298 THE HORSE OF AMERICA. 



dozen of years later lie was very generally regarded as the greatest 

 of living sires, and his prestige made the name of Fairlawn Farm 

 of world-wide renown, and made his owner rich. The fact that 

 ninety-five of his sons have sired standard performers, a greater 

 number of producing sons than is to the credit of any other 

 horse, Hambletonian alone excepted, indicates the high rank 

 Almont must be accorded as a progenitor. In considering his 

 success it is well for breeders particularly to note that good 

 judges considered Almont capable of showing a 2:20 gait any 

 day, and that, like Electioneer, he always was daily given regu- 

 lar and ample track exercise. His gait has been described as bold 

 and open, without an excess of knee action, but with immense 

 display of power behind. Almont died of spasmodic colic, July 4, 

 1884, in the fullness of his fame, and at an age when, had he been 

 more discreetly used in the stud, he should have been at his 

 prime as a stock horse. 



Almont was hardly a sensational horse in his day, the perform- 

 ance of Westmont at Chicago in 1884, when he paced a mile with 

 running mate in 2:01f, being the one sensational performance to 

 the credit of his progeny. This lightning streak of pacing speed 

 that so often crops out in the Almont family can be readily 

 accounted for by the student of breeding. As has been noted, his 

 grandam Kate, by Pilot Jr., was a phenomenally fast pacer, and, 

 as we have indicated, her blood proved potent in more than one 

 line. In addition to this there was a strong tendency to pace 

 among the progeny of Alexander's Abdallah. St. Elmo was first 

 shown at fairs in Kentucky under saddle and as a pacer, and 

 many others of Abdallah's get were known to naturally pace. 

 When we reflect that in Almont this Alexander's Abdallah blood 

 with its pacing predilection was united with the blood of the old 

 lightning pacer, Kate, we need not be surprised at the great 

 number of fast pacers that came from Almont and his sons. 

 Belmont, too, has shown a tendency to get the pacing gait with 

 great frequency, but not in such frequency or at such high rates 

 as his son Nutwood. As there could not be traced any known 

 pacing blood in Belmont's dam, and as the fact that Alexander's 

 Abdallah transmitted an inclination to pace has been generally 

 not known or ignored, some writers have been unable to under- 

 stand why the Belmonts paced. He got pacers because he in- 

 herited that capacity from his sire, and Nutwood got more and 

 faster pacers than Belmont, because in him the pacing inclina- 



