Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-08-11
HORSES IN THE SULKS

'The word recently published that Cres-
ceus. the champion of all the trotters. had
turned rogue and had utterly refused to be
trained for any more racing was rather q
surprise back this way. considering what q
| sweet-tempered animal Cresceus had always
shown himself to be: but horses dispositions
| can't be figured on. any more than hui
| MANS said Washington man who has
been familiar with the inns and outs Of the
trotting as well as Of the running turf for
| generation. TT isn't common occur
renee. however. for a trotting horse CT dis
| tinction to turn sour. and can't remember
more than three or four notables OF the
| trotting turf that have resolutely refused to
| be shaped for any more racing, as Cries.
| ceus has done.
But among the thoroughbreds Of the rum
| ming turf. and the greatest Of them, this Is
| no unusual thing. especially when the horse
has been subjected to q hard drumming as
| a two-year-old. Right at the present time.
| for instance. there's a horse four-fiushing
| around on the New York tracks. going to
the post only occasionally on account Of his
| hopelessness that hasn't a superior in
| America for speed or stamina IL he could
only be made to give out what he has In
him. ! refer to Ormonde's Right. He isn't
| classed among the great running horses Of
this time. solely because he has been a
| sour animal ever since his tNo-year-old
| year. He's as fast as the wind can run all
day and carry any kind Of weight and go
on any sort OF track. and yet he has de-
Iberately elected to remain among the ranks
| OF the second-rate handicap horses because
| his temper Is as vinegary as a prosecuted
dogs. Half dozen times last year. under
| bamboozling and cajolery and petting and
| pampering and wheedling. this horse went
| out and demonstrated his right to be ranked
| among the high ones. but even his owner
| never knew when he really intended to run
l straight and nd ho
| kind Of a betting proposition. This year as
] usual. he stands stock still at the barrier,
| wheels when the webbing goes up. sulks
when the boy tries to kick him up with
the flying field, runs just little BIT and
| overtakes the field to show that he can do
| 1t II he wants to, then pins his ears, swishes
| his tail and stops as If somebody had hit
| him behind the ear with beer mallet
| blues, the great horse owned for several
years by Frank Farrell, was another one Of
! tho unconscionable rogues who might have
had his name ranked up alongside that Of
| Salvador and Hanover. and other such
| mighty ones II he hadn't turned sour in
| his early racing form. Keenan,, one of the
greatest horses ever produced in this coun-
try, turned from sweet colt into one Of
| the sourest rogues in American turf his
| tory almost in night, without anybody
! ever being able to offer an explanation Of
| what allied him. He raced not only in the
United States. but in England and India.
| and the profoundest student Of idiosyn-
| crasies Of race horses was never able to
| dope 1t out how keenan, was going to run
after he had taken 1t into his head that
he was going to join the sulkers' brigade
Once they got keenan, all sweetened up
while he was racing in India and entered
him for the great cup race Of that coun-
| try, run at Calcutta. His trainer gave 1t
out that Keenan, was acting as pretty as
| a seminary girl at her graduation exer-
| cises, and, as 1t was known that the
famous rogue was on edge, they made him
a top-heavy favorite for the race. in which
some of the finest horses In all India were
| carded to start.
| 'Keenan got away In front and just tin
canned along in front. leading by four
times his own length to the very middle
as a runaway Stag train bound down a
| steep grade. Then he suddenly pinned his
| ears and began to fail HIS tall up and
| down. and stopped SO suddenly that his boy
| almost went over his head. keenan, DELHI
| erately permitted every other horse in the
| race to pass him. and 1t was estimated that
! the story of his renewed sweetness Of tenn
per which his trainer really believed in him.
| self cost the Calcutta bettors that day no
| less a sum than a million dollars.
| Another great American horse that be-
| came an utterly impossible rogue before be-
| ing shipped from this country to race IN
| England was the shifty Sly Fox. that raced
! around the New York tracks eight or nine
years ago. and for while cleaned up every
| thing in sight 1t was toward the latter
| part of his three-year-old career that Sly
i
| afterward made him SO notorious in Eng
| land. He'd been campaigned lot during
his first two years on the turf. and when
| he began to curl up under steady racing
his trainer did the usual things that are
| tried to nip the sulking bug in horses in the
| bud. But Sly Fox.-a- horse that possessed
one of the most dazzling turns of speed ever
seen in an American thoroughbred, went
from bad to worse before being shipped to
| England. He was all the greater rogue
for the fact that he pretended in his work
that he was just crazy to race. He almost
pulled his exercise boy out Of the sad
die in his exercise gallops. and stood will
lingly and docilely at the webbing when
being schoofed for the barrier. and DELHI
| erately. it almost seemed. sought to throw
| out the impression among his hopeful ham
dlers that he was as sweet as a walnut.
And he'd keep up this mean deception right
| up to post time in his regular races, pa
| rading to the barrier with the others with
all Of the politeness of a dancing master.
| AS soon as he faced the flag In an actual
race however. he'd begin to prop himself
like a billy goat that thinks he can stop q
| railroad locomotive or trolley car, and
! then the bettors in the stand who'd gone
| to the horse on the theory that he might
| act as nice in a race as In his works had
to groan in spirit to see Sly Fox get left
| at the post almost every time. I was one
| Of the unwise ones always taking a chance
| on Sly Fox in the days when his temper
| was souring. The horses price went up in
| every race. of course. as the layers saw
| off or run the kind Of a race he was ca
| pable of running, but I always took the
| chance that some day Sly Fox would
! change his mean mind and fool them all.
| "I was in this state of mind about Sly
| Fox one day when dropped into an AL
| bany pool room just to take a look at the
board, and saw Sly Fox's name chalked up
| as one of the starters in stake race.
| 81 was particularly in the mind to take a
| little crack at Sly Fox when observed that
they were offering 20 to / against his
chance That struck me as being all out
| Of line on the Sly Fox horse. no matter
\ how badly he'd been acting, and so dug
| into my pajamas and pulled out $50 to bet
| on him. number Of friends met in the
| room ridiculed me for my faith in the sour
one but I was never yet switched from
| making the kind of race horse bet
wanted to make by guying. and so showed
| in the $50 and got $1,000 to $50 ticket to
| hold In my hand while the agonizing calling
| off the race was being done by the tele-
graph operator.
Ion at Brighton" the operator sang
| out, and I began squeezing the pastebOard.
with all the 'ighness of 'ope Of any AIRY
| 'Awkins.
a 'Warrenton in the lead said the opera
! tor, then naming two of the others that
were second and third at the quarter. and
e., &tny IoA f,nIr all