1883.] THE AMERICAN TROTTING HORSE. 235 



By this time the names of a score or two of horses became well 

 known to the public as trotters, many of the names as plebeian as 

 the sport was held to be. "We hear of Betsey Baker, Bowery Boy, 

 Bull Calf, Burster, Ephriam Smooth, Jerry, Jersey Kate, Paul 

 Pry, Rattler, Rob Roy, Sally Miller, Screwdriver, Top Gallant, 

 Whalebone, and a score of others, now this one to the front and 

 then that. Top Gallant (foaled about 1806) was perhaps the most 

 popular horse of his day. He does not appear to have won much 

 nor often, yet, like some politicians, he preserved his popularity 

 for all of that, and his time, 2.40 (although beaten the same year 

 by the Treadwell mare), was the slang phrase for speed for twenty 

 years later. He lived to a good old age (as so many trotters 

 have done), and it was claimed that when nineteen years old he 

 could still trot in 2.45 with a man weighing 150 pounds on his 

 back {A7n. Turf Register, Nov., 1829, p. 122). In 1832 Burster 

 trotted in 2.32, and then became affectionately known as " Old 

 Buster." Next came Edwin Forrest, who lowered the time to 

 2.311 on the Centerville course, L. I., May 9, 1834. This track 

 was too long ; if allowance be made for this, the time for an 

 actual mile was nearly a second better ; but as it was it took nine 

 years more to beat it, when Lady Suffolk lowered the record to 

 below 2.30. 



I have used, for convenience, only the mile records. Were we 

 to consider all the performances, the best horses and the best re- 

 cords would not coincide with my list. In those early days most 

 of the trots were for distances greater than one mile, usually for 

 two, three, or four miles, often longer, and moreover, before 1 840, 

 most of the trotting was under saddle, while now it is mostly in 

 harness. The time came to be more and more carefully kept, and 

 thus "records" became an established feature. 



As this is a distinctive American custom, and began with the 

 trotters, I will notice it more fully. Records are not kept in Eng- 

 land, and because they are not, we cannot study the development 

 of the race-horse as we can that of the trotter. I have already 

 shown how speed was noted by timing; later specific rules were es- 

 tabhshed, and now a word of explanation to the innocent as to 

 what a ^^ record" at present means. 



The laws of sporting are very exact, the code is planned with 

 more care, deliberation, and wisdom than most of our national and 

 state laws are, and in the racing code of this country any contest 



