mayor of Omaha, was noted for a big horse race with his horse, Fiddler, and the champion horse of the Sioux tribe on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota. Chadron was the starting place of the famous 1,000 mile horse race from Chadron to Chicago. Doc Middleton was one of the entries in that race. Many of these sheriffs would sit in for a hand of poker or give the roulette a whirl. Sheriff George W. Losey of Battle Creek was no exception and one of the boys, Ed Losey, was a foot racer of more than local fame so you could get yourself a horse race or a foot race around Battle Creek.

Sheriff Losey raced and matched Sway Dick in the surrounding area. Regardless of a horse's speed or reputation, somebody will always give you a go at it. The saying is that the difference of opinion is what makes horse racing.

This all happened around the turn of the century and Bill Anderson, my dad, bought Sway Dick from Losey in 1899 or 1900. In those years racing was popular in the west. Dad raced at Sheridan and Douglas in Wyoming and at Butte, Montana. It was at Butte that Bob Wade ran the fast quarter of a mile

 

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