The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-16
GATES RELAXATION

From the New York Sum-
 IHHE late John " Gates used to say l that the race track furnished him
 A with the relaxation he needed after
 business. Race track men are of the
 opinion that the horses owed him -noth- ing when he died, as he was not only l shrewd in his speculations but lucky
 withal
 MT. Gates was the last but one of the
 big plungers whom the conservative mem
 bers of the Jockey club would have been
 glad to see stay away from the tracks
 because of the wholesale manner in which
 they wagcred. It is matter aof comment
 among racing men that like two other
 noted plpngers he died within a year
 after racing had been suspended In the
 yicinity of New York.
 1 Senator McCarren was the first to die of
 the plungers who made history when rac-
 Ing was at it's zenith. McCarren did not
 not court publicity as did Davy Johnson.
 the second of the trio, nor were his meth l ods as f1amboyant as those of Gates. He bet quietly and nobody could tell after
 a race whether he had won or lost. He
 rarely smiled and his toining as a poli-
 tician made his face a mask which hid every emotion
 Johnson was exactly the opposite. The | world knew what he was doing always,
 and during the running of a race his fire Of comment was incessant. He never bet 1 a5 much money as McCarren or Gates, but 1t was only because he didn't have 1t, as he was wholly reckless and regarded
 money as so much paper. It's purchasing
 power meant nothing to him and he was | up and down all the time MT. Gates was what was called an infor-
 nation player and he always had some | body upon whose judgment he could rely. He was believer in his luck to a re- n,arkable degree and followed it occasion ally, but as in his other speculations those connected with the turf were in tended to yield a profit. In the days when Enoch Wishard trained for John A Drake. Mir. Gates would rely absolutely | upon the judgment of the clever horse-
 man who was making Ort Wells and other members of the Drake stable per-
 form wonders at times. On occasions he | would permit himself to be touted by | somebody with an alleged good thing, but | as a rule it was Wishard or later Durnell who advised him In matters pertaining to the track
 English turfmen credit Gates and his
 partner Drake with one of the biggest coups ever pulled off in their country. The best sprinter in England when he wanted to try was a man-eating chestnut stallion called Royal Flush. His temper was so bad that jockeys and trainers stood in constant fear of him. Wishard who is unsurpassed as a trainer and conqueror of vicious horses, realized that in his hands the stallion would be doubly valu- able, and he urged Drake to buy him. The price paid, s4000, was not 1.-the of the horses real value.
 Wishard told the writer the story of how he got the horse home, put him In a big box stall, tied his head securely on either side and bull-whipped him into submis- sion. There Is no more powerful weapon | in the hands of a man who knows how to use it than the bull whip, and a horse broken with it never forgets the sting of the thong at the end of the 15-foot l lash. After one or two doses of it Royal | Flush would stand in the center of the stall and let the smallest lad in the