58 ROAD, TRACK, AND STABLE. 



and grandsire. 1 And the facts seem to bear out this 

 conclusion. It is extraordinary how many short 

 trotting pedigrees end with " a mare of unknown 

 breeding, but a great roadster."' Such, for example, 

 was the dam of Alambrino Chief. Sometimes, in- 

 deed, the maternal ancestor has possessed too much 

 energy even for roadster purposes. Green Mountain 

 Maid, the dam of Electioneer, was so high-strung that 

 her owner abandoned the attempt to break her to 

 harness. It is said of Lady Duval, a Glencoe mare, 

 and the mother of two or three trotters, that "so 

 extreme was her nervous ambition, unless she was 

 permitted to rush ahead as soon as she reached the 

 level stretches of the roadway, she would gallop 

 sometimes for ten miles without cessation, and 

 then, when she finally concluded to behave herself, 

 she would settle down into a long, low, level stride 

 that reminded one of the daisy-cutting movement of 

 Lady Thorne." Man}- other similar examples might 

 be cited. 



" Notice in a field of brood mares," remarks a keen 

 observer, 2 "the one that herds, drives, and dominates 

 all the others, and (if the remaining qualities of ac- 

 tion, blood, and soundness are equal) you can always 

 select her ladyship as the most successful brood mare 

 in the paddock." 



The truth seems to be that great trotters, like great 

 men, inherit from their mothers what has aptly been 

 termed the subtle ambition to succeed. 



1 Such is the opinion of the oldest horse breeders in the world, — 

 the Arabs. With them a horse is always considered as belonging 

 to the family of his dam, not to that of his sire. 



2 Mr. S. T. Harris. 



