Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-01-06
JUDGING BY LOOKS

"a story that / heard recently about Mr..
Nicholas Longworth and Mr.. H. NJ zeigler,
the noted Cincinnati owner of thorough
breds, reminded me of something" said
Washington owner of race horses who re-
Gently returned from visit to New Or
leans.
1.-THE story goes that some years ago Mr.
Ziegler. an Intimate friend Of Mr.. Long
worth took the latter down to his Ken
lucky thoroughbred farm TO show him his
collection OF fine yearings.
"All of these yeariings were as yet un-
named
Longworth, said Ziegaer, as they
strolled about the stalls. you'd better let
me name one Of these yeariings after you.
/, They're swell bunch. and almost all OF
them are well-nigh bound to do something
big in the world
z" 7 don't mind was Mr. Longworth's re-
ply. But I'd like to be sure of bestowing
my cherished name on a real good one. Id
hate to have a bad one running in my name
My friends OF a racing turn would be guy
ing me all the time about my namesake
performances
"'WeH, said Mr.. Ziegler. you're pretty
good judge of a race horse yourself. Now,
here are two of my cracks in these two
stalls III have 'em led out into my pad
dock by one of the stable hands. and you
can look them over and take your pick OF
them. Whichever one you like the best III
name after yoIi.'
Done said Mr. Longworth, and the
two yearlings were led into the OPEN
''They were both fine lockers, but Mr..
Longworth liked the appearance of the
larger one of the two the better
" That one.' he said. pointing to his pick.
He looks good to me-
He's christened Mick Longworth,
then, said Mr.. Ziegaer. and the colt was
duly named Nick LongwOrth and registered
DRxav
Now, the other colt of the pair from
which Mr.. Longworth made his selection
was afterward named Hermis. Sounds
kind o. familiar to you, Ell that name Her
mis-? Well. should think 1t would sound
familiar, seeing that, In the deliberate be-
lief of many of the most astute horsemen
in this country Hermis was absolutely the
finest race horse ever foaled in the United
States, a speed and distance marvel, a bull
dog who never knew when he was beaten,
and an animal worthy to be ranked with
the very greatest race horses OF all time in
this or any other country.
$50 much for Hermis, the one that Mr..
IIongworth didn't pick out. AS for the one
that he did pick out, and that was named
Nick Longworth-well. Nick was worth
about nine dollars and seventy-two cents
as racing proposition, and that's about
all. He could win selling race once in
while Thursdays when the wind was
sou'-sou'east by nor, but he couldn't get
out of his own way in running with even
fair handicap horses, and he lost about
twenty times to one win. and 1t really did
come to pass that Mr.. Longworth's Gin
clnnati friends guyed him numerically
about his namesake horse. Mr. Longworth
never, of course, told his guying friends
that he'd actually had the chance to get so
noble animal as Hermis named after
him. He probably felt that the situation
was bad enough as it was.
"All of which came to my mind while
was down in New Orleans, attending the
races there.
There's horse owner down there rae
ing small string at the old Fair Grounds
track who has got into the habit Of talk
ing to himself during recent years. But
he is not crazy, and his friends understand
what ails him. Every little while he drills
over to an out-of-the- way corner, where
he thinks he is out Of the range Of obser-
walton, and gibbers to himself, and makes
strange gestures with his hands. and, at
the end, goes through queer motions with
his legs as IL attempting to kick himself.
But, as / say, all his friends understand
the reason why, and so they don't dope
him out as a candidate for the BOBBY
hatch. The answer Is that If ever a horse
man, since the beginning of the racing
game, had kick with himself a-cOming,
this man who still talks to himself about
it has that kick a-coming. -..
And the nub of 1t Is this: When the
mighty McChesney and Evelyn Byrd were
yearlings and on the block for sale for
few hundred dollars-it was a sale of sup
posedly cheap yearlings. and there weren't
ers fancy as being right tidy and trim
little FLY, while. to his view, McChesney
looked lummoxy and gross and overgrown
and clumsy.
Nothing to it as between these two
he said to himself, sizing up the pair. Me
for the f1lly, and he paid the price asked
for Evelyn Byrd and led her away to his
shed.
Then McChesney, the gross clumsy,
lummoxy, notwithstanding yearling
that had been, pranced out and made him
self a conquering and well-nigh inyincible
king among the thoroughbreds of his era.
And Evelyn Byrd, doing the very best that
was in her, proved herself to be nothing
but a poor little old selling platter with no
more pretensions to class than a prairie
cayuse. She won a few races from goat
horses. even after she went totally blind,
as she did, but there was never a minute in
her life when she had any more chance with
McChesney than I'd have with Jim Jeffries.
80 that nobody is surprised when these
frequent tidal waves of memory strike this
rather poor and hard-luck owner and he
hikes Off to corner of the New Orleans
paddock and has 1t out with himself. The
means are coming to him.