THE TROTTING-1IORSE OF AMERICA. 387 



He is passing this winter at Baltimore, under the charge 

 of Peter Conover; and, from all that Doble tells me, he is 

 likely to come out fine in the spring. It is unnecessary to 

 recapitulate his performances since he left my stable. I 

 believe I have given them all ; and it occurs to me that I 

 ought to call public attention to the integrity and capacity 

 with which Doble has trained and driven him. The owners 

 of Dexter were fortunate in selecting this young man for 

 the post ; and the public were fortunate that some people did 

 not get hold of the horse, and use him for the purpose of 

 plundering the people. 



Great as the achievements of Dexter have been, I can 

 see no reason to believe that he has yet reached his highest 

 development. It is a long time now since I took Mr. Foster 

 to his box, and pointing out his very remarkable shape, 

 the wicked head, the game-cock throttle, the immense depth 

 over the heart, the flat, oblique shoulder laid back clean 

 under the saddle, the strong .back, the mighty haunches, 

 square and as big as those of a cart-horse, and the good, 

 wiry legs, predicted to him that here stood the future 

 Lord of the Trotting- World. That prediction has not yet 

 been wholly fulfilled, but my faith in its accomplishment is 

 not at all shaken. He has not yet beaten the 2m. 19f s. in 

 harness of Flora Temple ; nor has he beat the 2m. 25s. to 

 wagon which stands to her credit and to the credit of 

 George Wilkes ; but I can see no reason to doubt that to do 

 both these things is clearly within his capacity. The 2m. 

 21 s. at Washington City, on the 20th day of November, 

 seems to me to proclaim that Dexter is still improving, and 

 may be expected to surpass the grand doings of 1866, by 

 those we may reasonably look for in the year which has 

 just begun.* 



Some people imagine that the strong point in Dexter is 



* Hiram died in the middle of March, 1867 ; and therefore the grass had uot 

 grown upon his grave when these predictions in regard to Dexter had been ful- 

 filled. 



