XXViil BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 



such a thorn in Bryan's side, that he declared the mare should not 

 trot against him any more, unless it was under saddle. It was in 

 driving Ripton against Americus, that Hiram displayed one of his 

 finest exhibitions of coolness, craft, and science. He won the race 

 against Ameri;us when a hundred to five had been laid on the 

 latter horse. Ripton was one of Hiram's prime favorites. His 

 fine speed, his stoutness, his grand action, his turbulent spirits, and 

 indomitable game, were themes that Hiram never tired of when he 

 had once begun. To hear him and Dan Pfifer, who took care of the 

 " white-legged pony," go on about him, with Sim Hoagland and 

 Whelan to drop in suggestive and sage remarks here and there, 

 was a treat indeed. The " white-legged pony " was also a prime 

 favorite with Hiram's devoted friend Oliver Marshall. Friends ! 

 when shall we truly realize that the tongue which spoke with such 

 wisdom, enthusiasm, and terse eloquence, at these, our well-remem- 

 bered sittings, is silent now forever ? 



It is beyond the scope of this sketch, even to mention by name 

 all the horsey which Hiram trained, rode, and drove. His own 

 work (which follows) may be referred to as regards those of most 

 renown who preceded the era of Flora Temple. He was always 

 fond of the Messenger blood. Beginning with old Topgallant, 

 and coming along down with Paul Pry, grandson of Messenger ; 

 Lady Suffolk, his granddaughter ; Ajax and Hector, sons of Ab- 

 dallah; and then to the Hambletonians, of whom he made the 

 wonder, Dexter, what famous horses of that famous strain came 

 to his hands to have their excellencies made manifest ! Flora her- 

 self has a dash of the blood ; and she, too, was the work of Hiram's 

 strong, patient, and cunning hand. When he was twenty-eight 

 years old, Hiram removed to Harlem, and became proprietor of the 

 track there which hi:? father had had. He kept it two years, and 

 then removed to Boston, where he was proprietor of the Cambridge 

 Course from 1847 to 1850. When he returned to New York, he 

 went into business in the Union Saloon, Broadway ; which he kept 

 in partnership with Albert Losee. But the City was not by any 

 means the place for Hiram. His was a spirit which delighted in 

 the country, by hill and stream, and where, with hand upon the 

 shoulder of his horse, he could hear the booming of the wild waves 

 on the beach. So, near " old Long Island's sea-girt shore," in the 

 spring of 1851, he took the house at the foot of the hill, on the 

 Jamaica Road, between East New York and the Cornel's ; and this 



