— 445 — 



was the star of the Pacific coast, and so unexpectedly brilliant were 

 her performances that even the triumphs of her two-year-old year 

 were dimmed by comparison. It was a duel throughout the season 

 between Axtell and Sunol for the three-year-old championship. First 

 Axtell lowered the three-year-old trotting record to 2.I62 at Minneap- 

 olis, July 2d, and on August 1st, at Cleveland, he again lowered it to 

 2.141. At Chicago, August 3d, he further reduced the record to 2.14. 

 At Sacramento, September 12th, Sunol trotted at 2.131, and divided the 

 trotting-horse world into rival camj^s on the question of three-year-old 

 supremacy. The next sensation came from Terre Haute, where, Octo- 

 ber 11th, Axtell trotted in 2.12, lowering the record for stallions as 

 well as for three-year-olds, and then the East felt that the lighter 

 record was safely held on this side of the Rockies. But not so, for at 

 the Bay District track, San Francisco, November 9th, Sunol, in a 

 performance that for a three-year-old trotter was regarded as phenome- 

 nal, trotted in 2 lOJ. 



Sunol was then purchased by Mr. Robert Bonner, of New York, for 

 $41,000, but is still trained by her old trainer, Marvin. In her four- 

 year-old form Sunol was campaigned in the East, but was never quite 

 at the fine form shown as a three-year-old. At Chicago, in August, 

 1890, she lowered the four-year-old record of the world to 2.10^, and 

 at Stockton, California, on the 20th of October, she beat the best time 

 of Maud S. by half a second, trotting a mile in the marvelous time of 

 2.08K 



Sunol is by tlie dead Electioneer, the greatest sire of trotters, and 

 her dam is Waxanna, by General Benton. Electioneer is a son of 

 Rysdyk's Hambletonian and was bred by Charles Backman,the famous 

 Orange County, New York, breeder. The dam of Electioneer was 

 Green Mountain Maid, the most noted of all mothers of trotters, and 

 she was by Henry Clay that also sired the dam of St. Julien. 



This 2.08t stood as the champion record until the season of 1892, 

 during which no less than four horses have equalled or surpassed it, 

 m., Nancy Hanks, 2.04; Martha Wilkes, 2.08; Kremlin, 2.071, and 

 Stamboul, 2.08. 



But before proceeding to speak of the champions of 1892 it must be 

 remarked that they have been aided in their flights against time by a 

 maiTelous invention, the "bicycle" sulkey, with ball-bearing axles 



