TROTTING HORSES. 61 



composition, and the baker's mare belonged to the 

 incomparable Morgan strain. Indeed, it never hap- 

 pens that a horse who is not connected more or less 

 closely with the equine aristocracy becomes distin- 

 guished as a trotter. There is a popular superstition 

 that Flora Temple, Dexter, and other celebrated 

 animals, were of obscure birth, and began life in 

 humble situations ; but this, as I shall presently 

 show, is not the case. Dutchman, 1 to be sure, an 

 old-time trotter of great courage and bottom, was 

 first used in a string team at Philadelphia to haul 

 brick ; but he was a horse of good breeding. He 

 was a bay gelding, fifteen hands three inches high, 

 very powerfully made, bony and strong, with a plain 

 but resolute face, and a fine neck and head. Dutch- 

 man's time for three miles, namely, 7.41, remained 

 the best on record from the year when it was made, 

 1839, till 1872, when Huntress, 2 a beautiful bay mare, 

 reduced it to 7.21 J. 



There is another reason why every American ought 

 to take an interest in the trotter. Trotting, like 

 base-ball, is, as its votaries often remark, a national 

 sport, — national in the sense not only that it is 

 popular among us, but that it was created by us ; and 

 consequently anybody in the United States who fails 

 to take an interest in it is so far forth out of touch 

 with his countrymen. There is something lacking in 

 him, — some obscure though doubtless valuable trait, 

 which, if he possessed it, would certainly make him 

 interesting in other directions, but which is most 

 conspicuously revealed in a fondness for the track. 



1 Dutchman was by a grandson of Messenger ; and his dam is 

 said to have been bv a son of Messenger. 



2 By Volunteer. Her dam was a Star mare. See page 69. 



