ed lids.

"All right, though, little girl; your faith may make Lauzanne win, and I
think Lucretia's speed will carry her to the front, so you may strike a
bit of luck at last."

XXIII

A few days later Mike Gaynor took the stable up to Gravesend. Dixon had
a cottage there, which he occupied with his wife, and Allis was to stop
with them.

On the 20th of May the horses were settled in their racing quarters.
Only four days remained for introducing Lucretia to the Gravesend track;
on the 24th she would take up her ninety-two pounds and be tested to the
utmost in the great Brooklyn Handicap.

Dixon felt that several things were in her favor. She was as quiet as
an old cow at the post; many false starts would improve rather than
diminish her chances, for nothing seemed to excite the gallant little
brown mare. Her great burst of speed would enable the jockey to get out
of the ruck and steal a good place to lie handy at the leader's heels.
She could be nursed to the last furlong of the stretch, for the sight of
horses in front would not daunt her brave spirit.

Against the mare were two or three rather important factors; she was
slight of build, not overstrong, and the crush of contending horses
might knock her out of her stride, should they close in. Then there
was just a suspicion of lack of staying power in the Assassin strain;
Lucretia might not quite last the mile and a quarter so early in the
season, being a mare. However, she had a chance.

"But I'd hardly call it a betting chance," Dixon said, speaking to
Allis; "there's never been a three-year-old won the Brooklyn yet.
There'll be openings enough to put down the money later on--in the
Derby, if the mare pans out well."

Andy Dixon was first of all 'a careful man. "There are risks enough in
racin' without lookin' for them," he said. "When one has got an absolute
lead-pipe cinch, it's two to one against its coming off." That was
another of his conservative aphorisms.

Andy made no big wins, had never been booked as a successful plunger,
had never skinned the ring; on the other hand, bringing the scales of
equity to a dead level, he had never been forced to ask any man to pay
his feed bills for him, nor let an account stand over for a time.

Allis was in good hands, and, what added to the value of the situation,
she knew it, and would take Dixon's advice. The Trainer's opinion was
borne out by the betting market; Lucretia stood a long way down in the