THE THOROUGHBRED IN AMERICA 55 



When I first visited Woodburn, the great Lex- 

 ington was at the head of the stud. Later Mr. 

 Alexander, as well as his brother and successor, 

 had many other great stallions and brood mares, 

 and colts and fillies from this farm for a score of 

 years captured the richest prizes of the American 

 turf. The history of Woodburn from 1850 to 

 1880 would almost amount to the same thing as a 

 history of Thoroughbred breeding in Kentucky 

 for that period, though there were many other 

 smaller breeders, as there are now, when the 

 James B. Haggin Elmendorf farm has taken 

 the premier place, and that, too, on a very 

 much larger scale even than Alexander's Wood- 

 burn. As it was in Alexander's time, however, 

 the smaller breeders, particularly Mr. Keene and 

 Mr. Belmont, are still fortunate in producing 

 most admirable horses ; and it will be a bad thing 

 for the Thoroughbred industry in Kentucky when 

 this is no longer so. The result of a monopoly of 

 breeding horses would be the same as the result 

 produced by the trusts in oil, in steel and in beef; 

 the industry would be controlled by one man, or 

 several in combination, and the only competition 



