Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-16
THE MUD-BUG 3
BY GERALD BEA UMONT
An Incident of "the Sport of Kings

I stables like a bantam, and he declined
to have his feathers dampened
, Swpes and stable boys took up the
| kidding where Jiggs Bradley left OF
, The latter contented himself with per
hitting the boy to work Corporal Joe
every morning, answering Sure
Sure" to the youngsters every sug
gestion.
1t became one of the treats of the
, track to watch Corporal Joe plowine
/, around the circuit under the guidance
, of Mother Slaps mud-bug. Rail-btrds
and checkers shouted encouragement
, as the bay rocked past.
Must be the pup at his heels that
sends the horse along so fast. com
. mented Split second Jones. Corporal
Joe Is behaving like a general this
morning If they'd run the Sweep
stakes on the Ohio River, I'd take n
chance on the old web-foot."
Marty Montgomery, who made
$40, 900 a year sending out informa'
ton to his clients, was the only one
who didn't laugh. Marty was inter.
ested in the way Corporal Joe pulled
UP at the end of a workout. The old
campaigner showed a willingness to
so on.
Now, there are many surprising
angles to the sport of kings. The Old
Testament has it rightly: The race
is not to the swift, nor the battle TO
the strong, neither yet bread to the
wise but time and chance hap
peneth to them ALL"
Old SNOWFALL, who rubbed the Ryan
horses, was accustomed to CLASSIFY
Corporal Joe as "one of them chron1-
cal cripples" No one disputed Snow
ball. Jiggs Bradley, with several high
class contenders in his care, had
wasted little time on Corporal Joe.
The big bay gelding had won many
race in his prime for Baltimore Ryan,
and the latter insisted on retaining
his pets long after they had outllved
their usefulness.
Jiggs had experimental with the
Corporal in a few selling races ana
then made use of him only as work
ing companion for North Star The
latter was a high-strung. Temperament
tai animal that disliked to take the
track without company. The usual
nractice had been to send the pair out
and to let Corporal Joe carry" his
stable mate for a quarter or nan,
before sending North Star to the
front, fully extended. Thus, out OF a
valiant old campaigner, they mace
what Is known on the race track as
sucker" horse-an animal that is just
a "come-on" for a more Favored
thoroughbred Small wonder If Cor
poral Joe grew discouraged and sulky.
It was all work and no play Even
tually, he refused to extend himself.
He learned to simulate soreness,
trick by which many an old veteran
has escaped distasteful labor. Jlggs
Bradley assigned another horse TO
prepare North Star for the sweep
| stakes. Old Corporal Joe was turned
over to a mud-bug for the general
| amusement 0f the back stretch.
Now a surprising thing was hap
pening: Corporal Joe was taxing
! kindly to this morning exercise. IN
stead of a 125-pound stable boy, he
fhad up a mud-bug as light as
feather. Moreover, this tiny plot
crouched so snugly on equine snoul-
ders, voiced praise and encourage
ment after every effort. Horses can
not understand words, but they read
lv interpret the tone of the human
voice. They crave praise, and are
Quick to recognize it. 1t was a long
time since Corporal Joe had been told
that he was a wonder. He heard 1t
now so often that he came to believe
| it. and he acted accordingly. Each
day he grew little more responsive.
| Jackie crooned to him as they
SKINNED the far turn; "'At's burnin
up the track G'wan, you Man
WAR; Wen show EN- how to run, we
will. Ats layin' down to it! Ats
stepping pretty, old boy! G'wan:
The shrill, excited VOICE, vibrant
with youthful faith, did more imam
anv "bat" could have accomplished
in tho hands of Whip Farrell. They
came back to the stables, the boy
flushed and breathless, the horse Gov
cred with sweat and foam. There fol
| lowed always a period of petting ana
nraise. Jackie had to climb up on
| the feed box to caress the huge pay.
No one had told the midget tne
horses liked to be rubbed between the
ears and over the eyes with the nrn,
smooth stroke that recalls the way
their mothers caressed them Wnen
they were foals. He seemed to know
such things instinctively hannah
after attempts to break up TINS new
alliance, had accepted the inevltaDie
and now dog, horse and boy formed
a Latonia trinity.
X y II
IMEANwHILE' Mother Slap hao
A'A been driven to distraction by
an unusually bad season. Helnle
Schaefer broke a leg; Pony Driscoll
was set down for 80 days; the Baxter
brothers were ordered to CANADA.
Other riders who paid their bills reg
ularly were eliminated for one reason
or another, and in their places were
stable boys and apprentices, short on
4 cash and long on promises.
at got more dependents than the
League of Nations" she complained
to Schwartz, the butcher There
amt a dollar in the cash drawer, ana
| the house is filled only with elo-
quence. Instead of giving me money
they hand me 81 tickets on 1O0-to-l
shots. and / amt cashed one OF them
vet Seems like all the touts nave
been chased out the back gate ana
right into my front door. The last
money got was by raiding crap
! game in the kitchen"
| "Py goliy" commiserated Schwartz
you should 'raus nit EN-"
Mother Slap sighed. Were you
ever up against a real tout? Faith.
thev could talk the Angel Gabriel
out OF his trumpet! And of all the
alibis when they lose! I'm in so
deep now that / can't fire them.
they're all playin' North Star in the
Sweepstakes, and my only chance Is
for Whip Farrell to bring him home -
Not alone did financial matters
worry Mother Slap. Little Jackie
O'Day was nVlnB III '"oLlu VI iliu
sion of his own making. He talked
of nothing but the Sweepstakes and
Corporal Joe. Gradually he had come
to understand that Whip Farrell on
North Star was the appointed choice
of Baltimore Ryan, but he still
thought there was to be stable
entry, with Joe coupled in the betting,
and he himself intrusted with the i'm
portant job of helping to set the
pace. He persuaded Mother Slap to
fashion him a set of racing silks OF
the Ryan colors, and he never went
| IN, he'd without donning the outfit
| -. In tho m lrrnl