THE CLAYS AND BASHAWS. 335 



him in straight heats in 2:25, 2:24, 2:29. The next week the 

 contest was renewed and Patchen again won in straight heats, 

 and this gave him the unchallenged right to the rank of the fast- 

 est trotting stallion in the world. His triumphs, however, were 

 as wide as the trotting turf and not limited to sex. He was able 

 to beat and did beat all the best but the indomitable little Flora 

 Temple, and although he beat her twice, she was too fast for him 

 and beat him many times. It is not my purpose to give a history 

 of his achievements. It is sufficient to say he made a record of 

 2:23, with thirty-four heats to his credit in 2:30 and less, and 

 two miles in 4:51^. 



It cannot be said that he was a very great success in the stud 

 as we now measure success. Four of his get were able to enter 

 the 2:30 list, and among them was the great Lucy, with her 

 record of 2:18. Fifteen of his sons became the sires of sixty- 

 two trotters and three pacers, and four of his daughters produced 

 five trotters. It is hardly fair to compare the stud services of a 

 horse of Patchen's generation with many of the great sons of 

 Hambletonian, but at the same time we must not forget that 

 Patchen was foaled the same year as Hambletonian. On the 

 first of May, 1864, when Dan Pfifer was preparing him for the 

 racing season then about to open, he died of a rupture, just as 

 his sire had died. 



GEORGE M. PATCHED JR. (California Patchen) was a bay 

 horse by the foregoing; dam Belle by Top Bellfounder, a grand- 

 son of imported Bellfounder, of which little is known. He was 

 bred by Joseph Eegan, Mount Holly, New Jersey, and taken to 

 California 1862 by William Hendrickson; returned to New York 

 1866, sold to Messrs. Halstead, Poughkeepsie, 1867, and by them 

 to W. A. Matthews in 1869, and taken to San Jose, California; 

 then sold to P. A. Finnegan, of San Francisco, and died the 

 property of J. B. Haggin, Sacramento, 1887. He was cam- 

 paigned quite extensively during the years 1866 and 1867 in 

 the East, and carried away a good share of the winnings from 

 the best. His best record was 2:27. In the stud he was more 

 successful than his sire, which may be accounted for by his more 

 numerous progeny and his longer life. From his own loins he 

 put ten trotters into the 2:30 list, and, although there was no 

 Lucy among them, Wells Fargo made a record of 2:18|; Sam 

 Purdy, 2:20|; Vanderlyn, 2:21, etc., showing a better average 

 than the get of his sire. Ten of his sons got twenty-three trotters 



