378 RACEALONG 



rated as one of the fastest trotters in New York. 

 She never started in a race but John H. Wallace 

 stated in the Trotting Supplement which he pub- 

 lished in the first and only volume of the American 

 Stud Book that Dolly Spanker trotted three miles in 

 2:27 in 1853. At the close of 1854 when she began 

 to show the effects of fast work on the road Harry 

 Felter sent her to his father at Newburgh, N. Y. 

 The following spring he bred her to Hambletonian. 



Dolly Spanker died when she dropped her colt. He 

 was raised by hand. In due time this colt appeared 

 on the turf as Robert Fillingham, a name that was 

 subsequently changed to George Wilkes. 



After a long career on the turf George Wilkes was 

 shipped to Lexington, Ky., in 1873 and died there 

 in 1882. During that period he laid the foundation 

 of a family of light harness performers that are 

 still among the leaders. 



For some time after George Wilkes appeared on 

 the turf there was but very little said about the 

 breeding of his dam. Later on Currier and Ives 

 issued a colored picture of him. The line under it 

 referred to his dam as a Mambrino. 



Finally in December, 1877 John H. Wallace met 

 Harry Felter and William L. Simmons at a banquet 

 in New York. It was not long until the three of 

 them were conversing about the breeding of the dam 

 of George Wilkes. To his surprise Wallace was told 

 by Harry Felter, the breeder, and William L. Sim- 

 mons, the owner of the horse, that they never made 

 an effort to trace Dolly Spanker's pedigree. 



