276 THE TROTTING-I10RSE OF AMERICA. 



given specimens of saddle-horsemanship which remind the 

 old frequenters of the trotting-turf of the days when my 

 uncle, George Woodruff, used to ride against Peter Whelan, 

 or of those races in which I used to ride against William 

 Whelan and others. Flora herself never was a saddle- 

 mare ; and yet I think no man can look over her, and point 

 out any defect of conformation as the reason wl^. It must 

 have been, in her case, a want of education under the saddle, 

 and that deficiency was greatly to be regretted. 



The race between her and Chicago Jack came off over 

 the Centreville Course on the 24th of June. The mare 

 was the favorite, and won easily in three straight heats 

 of exactly 2m. 30s. each. The victory over Chicago Jack 

 was not so much considered by the thoughtful as the fact 

 that Flora trotted the second quarter of the last heat at 

 the rate of 2m. 20s., and seemed to be going within herself. 



Her next match was against Lancet, for $1,000 a side, 

 mile heats, three in five, in harness, made for the second of 

 July. Flora had beaten the gelding with great ease, at Bos- 

 ton, the year before ; but since then his friends had become 

 exceedingly confident by reason of the time he had shown 

 in a private trial. Now, such trials are useful enough as 

 indicating what the horse may be expected to do under 

 certain circumstances ; and a first-rate trial affords very 

 strong presumption that a trotter is in the course of im- 

 provement. But, in making matches, the public doings of 

 the horse, unless he has been out of condition, or has been 

 pulled, afford a far safer guide for his owner and trainer 

 than trials do. To follow one particular trial is a will-o'-the- 

 wisp sort of business, and people are thereby often led deep 

 into boggy ground. The horse gets beat every heat in time 

 that is not any thing like as good as the trial was ; and then 

 there is much marvel and lamentation, to say nothing of 

 something stronger, over a result which the whole history 

 of the turf, running as well as trotting, might have led us 

 to expect. In this match, the public turned a deaf ear to 



