The Washington herald., 1913-01-26

race we'll, from that Happy Russell
horse Of four years ago down to the
Cozines already mentioned. Mott and ".
E. Miller always keep one guessing: one
can never tell what they will do next.
They labor in secret and love to give the
other fellows jolts and heart-failure.
Miller winters far down in the wilds
of Westmoreland County, and there he
prepares his horses. and the coups he
springs on horsemen and the public alike.
II Miller suspected that his left hand
knew what his right hand was doing.
he would cut II off. Miller may possess
a trifle more cunning than Mott. but
Mott has a shade the best Of him in the
way of cold storage nerve. In these two
specialties, they have Foxy Grattan beat
en- the length of Pennsylvania Avenue.
and he prides himself on being the only
and original Man OF Mystery. Mott is
rated as a jolly good fellow by every one,
and blandly smiles like Frank Thomas)
while he is putting one over on you.
Mott expects TO have his new halt-mile
track ready for Decoration Day sport.
and, II track horses in sufficient number
fail him. he will muster in the farm nags
of old Charles.
And. speaking Of missing loved ones
and the vacant chair and Willie We have
missed you. and such like. what has
become of the interesting quartet of local
horsemen-MichaeI Morris, Peter LOTUS.
John Morris, and Austin LOftus-known
also among their familiars as the I'm
separabIes" Like the Corsican brothers,
OF whom Dumas the elder, wrote, they
are in thought and impulse. They might,
too. be nkened to the Siamese twins, the
difference being that the twins were
bound to each other by a ligature OF
flesh. while the group we speak Of is
held together by the strong tie of friend
ship and personal esteem. Michael Nor
ris is the adviser-in-chief of the quartet,
and what he says usually goes
John Morris assumes the part of Chan
cellor of the excheduer. Peter LOTUS pur-
veyor-in-chief, and Austin LOTUS that OF
Pegasus on which he sometimes sides
when under the influence OF the divine
affiatus or sometimes stronger. His poem
in the Cork Examiner some years ago
still remains a distinctly Irish classic
The first verse shows with what sweet
ness he can WOO his nurse. or anything
else feminine. when he half tries: Take
back your gold, small change can never
buy me, Come to the front and say
you will be true!-G Give me the love that
you would fain deny me; be my wife
that's all I ask of you. Alas, no answer
greets my hearts whining. What other
words can I unto you say: except III
forthwith swallow sixteen drops of laund-
mum and lay me down to die upon the
hay"
Again hopples are in the limelight OF
discussion. When horsemen during the
winter months can find nothing else TO
debate, they drag out by the nape or
the neck that old subject as to whether
hopples should be abolished soon or late
In spite of what the two trotting asso-
Citations have done in the past, or what
they may promise to do IN the future
hopples like great many other pests
I with which man is compelled to combat
are here to stay for an indefinite period
They are here to stay because, under
present conditions, track associations
will not enforce the rules against them
for the reason that they want entries and
will get them by hook or crook
II must be conceded that hopples are
menace to life. limb, and personal
property, and that they are unsightiy
| (but not more so than eating poles and
head riggins), and that II would be far
better for the future of the light har-
ness horse IL they were abolished, to-
gether with all other artificial appliances
known to the race track. But II Is con-
ditions and not theories that confront
practical horsemen. The wrong that IL
really committed on tracks where hop
pied and free-legged PAGERS contest is
that the last named are competled to
meet on unequal terms horses who cam
not race well without having their legs
confined by straps. 1t seems to US that
the only safe and sane solution of the
hopple question is to compel the hoppled
PAGERS to compete with his fellows in
all track contests.
This done. the anti-hopple crusade
would cease in a measure and We should
once more have peace all along the line