The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-08-10
QUIT THE CAME
 BUT NO GUTTER Old Horseman Tells Why He
 Gave Up Racing REALIZED HIS AMBITION Won at Every Race Except In the Spendthirft Event and This Wor ried Hm--But He Wins
 After 25 Years.
REALIZED HIS AMBITION

It had fallen to Charlie's lot to win, at one time or another during his career, every stake which had been offered at the Bay track, and his failure to lift the Spendthrift worried him.
 Carpenter was an owner of the old school. He trained his horses himself and ran them on their merits. AS mat ter of course he bet on them. It was the only way he had to show his confidence in the animals he schooled, and, besides, he needed the money thus won. Keeping a big stable Is great expense.
 A dozen times Charlie had had candi- date In the Spendthrift. Some of them were horses of class, stake horses which had won other and more valuable races, but they had all fallen down when called upon to add this plate to their owners collection and this purse to their owners cank account.
 There was the year Railing won the Urban Handicap. The gelding had been hailed by turfmen as the champion of the year. Race after race he captured and the public began to think him invinci- ble when the weights for the Spendthrift were posted and it was found that Rail ing's name headed the list.
 He had gone to the post that day car rying more of the publc's money than many other horses had carried in 1ife- time. He was left at the post.
 Since the Railing fiasco Carpenter had summed the Spendthrift as he would case of the plague. In five years he had disdained to enter a contender. He rec ognized the race as a hoodoo and was content to let 1t alone.
 When the season of legislative excite ment struck the race track Carpenter like many others of his kind, laughed at the efforts of the men whom he termed "old women," and did nothing to fight the bills which they were trying to force upon an unwilling public These old-timers felt safe in the knowledge that they were car rying on a legitimate business and treated the bigotry of the enemy with disdain They had not learned the lesson that fire must be fought with fire. Accustomed to dealing with men who governed their &C., tions with reason, they remained idle on- lockers while a man whom accidents had made governor, passing his action on prejudice and bigotry, stole from them their livelihood.
 Charlie Carpenter was among that num- Der of horsemen, and the number was many who would not admit defeat. Be- cause betting had been made a crime by an unenlightened, boss-driven legislature, he quit betting, but his horses were en- tered in just as many races as formerly Some won and some lost, and Charlie smiled Tn either event.
 Hasty meetings had been called at some of the tracks almost before the ink was dry on the governors signature to the anti-betting bill. In fear for a small percentage of dividends the governors at the Bay determined to drop some of the more important fixtures of the sum- mer meeting. They were not good losers.
 In order that they might escape without scathe all of the brunt of the evil which was being done these same governors sent around slips requesting the signature of the various owners who had horses entered for the cancelled races. releasing the track from any damages. It was an unwise course, taken without due delib- eration and consideration. It was giving I'D the first line of trenches to the enemy, and Charlie Carpenter did not approve. He refused to sign the slip which had been sent to him.
 By strange coincidence the Spendthrift was the only race of the Bay meeting in which Carpenter had an entry. It had come about through his purchase of Standard, colt whose owner had entered him for the race before Carpenter had even heard of him. And because 1t was the easy way, the governors of the Bay track determined to retain the Sperd- thrift rather than risk a suit at law.
 Charlie regarded his victory as a rather hollow one, but he was resolved to make the most of 1t. He was fighter, was Charlie and to give quarter to the enemy was outside his code.
 Two days before the race Carpenter was called west by telegram which brought news of the serious illness of his son. He turned the stable over to his fore man and prepared to depart.
 "You want Standard run in the Spend- thrift?" asked the foreman.
 "Certainly." answered Charlie. ''Why not?"
 Hes favoring his off hind foot It, tle" said the foreman.
 Charlie turned almost savagely.
 sI wouldn't care if had only three legs" he said Hes entered for this race and he's going to run"
 "All right boss' hastily said the fore- man. who knew better than to offer coun- fer advise "1 just thought he wouldn't have much chance, that's all"
 "Of course he won't have much chance" said Carpenter. "No horse ever had any chance in that race if he carried my col ors I haven't won it and don't expect to. but the horse goes for that race just the same.
  became the standing joke of the tpack xyhen Ii became known that he would'run under the colors of the man to whom tbe race was hoodoo. Any price which might be asked could have been obtained aoainst him by those who were betting despite the law
 The temporary head of the stable, be- lieving as little as any one else in the coli nevertheless did all that was in his nower to get the lame leg into shape If would not add any to the prestige of the stable to have the horse left too far hebind So he doctored and blistered and sat nm nights before the race in an ef- fort to tighten the handicap And his efforts were fruitful. The colt did not linn m the day of the race.
 They went to the post in sea of mud. poin was falling in torrents. Great solid hoIts of lightning chased zigzag flashes ooross the dark-gray sky. It had rained at intervals during the entire afternoon ana this was the continuation of the l storm ~ | rho few regulars who huddled in the srandstand smiled as they saw horse e,tar horse scratched from the Spend | thrift Few owners of stake horses cared to send their property out on such day l ond euch a track and with each scratch tha chances of Standard became more ] favorable.
 1 1t was a field of three which ventured | rorth for the contest. Any one of the l othar horses was conceded to have a