The Washington herald., 1918-03-17
FAMOUS FEAT
OF GARRISON
Wonderful Jockey Captured
American 1893 Derby ,
By Real Strategy.

Turf history Is rich with many deeds
Of greatness. but doubt whether there
ever will be another incidennt that
equals the performance Of Edward
("snapper") Garrison, who won the
rich American Derby In 1888 solely by
the use OF his brains.
Garrison, who stands out az one Of
the greatest jockeys Of all time, was
in the heyday of his career % years
ago. He had phenomenal success In
plotting all sorts of horses and his
services were eagerly sought Tor by
horse owners throughout the country.
The big race OF 1898. run before an
audience of over 10000. took place in
Chicago and was known as the
Worlds Fair American Derby, The
best race horses in America were en-
tered In that contest. And so was
Boundless thought Of so little by book
makers that odds OF 20 and 30 to
were posted against him.
Boundless never showed nervousness.
was steady and easy going. And these
characteristics OF his mount. coupled
with the fact that practically all of
the other animals entered against
him were Of the high-strung- nervous
type, gave Garrison his great idea.
He decided that his sole chance for
victory was in wearing out the other
horses b. false starts.
False Starts.
Garrison took his time getting to
the post with Boundiess. The other
horses had arrived there before him
and they were jumping around in fret
full fashion. AS soon as Garrison got
to the post with Boundless and the
horses were almost lined up for the
start he found something wrong with
a stirrup.
Then he dismounted and faxed a few
repairs. This took several minutes
during which time the other jockeys
were having trouble in keeping their
mounts somewhere near the starting
line. Garrison finally mounted and
maneuvered q false start.
Half Of the horses got away. Some
ran nearly a quarter OF q mile before
they were halted and brought back.
Then Garrison discovered something
wrong with his saddle. Again he dis
mounted. Jumping back into his seat
he engineered another false start, with
almost the entire field getting away
and running for at least a quarter of
a furlong.
1t was blistering hot that day and
every one Of the horses that had been
forced into q false start by Garrison's s
tricks was sweating and was losing
weight by the pound. During each
false start Garrison would dismount
and take his weight of Of Boundless,
hn oil A..
position where Garrison had placed
him.
The other jockeys. furious at Gar
rison's trickery, tried several times to
get the horses away but always Gar
rison baked a real start Meanwhile
every horse in the entire field outside
OF the patient, steady Boundless, had
worked itself into a froth and was
almost at the breaking point from ia
tigue Of from nervous excitement.
Finally c. G. Pettingill, the starter,
exasperated by GaFison's trickery,
which had kept the horses at the post
for more than an hour. yelled down
at him:
You're fined $780,"
Garrison at once howIed back a pro-
test at Pettingill and Pettingilrs re-
ply was:
You're fined another 500. That
makes 81 900 in ALL"
That bought about an end to Gar
rison's tactics-but his purpose had
been accomplished. He permitted the
horses to line up and to get away to
a real start. The race was nothing
more than a runaway for Boundless-
the outside horse. Boundless was a
fresh animal while the others looked
as IL they had run about four miles
before the actual start Of the race
Garrison never had to extend Bound
less to hts real limit throughout the
entire running of that race, because
all the other horses were so weary
that they were willing to call 1t quits
after a half mile had been run.
After the race was over the owner
OF Boundless handed Snapper" 81 ,OOC
which had been the fee agreed upon
before the race was run. Snapper
felt that because he had won the race
solely by his own ingenuity, that he
should have received a little more
money, especially in view of the fact
that the 1900 merely covered the fine
plastered on him by Pettingill. But
the owner Of Boundless refused tC
contribute any more and Snapper
Garrison was compelled to turn oyer
the $,OoO to the racing association and
then pay expenses Of the trip to and
from New York out Of his own pocket
The cleverest trick ever performed
In turf history cost the man who exc.
cuted 1t quite a bit of time, a lot OF
trouble and much money.
"