Polytechnic High School - Caerulea Yearbook (Long Beach, CA)

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CAI-'jR,ULBA'ZZ do in practice. His efforts at secrecy could not be kept up however, and he was found, and sought out by the newspaper sport writers. Then Joe and the Ace of Spades obtained that publicity which they had not even dreamed of for ten years. Newspapers printed long stories of Worralls former exploits on the track, of the Ace,s rise to a championship and of his fall, and of the new attempt of both horse and rider to stage a comeback. Long columns of dope and discussion on fornier attempts at comebacks and how they had failed were featured in SOIIIC papers, while others ran cartoons of old J oe as Father Time riding a steed which was a skeleton. Some papers dug out pictures of Joe and the Ace in their heyday and ran them as a feature of the sport page. But Joe only smiled grimly at all this publicity and went ahead with conditioning the Ace. He tried as much as possible to hold all his practice runs privately, but no matter at what hour of the day he came on the track there were always so111e there to watch him. The railbirds were surprised at the short time in which the Ace was clocked over short distances, but they smiled knowingly and said to each other, f'He'll never stand one and a quarter. The day before the Sweepstakes Joe paced his horse on the Albany track where the big races were to be run. Slowly at first and then faster and faster as he neared the end Joe sent the Ace in the final practice. He was satisfied. He knew that the Ace of Spades was sure of the track and would make a creditable showing on the following afternoon. That night he saw Bennet. Charley had ente1'ed three of his finest horses in the race and was looking fo1'ward to it expectantly. He greeted Joe with a smile and asked if he still thought the Ace could come back. I know he can, answe1'ed Joe. The morning of the day of the Grand Sweepstakes Joe trotted tl1e Ace around the track so that he was certain of the horse's know- ing the condition of the oval. He then proceeded to obtain a bet upon the chances of the Ace of Spades. The large amount of space that Sixteen ,

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CABRULBA' I5 I ought to get good odds, he thought. But it wasn't the money that he cared about. All he wanted was to show the world that the Ace of Spades could return triumphant to the racing game. Any betting that he would do would be from habit and from the superstition that an honest man should always put down a bet on his own horse. . By the next morning Joe had found quarters for himself and his stallion in the city of' Albany and had officially entered Ace of Spades in the Grand Sweepstakes. The same evening he started the former champion upon two weeks of intensive t1'aining. The Ace was one of the finest horses that had ever graced the American turf, and ten years off the track had not lessened the appearance of' a tho1'oughbred. Joe had been a kindly master but he had kept the Ace always in condition by short trots on the private Bennet track. Joe loved his horse as much as it is possible for a man to love an animal, and there is no question about it that his horse displayed a dog-like affection for Joe. Black as the ace of spades and almost a hand higher than the average race horse, VVorral's a11in1al would be given a high place by any judge of horse-flesh. Every morning Joe rode the Ace slowly around one of the private tracks which were open to him. Then he would put the horse up to his full speed for short di.stances, hardly ever going more than a third of the way around at top speed. The Ace warmed up to the work and Joe had difiiculty in checking the horse only part way around the race track. He believed that it would be best to conserve the animalis energy for the mile-and-a-quarter Sweepstake event. New fire and go seemed to flow in the veins of the former champion. He realized that he would run again against a great field. To Joe, who seemed to have a language with which he conversed with his horse, the old King of the Turf apparently said, VVe,re coming back. We're going to make good. VVe're going to winf' Joe was elated over the prospects, but he tried to keep his identity and place of training secret, for he did not wish that pest and despoiler of' the 1'acing game, the race track tout, to see what his horse could Fifteen

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C ERULEA' 5 the newspapers had devoted to setting forth the impossibility of a comeback for the great old horse caused many bettors to offer long odds. Fifty-to-one was offered at first, but when it was found that such great horses as Liza D., lifloneygetter, and ltlahomet were entered, the odds climbed steadily to a hundred-to-one. Joe laid two hundred dollars at these odds for Ace of Spades to win. It was the last money he had. If he lost he would have to borrow money to get back to the Bennet headquarters. The Grand Sweepstakes had attracted an enormous crowd from all over the country. The spectators, fully acquainted with the facts through the p1'ess, waited as expectantly to see the Ace of Spades run again as they did to see the Grand Sweepstakes itself. The crowd was there not only to see the champions of the present but one of the greatest champions of the past. A great cheer went up as a card bearing the name 'tAce of Spades-VVorral up', was .slid into the an- nouncing board. A greater cheer Went out when the word was passed around like lightning, That's VVorral and the Ace. Out there. Number seve11. All in redf, VVorral had been assigned the number seven, and had chosen the one color, bright red, as his privilege to display. The red made a brilliant and effective combination with the shiny black color of the Ace. In drawing for position at the barrier J oe drew the worst of the lot, an outside position. The inside position next to the fence was held by Honest George, the best horse in the Bennet stables as well as a winner in several of the season's big events. The inside is the' choice position as there is less distance to cover, while the outside is the most diflicult as the horse in that position has to cut in front: of the whole field to reach the fence. A run around the outside with a chance to win would be impossible as there is more than a quarter distance extra in taking the outside. And the Ace of Spades held the outside position. The Ace of Spades, who was old and making a heroic attempt at coming back, held the worst position of the field. Joe said not a word at his getting the outside but immediately took up his position at the barrier. He talked to the Ace, seemingly Seventeen as