RECOLLECTIONS OF MEN AND HORSES 



I followed brood mares and foals over the lands 

 on which Hudson River Driving Park was built, 

 and, when Poughkeepsie failed to generously sup- 

 port the enterprise, Mr. Jacob Ruppert purchased 

 the property and used it for a breeding and training 

 farm. Mr. Ruppert was fond of horses in his boy- 

 hood, and as he grew in years his admiration for 

 the trotter increased. He spent money without stint 

 to obtain good individuals for breeding purposes, 

 and his first stallion was Virgo Hambletonian, sire of 

 Charley Hogan, 2.i8i. Favorite Wilkes came next, 

 and his blood lines were regarded as fashionable. 

 He was by George Wilkes, out of Favorite by Alex- 

 ander's Abdallah, she out of Lizzie Peebles by 

 Wagner, and the two fastest of his twenty-three 

 trotters are Prince, 2.15^, and Ella Wilkes, 2. 16 J, 

 and the fastest of his eight pacers is Crawford, 2.07}. 

 Mr. Ruppert was progressive in his ideas and at 

 the January, 1902, sale in Madison Square Garden 

 outbid all competitors for the gem of the collection, 

 Oakland Baron, brown stallion, 16 hands, by Baron 

 Wilkes, dam Lady Mackay by Silverthreads (son 

 of The Moor) ; second dam Fleetwing, dam of 

 Stamboul, 2.07J, by Rysdyk's Hambletonian. This 

 horse was bred for a trotter, and at two years old 

 he trotted to a record of 2.14^, won the Kentucky 

 Futurity at three years old, and at five took a race 

 record of 2.09^. As a sire Oakland Baron has 

 proved worthy of his lineage. Rythmic, 2.o6f; 

 Baron de Shay, 2.08J, and Gail Hamilton, 2.06J, 



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