BREEDING THE TROTTER 



" Mambrino King stands 15.3 hands, and he is 

 universally conceded to be what the French Com- 

 missioners pronounced him, ' The handsomest 

 horse in the world.' He combines strength, intel- 

 ligence, courage, faultless action and good breed- 

 ing with symmetry and style. His second dam 

 was the dam of Fisk's Mambrino Chief, a horse 

 that sold for twelve thousand dollars. His legs 

 are stoutly corded and free from blemish, and his 

 feet are entirely sound. He has no imperfections 

 to transmit and, judging him by his stud fruits, 

 he has the power to stamp out defects in the dam. 



" He has never been put in trotting condition, 

 but has often been driven by Dr. Herr and his 

 colored groom quarters in thirty-four and thirty- 

 five seconds and thirty-five and a fraction, in the 

 presence of David Bonner and hundreds of others. 

 In the fall of 1881 he showed in an exhibition trot 

 at the Lexington Fair, when he was speeded, a 

 half-mile in 1.14 ; jogged to the half-mile pole and 

 repeated in just exactly the same time, without 

 making a break or the least urging, and this after 

 the regular season in the stud. He wears light 

 shoes and no toe- weights. Dr. Herr writes me 

 that the colts left in Kentucky by him are coming 

 to the front as trotters, and he predicts that in 

 three years from now Mambrino King will stand 

 at the head of all trotting stallions. He has a rich 

 speed inheritance, and this he can hardly fail to 

 perpetuate. I paid a large price for him, and 

 during the short period he has been located at 



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