768 



TURF, TEN YEARS' RECORD OF THE. 



down when they ought to have been in their 

 prime, or worn and jaded, have given very in- 

 ferior exhibitions of speed. The prices of race- 

 horses have also been unduly inflated. The 

 prevalence of gambling in some of its worst 

 forms, at many of the parks, and the too inti- 

 mate connection of book-makers with the man- 

 agement of races, is another cause of anxiety 

 among judicious turfmen, some of whom look 

 for a disastrous revulsion in the near future. 



Trotting. The trotting-horse of to-day is 

 distinctively the product of American breeding, 

 and the speed of those now on the turf of the 

 United States, or which have made the best 

 records, can not be approached by the animals 

 of any other country. " It has been attained," 

 to quote from Hiram Woodruff's book, "by 

 our method of breeding, training, and driving 

 trotting-horses, aided by the enterprise and in- 

 genuity which provide vehicles, harness, and all 

 the paraphernalia of that combination of light- 

 ness with strength which is modeled upon the 

 plan of the best trotting-horse himself. The 

 high-bred American trotter differs in many im- 

 portant respects from the English thorough- 

 bred. He is not as finely drawn out and 

 whalebone-like as the latter, and, to use a turf 

 expression, he does not "stand over as much 

 ground." He has a more compact and stocky 

 build, more sloping pasterns, and a shorter and 

 wider neck through which the full, deep chest 

 is supplied with an ample amount of air. By 

 some it is thought that there is still dead 

 weight forward which will be bred off in gen- 

 erations to come. The American trotter has a 

 tine, intelligent face, wide between the eyes, 

 rather low withers, powerful hind-quarters, 

 and especially powerful hocks, the initial points 

 from which his great bursts of speed proceed. 

 Given a horse with such a structure, and if he 

 is low-going, gets a long reach with his hind- 

 legs by overlapping those in front, which 

 should play between, he may be set down as 

 fast, possibly great. The English thoroughbred 

 Messenger was the progenitor of the best trot- 

 ters the world has ever seen. The wonderful 

 stock of the blue-grass region of Kentucky are 

 his descendants through his son Mambrino, his 

 two best grandsons, Mambrino Chief and Ryp- 

 dyk's Hambletonian, and Alexander's Abdal- 

 lah, another descendant. Mambrino Chief, sire, 

 among others, of Lady Thome, was the sire of 

 a remarkable family of mothers of trotters. 

 At his death there were of his descendants in 

 the direct male line seventy-four trotters with 

 records of 2.30 or better. Among Alexander's 

 Abdallah's descendants at his death were 

 thirty-nine trotters with records of 2.30 or 

 better, one beinjr Goldsmith Maid, whose rec- 

 ord was 2.14. Nearly all the trotters that 

 have made records of 2.30 or better belong to 

 this family, and, in the last few years their 

 number has increased with remarkable rapidity. 

 As the test of speed is increased, a larger and 

 larger proportion are found to be descendants of 

 Rysdyk's Hambletonian. The trotter and the 



runner require an entirely different system of 

 education and training. The latter is put upon 

 the turf at a much earlier age than the former, 

 and generally retires when the trotter would 

 be winning his first victories, or at most would 

 no more than have attained his maximum 

 speed. The runner is brought on by the forc- 

 ing system, and is expected to do his best at 

 the age of two or three years, and shortly after 

 is good for little or nothing on the race-course. 

 The trotter, on the other hand, is developed 

 much more slowly and lasts much longer. 

 Dexter, for instance, did not begin his racing 

 career until he was six years of age, Lady 

 Thorne not until she was eight, and Goldsmith 

 Maid not until she was nine, and the last-men- 

 tioned made her best record of a mile in 2.14 

 at the advanced age of seventeen. The most 

 wonderful product of the trotting-turf in the 

 last ten years is Mr. Robert Bonner's Maud S., 

 whose fastest time, a mile in 2.08J, at Cleve- 

 land, Ohio, in 1885, in harness, against time, 

 has not yet been approached. Maud S. is a 

 lightish red chestnut mare, with a small blaze 

 in her face, and one foot behind, white. She 

 is 15'2 hands high, and in excellent form. Her 

 gait is even, low, and smooth ; she has little 

 knee action, her fore-legs going low and reach- 

 ing far out, and her fore-feet coming down 

 easily on the ground. Her hind-quarters are 

 powerful, with great thighs and hocks. Her 

 action behind is close and in line and reaches 

 far forward, and she has a rare power behind 

 to propel, and as rare a one in front to extend 

 the fore-legs and take advantage of the power 

 and reach behind. Her movement is the sym- 

 metry of trotting motion. Maud S. is a Ken- 

 tucky blue-grass horse, having been bred by 

 Mr. A. J. Alexander, of Woodburn Farm, 

 Woodford County, and foaled March 28. 1874. 

 Her sire was Harold, dam Miss Russell, by 

 Pilot, Jr. ; second dam Sally Russell, by Boston ; 

 third dam Maria Russell, by Thornton's Rattler ; 

 fourth dam Miss Shepherd, by Stockholder; 

 fifth dam Miranda, by Top Gallant (of Tennes- 

 see) ; sixth dam by imported Diomed; seventh 

 dam by imported Medley ; eighth dam by im- 

 ported Juniper. In her veins, therefore, 

 commingle a double inbred Messenger cross, 

 enriched by the blood of imported Bell- 

 founder, strengthened by the stout lin- 

 eage of Old Boston, and enlivened by 

 the infusion of Pilot Jr., blood. This is a com- 

 bination of Messenger, thoroughbred, and pac- 

 ing strains that satisfies all the varied schools 

 of writers on the make up of the perfect trot- 

 ter of the period. At Mr. Alexander's sale of 

 yearlings, Maud S. was purchased by the late 

 Capt. James Bugher, of Cincinnati, for $325, 

 and in her three-year old form she was sold by 

 his son, as his residuary legatee, for $350, to 

 Capt. G. N. Stone, President of the Chester 

 Driving Park Association. In October, 1878, 

 Capt. Stone made a conditional sale of her to the 

 late Mr. William H. Vanderbilt for $20,000, the 

 condition' being that she should show a speed 



