BREEDING THE TROTTER 



offered twenty thousand dollars ; Onward, then 

 a seven-year-old ; and Red Wilkes, then an eight- 

 year-old. I next visited Dr. Herr's farm and, 

 for the first time, saw Mambrino Patchen and his 

 ten-year-old son, Mambrino King, which horse 

 had been playing second fiddle to his sire. I 

 reported to Mr. Hamlin that I had never seen a 

 horse till I saw Mambrino King. I came back 

 home with a list of stallions and mares that could 

 be purchased. 



In the course of a month Mr. Hamlin went to 

 Kentucky and purchased Mambrino King for 

 seventeen thousand dollars; Gertie Smith, by 

 Mambrino Patchen, for one thousand dollars; 

 Play Girl, by Mambrino Patchen, for eight hun- 

 dred dollars ; Gerster, by Hero of Thorndale, foi* 

 four hundred and fifty dollars, at auction. Mr. 

 Hamlin's son, Mr. William Hamlin, purchased 

 Goldfringe, by Mambrino King, for one thousand 

 dollars. By this time Mr. Hamlin concluded he* 

 had invested enough money in trotters so he tel- 

 egraphed me to come to Lexington and attend to 

 shipping his purchases home. 



Soon after the purchase of Mambrino King, Mr. 

 Hamlin's sons began to take a great deal of busi- 

 ness off their father's shoulders and from that time 

 on Mr. Hamlin made regular visits to the farm, 

 when in Buffalo, on Wednesdays and Saturdays. 



MORE PURCHASES. 



In the spring of 1883 Mr. Hamlin again sent 

 me to Kentucky to look for a young Wilkes stal- 



29 



