BREEDING THE TROTTER 



sire, despite his limited opportunities because of 

 his standing at an out-of-the-way place. Woods' 

 Hambletonian was a roan horse and then twenty- 

 three years old. Mr. Hamlin offered six thou- 

 sand dollars for him, but this was refused and 

 seven thousand five hundred asked. While on 

 this farm Mr. Hamlin paid two hundred and fifty 

 dollars for Minnequa Maid, by Woods' Hamble- 

 tonian, from a running-bred mare. Minnequa 

 Maid, bred to Mambrino King, produced Night- 

 ingale (2.08), and bred to Chimes produced Milan 

 Chimes (2.13%), whose racing career was ended 

 by his untimely death, and Chimes Girl (2) (2.26). 

 Bred to Heir-at-Law she produced Scape Goat 

 (2.nM). 



PURCHASING A PREMIER. 



After cleaning up the odds and ends, although 

 Mr. Hamlin was a very busy man, it required very 

 little argument to convince him that he must have 

 some more good mares and another stallion, for 

 at this time he had several Almont Jr. mares 

 approaching breeding age. 



In the spring of 1882 Mr. Hamlin sent me to 

 Kentucky to look at stallions and brood-mares. 

 I was seeking a son of George Wilkes, for I thought 

 we needed some of the blood, although Mr. Ham- 

 lin did not like the Wilkes family. His objec- 

 tions to the Wilkeses were that they bred un- 

 evenly, toed out and were low headed. I looked 

 at Alcantara, then a six-year-old; Alcyone, then 

 a five-year-old, for which Mr. Hamlin afterwards 



28 



