A FIFTY-MILE RACE.

Evening Star, Issue 3941, 12 October 1875, Page 3

A FIFTY-MILE RACE.

The long race of fifty miles on mustangs, between Nelson Mowry and T. P. Smith, took place at the Bay District Course, California, last month, and proved a novel and exciting contest, although the attendance of spectators was not large. Each rider was provided with ten horses, and changed at the end of each mile. Smith appeared to have the best average stock, but Mowry had the advantage in better arrangements and the assistance rendered by his attendants. His principal man was mounted on a fleet horse, and rode down the stretch to the hundredyard pole, and in each mile, as Mowry came up, seized his horse by the bridle and towed him to the wire, where Mowry, while the animal was still in motion, would vault from the saddle, and, with another spring, place himself in the saddle of the relay horse and be off, arranging his stirrups and bridle reins as he went. Smith came to a full stop at the end of each mile, and carefully dismounted from his jaded horse, and as carefully mounted the fresh one. In this way Mowry gained from two to three seconds in each mile, but the fleetness of Smith's stock kept him up and for some time no particular advantage was gained by either. In the twentieth mile, however, Smith's horse baulked, and he was obliged to lay too at the half-mile pole until another horse could be brought to him. This mishap gave Mowry the lead by nearly a mile, but at the end of the race Smith had reduced the distance to about two hundred yards. The fifty miles were completed in two hours two minutes and thirty-six seconds, the fastest mile having been run in 2.0-1, and the slowest in 3.61. The race was understood to be for a stake of one thousand dollars a-side. It was at least a square pull between the riders, and seemed to afford more amusement to the spectators present than any event of the turf that has occurred during the year.