TROTTING HORSES. 75 



him. Woodruff describes Topgallant as " a dark bay 

 horse, 15 hands 3 inches high, plain and raw boned, 

 but with rather a fine head and neck, and an eye 

 expressive of much courage. He was spavined in 

 both hind legs, and his tail was slim at the root. 

 His spirit was very high, and yet he was so reliable 

 that he would hardly ever break, and his bottom was 

 of the finest and toughest quality. He was more 

 than fourteen years of age before he was known at 

 all as a trotter, except that he could go a distance, 

 the whole length of the New York Eoad, as well as 

 any horse that had ever been extended on it." 



At the close of the Civil War there was living on a 

 small farm at Greenport, Long Island, one Mr. E. B. 

 Conklin, a retired stage carpenter, who by industry 

 and thrift had saved a little money. Mr. Conklin had 

 a passion for horses, especially for trotters, and he con- 

 ceived the idea that a certain colt born on his farm, 

 and the only one that he ever raised, was destined to 

 become the champion trotter of the world. The 

 colt's sire was Conklin's Abdallah, whose breeding is 

 unknown. Its mother was a gray nag called Nancy 

 Awful, half-thoroughbred, and very high-spirited. She 

 also belonged to Mr. Conklin, and his belief in her 

 and in her colt became a sort of religion. Many men, 

 no doubt, under similar circumstances, have been 

 equally enthusiastic, but the peculiarity in this case 

 was that Mr. Conklin had always enjoyed the repu- 

 tation of being "hard-headed." His neighbors there- 

 fore came to the charitable conclusion that on this 

 particular subject the old carpenter had gone mad. 

 The foal was certainly very promising, long, muscular, 

 and full of life and spirit. " From the day of its 



