June 18, 2007

Nevada's Online State News Journal

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[From The History of Nevada, edited by Sam P. Davis, vol. I (1913), pp. 721-723]

Nevada History:

THE TURF     721

CHAPTER XXXV.

THE TURF.

From the earliest time horse-racing was a popular sport in Nevada. The first man to breed thoroughbred horses for the turf was Theo. Winters on his extensive stock-ranch in Washoe County. He had his horses for the purses, always holding that the pool box was the bane of a noble sport. Only on one occasion did he break his rule. Thinking his own horse was out of condition, he wagered $1,500 on another. His colored jockey, seeing him buying the pools on another horse, asked his master if he wanted him to pull his mount. Winters told him that he would kill him if he did, and the darkey, remarking that it was a shame to burn up the stable money, proceeded to win with the Winters horse, for which excellent riding he was remembered with a tip of $100.

For a long time Winters was regarded as the King of the Turf, when an attorney of Virginia City, Charles Bryan, announced that he would spend $100,000 to dethrone Winters.

Bryan's earnings were enormous.

In the Chollar-Potosi case alone his fee was $100,000. But he squandered his princely income as fast as it came, and even in his most prosperous days seldom had money enough to meet his bills. His tactics in the trial of a case were calculated to mislead and confuse methodical lawyers, and in his address to the jury he always held a force in reserve as dreaded as the Imperial Guard of Napoleon. "Sandy" Baldwin once said to "Bill" Stewart, after the testimony in one of the big suits was all in: "I should consider the case won if Charley Bryan were not in it, but no man living can predict what effect he may induce upon the jury."

He had a bantering, quizzing manner, which a peculiar cast in one of his eyes rendered doubly perplexing. His puzzled opponents were liable to run an earnest tilt against a windmill or to treat as farcical some skillfully arranged plan for their discomfiture. They were practically left in the dark as to his intentions. This faculty for bewildering, to-

722      THE HISTORY OF NEVADA

gether with his power of retrieving the fortunes of the day by his electric eloquence at the last moment, made him the terror of the systematic members of the profession. The members of the legal fraternity in Virginia were rather pleased to learn that he had decided to abandon the court for the race-track. He purchased a good many pedigreed horses, but they always went down to defeat before the Winters' entrances. The monotony of defeat became wearisome to Bryan, and he resolved to put an end to it. He went quietly to California, and bought "Emigrant Maid," a mare of considerable note in her day, and the superior of any racer in Nevada at that time. With a view to secrecy and to prevent any foul play, he led the mare all the way over the mountains, walking himself. If he had sought to give publicity to his doings he couldn't have hit upon a better way. Winters learned of Bryan's purchase and speedily secured a flyer to pit against "Emigrant Maid." The contest soon came off, only to add another count to the monotonous score of the lawyer's defeats.

Shortly afterward it was announced that Bryan had bought the great "Lodi" and that the matchless racer would soon arrive from the East. The news created a sensation. People believed that the luckless attorney had at last outflanked his rival, and that henceforth no one could hope to dispute successfully his supremacy on the turf. Bryan himself was so confident that he became elated to the pitch of exultation.

But both the people and he had failed to take into account a very determined and energetic man, and a thorough turfman withal. Winters did not propose to surrender his laurels without a struggle. Upon the first inkling of the purchase of "Lodi," he proceeded to act with characteristic promptness and good judgment. Within a few weeks it was known he had bought "Norfolk" for $15,001, a great price for a horse then, and that the peerless Kentucky stallion would be on hand to dispute the field with "Lodi." The extra dollar was paid because the owner of Norfolk's sire had bet a round sum that it would produce a colt which would sell for more than fifteen thousand.

That famous race at San Jose was a notable event in that State, but it finished the career of Charley Bryan as a turfman. He went down once more before Theodore Winters, never to try again. So excited had he been over the approaching contest and so suspicious of trickery that he slept in the stall beside his horse, and on the eventful day was guard-

THE TURF     723

ing "Lodi" with a shotgun in so threatening a manner that he had to be kept in custody during the race.

It is impossible to say how much these racing events contributed to the overthrow of Bryan's mind, as no one can tell the relative effects of innumerable and complicated influences. The only thing that can be stated positively is that by this time his unbalanced condition had become so marked and generally known as to destroy confidence in his ability to conduct an important case, and in consequence there was an end alike to his extensive practice and to his princely income.

William Thompson, of Washoe County, was the next turfman to try conclusions with Winters, but he shared the same fate as Bryan, and never went into a race with his neighbor that he did not have the disappointment of seeing the Winters colors leading at the finish.

Winters, after his success in Nevada, branched out into other fields. He went into competition with the California turfmen at the Bay District track at San Francisco, and generally scored upon his rivals.

He was an advocate of clean sport and never was involved in any trickery or turf scandal. He crowned his career as a successful turfman by winning the American Derby at Chicago with his peerless racer "Del Rio Rey," bred on his Washoe County ranch.