Shrubb "The Little Wonder"  ›  Friendly Patsey in Winnipeg

Globe and mail reporter, jim Coleman, printed a humorous account of why Alfred lost the winnipeg race with “Patsey”

“The telegram also shed further light on Shrubb’s race against a trotting mare named “Patsey”, an event which took place in Winnipeg some years ago (1907). The race was over a ten mile course, and “Patsey” won by a scant margin of fifteen yards. Shrubb ran the distance in 52 minutes and 20 seconds, but contemporary reports do not reveal whether he hailed a sulky. We recall “Patsey” well because she labored in the service of the cresent Creamery, a business institution which delivered milk, cream and cottage cheese to the door of reputable housholders for a small fee. “Patsey” always behaved well and was a stolid beast when covering her route, but each morning when she turned for home off Portage Avenue and say the creamery in the distance she would brak into a gallop and head for the barn. She smashes up several innocent drivers, and in her later years she could only be driven by a Mexican mule skinner who had handled 20-mule teams in the Death Valley. Eventually, the creamery was forced to retire her because she took the corners so swiftly that she shattered the empty bottles. The facts aren’t genarally known, but Shrubb lost that race to “Patsey” through the machinations of the creamery officials, who had gambled heavily against him. Shrubb was leading by fifty yards when they turned into the home stretch, and it appeared that “Patsey” was beaten hopelessly. However, the wily gamblers had erected a replica of the creamery at the finish line, and as soon as “Patsey” saw it she sprinted past Shrubb and came home on a chin strap. Never trust a Western creamery official!”