454 THE HORSE AMERICAN TROTTERS 



by Count Alexis Orlov-Tchestmensky, is a multiple cross 

 derived from many breeds English, Arabian, European, and 

 Persian. The first great sire was an Arab imported from 

 Greece in 1775. By a Danish cart mare he sired " Polkan," 

 who, mated with a strong-built Dutch mare, produced " Barss." 

 " All the Orlov trotters are descended from the three sons of 

 1 Barss ' ' Lubeznoy,' ' Dabroy,' and * Lebed.' They are of no 

 distinct type, but divided into heavy and light trotters. The 

 majority of them indicate their vulgar relationships by their 

 large and hairy fetlocks, fiddle heads, and goose rumps. As 

 usual, the cart-horse strain comes out in the head, legs, and 

 setting-on of the tail ; and the Eastern blood in the body." 

 The best records of the Orlov do not come within the 2.30 

 record, while the Hackney has been bred more for showy 

 action than for pace. It has been well remarked, in consider- 

 ing the different objects for which trotters are bred, that the 

 aim of the American horse is to create interest by getting as 

 quickly out of sight as possible, while the Hackney strives to 

 attain the same object by keeping within view, and covering 

 as little ground as possible. 



John Henry Wallace, founder and compiler of the 

 American Trotting Register, which was begun about 1865, and 

 the first volume of which, published in 1868, contained 3000 

 entries, may be said to have laid the foundations from which 

 the "Standard Trotter" has been evolved. Wallace laid down 

 the principle that "speed will most probably breed speed," and 

 thus made the test of actual performance the basis upon which 

 animals were admitted to registration in the American Trotting 

 Register^ which remained his own property till it was sold to 

 a syndicate, along with the Year Book and Wallace's Monthly, 

 for $130,000. Since Wallace took the matter of registration 

 in hand, the record (per mile in minutes and seconds) has 

 been reduced from 2.40 to 1.58^ in 1903, realising what 

 had for years been confidently expected, />., that America 

 would produce a horse that would trot a mile in less 

 than two minutes, or at the rate of over thirty miles an 

 hour. The employment of " pace-makers " and the use of 

 "dirt shields" makes it possible to argue that the unaided 

 horse has not yet reduced the record below two minutes to 

 the mile. 



1 In 1892 it embraced ten volumes, and registered 60,000 animals. 



