another mare
that looked a heap like the one In their
barn The ringer mare was at the oid Roby
paign. and her owner was willing 10 give
the fellows at Iron Hill the loan OF her on
being let In for his bit on the betting clean
M So he shipped the ringer mare on to
Iron HILL after getting her keyed to the
notch and ready to whip anything at iron
Hill In the meantime the out-of-torm
mare had been entered for the punk 800
or 500 Iron Hin stake race in which she
wasn't TO run.
The ringer mare from Roby was due to
arrive at the Iron Hill barn on the night
before the race. but the train that was
carrying her got into q wreck, and there
was a delay of twenty-four hours. The
people working the ringer gag learned about
this by telegraph. They were up tree.
They had sent their commissioners to Gov
ington, Chicago, Cincinnati and elsewhere
10 get the money down. and they knew
that their own mare didn't have chance
in the world to get a piece of the money,
much less win the race.
''They adjourned TO their barn TO talk II
over. Then they fell to looking at geld
ing they had a chestnut, the same as their
Ofr-form mare
We've got TO run something that can
win in the mares name tomorrow, said
one OF them. why not run this geldtng?
He can beat anything in that field, and we
can cinch 1t by filling him so full o dope
that it'n dribbe out OF his lamps lie
the same color as the mare and we can
paint him a blaze forehead like hers, and
fix him up a couple O. white hind feet IKE
she's got, and take chance
thing of running a geldinR as mare. That
booked too raw even for Iron Hill-and Iron
Hill was place where your bosom friend
'ud chlorofOrm you to get your two-oit
pair OF cufr buttons.
" Somebody 'ud be bound to get hep.
said the demurring one, and then we'd
get the boots. maybe, before we got q
chance to slip 'em another citron and pull
down a bundle worth while
Get hep. nothing, replied the partner
with the nerve These rummes here
never look at a horse. but keep their lamps
glued on the prices till the flags dropped.
The people in the judges stand are sozzles
that can't see finish without putting
hand over one eye to keep EN- from see
ing duplicates of each horse at the wire.
No danger from them The gelding can
wallop anything In the race by block
Ill fix the starter to give him running
break. and rs in
The balky partner agreed after some
more argument and then they went to
work with the paint tools to make the
geldlnR look Just as much more like the
mare FOR whom he was going to be run
as the ringer as brushes and dyes could
make him. When the job was finished the
only difference between the mare and the
gelding TO the casual view was In the
Slight matter OF conformation between the
male and the female runner, and the foxy
ones were willing to take the chance that
the thing 'ud Just happen through
1T nudged through, as l say, on creased