SIMMONS, STONER, AND THAYER 



and myself. The horse was in cheerful mood, and 

 had perfect control of himself. Golden rated him 

 well, and, when his nose reached the wire, we struck 

 the plunges, and Mr. Allen handed me his watch, 

 while I passed mine to him. Both registered 2.o6f , 

 and there were cheers when the official time was an- 

 nounced. It was one second faster than the record 

 of Kremlin on the same track in the autumn of 1892, 

 and Mr. Allen's only remark was: "Well, that 

 makes Ralph Wilkes the fastest stallion In New Eng- 

 land." Up to that hour Kremlin had held the record 

 for New England stallions, and It was the watch of 

 the owner of Kremlin which had certified the ad- 

 vancement of Ralph Wilkes. Golden went home 

 with flying colors, but Ralph Wilkes caught cold 

 and died during the winter, and there was a vacant 

 stall at Maplehurst. Under date of November 3, 

 1895, Colonel Thayer wrote me: 



" I have just bought the great stallion, Baron 

 Wilkes, and will immediately put him at the head 

 of my stud. He will mate well with New England 

 mares, and, I hope, will produce some more Ruben- 

 steins, 2.06J, whose dam, as you know, was by 

 Aristos." 



Baron Wilkes was foaled in 1882. He was thir- 

 teen years old, and the market was very much de- 

 pressed when Colonel Thayer paid $25,000 for him. 

 In the boom days of the trottlng-horse industry he 

 would have sold for three times this amount. His 



215 



