AMERICAN STAR, PILOT, CHAMPION, AND NORMAN. 347 



that seemed to be worthy of credence showed that her sire was a 

 horse called Magnum Bonum and there it ended. In his racing 

 career this horse was started sometimes under the name of 

 "Lark." He has six heats to his credit in 2:30 and better, and 

 a record of 2:25. From his own loins he has twenty-two trotters 

 in the 2:30 list. Considering the respectable number this horse 

 shows in the 2:30 list, his great nervous energy, his vigorous con- 

 stitution, and the number of years he was liberally patronized in 

 the stud, it is a most notable fact that he has but two sons that 

 are producers. Six of his daughters have produced. As a propa- 

 gator of speed in the coming generations, this horse seems to be 

 even a greater failure than his half-brother, Gooding's Champion. 



NIGHT HAWK was a chestnut son of Grinnell's Champion. 

 He was bred by John S. Van Kirk, of Newark, New Jersey, and 

 his dam was by Sherman's Young Eclipse, son of American 

 Eclipse. He was foaled 1855-6. In 1862 Mr. Van Kirk took 

 him to Kalamazoo, Michigan, thence to Paw Paw in 1872, and in 

 1879 he was returned to Kalamazoo, owned by A. T. Tuthill. 

 He was something of a trotter, and had a record of 2:36, under 

 the name of Champion, when he was controlled by Mr. D. B. 

 Hibbard, I think. He was shown at a State fair, held at Lans- 

 ing, on a poor half-mile track, it is said, and trotted a mile in 

 2:31^, and for this performance he received a piece of plate from 

 the society testifying to this fact. He has but two representa- 

 tives in the 2:30 list, and three of his sons have five trotters to 

 their credit, while six of his daughters have produced seven per- 

 formers. He lived to an old age. 



The merits and demerits of this family are very marked. The 

 head of it seems to have possesssed great nerve force and an un- 

 mistakable instinct to trot, but he was irritable and vicious in his 

 temper. Both these qualities the desirable and the undesirable 

 alike he seems to have transmitted to his offspring. I have seen 

 Gooding's Champion, and he had the temper and disposition of 

 his grandsire. It appears that the original Champion was a shy 

 breeder, and I am disposed to think he inherited this infirmity 

 from his sire, Almack, and whether the inability of his sons and 

 grandsons to get sires of trotters may be accounted for from 

 this cause would be a very difficult question to answer. There 

 are several others of this family, East and West, that have single 

 representatives in the 2:30 list, that I have not enumerated, but 

 from the statistics, as they now stand, it seems probable that 



