286 THE HORSE OF AMERICA. 



game." The late Alden Goldsmith, a most competent judge, saw 

 the colt trot at this time and then thought he was the fastest 

 horse he had ever seen. He won a race in August of his five- 

 year-old year, taking a record of 2:33, and the next year sprang 

 into wide fame by defeating the then popular idol, Ethan Allen, 

 in straight heats, over the Union Course, the fastest heat being 

 in 2:24f. In October of that year he started in harness against 

 General Butler, under saddle. Though Butler was no match for 

 George Wilkes in harness, with a saddle on his back, and Dan 

 Mace in the saddle, he was almost unbeatable in his day, but it 

 took him four heats to beat Wilkes, who forced him out in the 

 first heat in 2:21%, a record he never after surpassed. Then 

 William L. Simmons and John Morrissey matched Wilkes against 

 Butler, two~mile heats to wagon, the latter having previously 

 beaten the great George M. Patchen a heat in record-breaking 

 time under similar conditions. In preparation for that match 

 George Wilkes was sent a trial over the Centerville Course, con- 

 cerning which there has been much discussion and probably 

 much romance. Charles J. Foster wrote thus: 



" It was a close, sultry day and the stallion was short of work. ... He 

 went the two-mile trial and I have no doubt it was faster than trotter ever had 

 before, or has since, in any rig. But it ' cooked his mutton,' as the saying is, 

 and for a long time he was George Wilkes no more." 



It is said that ever after this trial, whatever it may have 

 TDeen, George Wilkes was inclined to sulk in his races. He raced 

 with fair success in 1863 and 1864, and at the beginning of 1865 

 was classed among the very best out. He was sent against Dex- 

 ter and Lady Thorn, being beaten by both; but in 1866 he twice 

 defeated Lady Thorn, the last time in a notable wagon race over 

 Union Course in 2:27, 2:2b, 2:26f . Afterward in the same year Lady 

 Thorn defeated Wilkes in four successive races, and she beat him 

 again in their only meeting the following year, but in 1868 he 

 defeated the mare in a hard-fought race, she winning the first 

 and second heats and making the fourth heat dead. George 

 Wilkes made his record of 2:22, October 13, 1868, over the Nar~ 

 ragansett Course at Providence in a winning race with Rhode 

 Island and Draco. He was kept on the turf with indifferent suc- 

 cess until 1872, racing frequently against Lucy, Lady Thorn, 

 and American Girl, all of whom outclassed him, at least in 

 the afternoon of his racing career. Just how fast a trotter 



