dQ ROAD, TRACK, AND STABLE. 



cestor of inferior quality. There is an example of 

 this in the family of ALaud S. Harold, her sire, is 

 also the sire of thirty other trotters, whose record is 

 2.30 or better. Harold has a brother called Lakeland 

 Abdallah, far superior to himself in size, in beauty, 

 and in apparent power, and yet as a sire of trotters 

 Lakeland Abdallah has been an utter failure. He 

 has but a single representative in the 2.30 list. Of 

 course his opportunities have been less than those of 

 Harold, but still they have been considerable. 



However, by a process of selection, these discrepan- 

 cies are diminishing. One by one, those branches of 

 a trotting family in which speed has not been shown 

 are dropped ; only successful sons of successful sires 

 and grandsires are looked to for the transmission 

 of speed. The lines are drawn in, comparatively 

 few strains are cultivated, and thus a thoroughbred 

 trotter tends to be evolved. It is probable that in 

 the near future the breeder will be able to predict 

 of a given animal, This horse will trot in 2.20 ; and 

 doubtless fifty or one hundred years hence a much 

 higher rate of speed will be insured by certain lines 

 of breeding. 



It is commonly believed that horses, as a rule, take 

 their form and gait from their sire, and their dis- 

 position and nervous system from the dam ; and there 

 are many facts which appear to support this theory. 

 Certain horses, conspicuous among whom is Mam- 

 brino Patchen, have had their reputation made chiefly 

 by their daughters, and for this reason they are called 

 " Great Brood Mare sires." Pilot Jr. is another 

 noted member of this class. On the other hand, 

 Rysdyck's Hambletonian. and many other famous 



