Sentence:  Richard M. Forbes 's Paget , which had what seemed to be a substantial lead in the <WSD>early</WSD> stages , tired rapidly nearing the wire and was able to save place money only a head in front of Glen T. Hallowell 's Milties Miss . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  at or near the beginning of a period of time or course of events or before the usual or expected time