304 THE HOUSE OF AMERICA. 



a saddle record of 2:27f. Dictator was a seal-brown horse with 

 a white rear ankle, and stood scant fifteen hands and one inch. 

 He was made on a small but a fine model, and was, all in all, a 

 handsome little horse, and most of his get partook of his fine 

 quality of structure, though many were unsound. Shortly after 

 Dexter made his debut on the turf, Dictator was bought by Mr. 

 Harrison Durkee, a wealthy New York gentleman who had an 

 extensive stock farm at Flushing, Long Island. The colt was 

 then but eleven months old and was left at the Hawkins farm 

 until two years old. Then he was sent to Mr. Alden Goldsmith's 

 place, at Washingtonville, to be broken, after which he was taken 

 to Mr. Durkee's farm. The colt was very fast, but the fame of 

 Dexter was already wide, and, no great importance being at- 

 tached to development of stallions in that day, he was considered 

 of more value for breeding than for racing. He was worked 

 considerably at Mr. Durkee's farm, and Colonel John W. Conley 

 and H. 0. Woodnut, who at different times had charge of him, 

 have both declared that they knew him to be one of the fastest 

 trotters of his day. In 1874 Colonel Richard West sold Almont 

 to General Withers, and to fill his place leased Dictator in the 

 autumn of 1875, and he made the seasons of 1876 and 1877 at 

 Colonel West's Edgehill farm, Georgetown, Kentucky. Stand- 

 ing at a higher fee than Almont or George Wilkes, he attracted 

 little outside patronage, and he was returned to Long Island. It 

 has been stated that when at Colonel West's, George Brasfield 

 drove Dictator quarters as fast as thirty-four and one-half 

 seconds. After his return to Flushing he sank from public 

 notice until the appearance of Director as a great three-year-old 

 in 1880. Then a couple of years later came the phenomenal 

 Jay-Eye-See, and close after him Phallas, and with these three 

 great trotters on the turf at once "the sire of Jay-Eye-See, 2:10, 

 Phallas, 2:13f, and Director, 2:17," came again prominently before 

 the public. In 1883 he was purchased by Major II. C. McDowell, 

 and Messrs. David Bonner and A. A. Bonner, for a price that 

 was said to have been twenty-five thousand dollars, and taken to 

 Ashland farm at Lexington. Eventually he became the sole 

 property of Major McDowell, and died May 25, 1893. 



Dictator did not get speed uniformly. He was what might be 

 called a sporadic sire, but those of his get that raced at all raced 

 well. By far his best son as a producer is Director, 2:17, that 

 was out of Dolly by Mambrino Chief, and is the sire of sixteen 



