AMERICAN TR6TTERS. 63 



ST. LAWRENCE 



must not be omitted in our mention of the early sources of trotting blood. 

 He was a small, bay, Canada-bred horse, standing about 15^ hands ; 

 was foaled about 1841, brought over to New York about 1848, and died 

 in Michigan 1858. His breeding is not known, but he was a trotter and 

 a sire of trotters. The peculiar motion which proclaims St. Lawrence 

 blood is seen among all of his descendants : The hind quarters gently 

 swing from side to side, as the hind feet successively advance, trotting 

 with an even but rolling and far-reaching action, that gives an idea of 

 .almost irresistible power and momentum. 



In this connection we quote the opinion of Mr. H. T. Helm an 

 acknowledged authority in matters concerning trotting stock as given 

 in his valuable work on "American Roadsters and Trotting Horses": 



" The fact has become so clear that in some parts of our country the Messenger 

 blood has been bred too closely, and the need of a suitable out-cross of high trotting 

 quality having become apparent in many instances, such a blood as that of St. Lawrence 

 affords, for all such, one of the most valuable strains with which to inter-breed. Many 

 valuable mares now exist that are so closely and strongly in-bred in the Messenger blood 

 that their value as breeding stock mainly depends on the obtaining of a suitable out-cross 

 to invigorate the blood, and maintain the trotting excellence for which it has been noted. 

 For all such the male descendants of St. Lawrence will afford the desired cross, and the 

 union will in all probability result, as did that of Beilfounder in the Hambletonian, in 

 the further advancement of the American Trotter." 



Next on the list comes the Canadian pacer, 



PILOT. 



His breeding, like that of St. Lawrence, is not known, except that his 

 ancestry came originally from France to Acadia, and thence to Canada, 

 forming a class of tough and valuable horses, since known as French 

 Canadians, or Kanucks. He was foaled about 1826, but was first known 

 at New Orleans, 1832, when he was said to be six years old, and was 

 purchased of a peddler for $1,000; he died in Kentucky in 1855. Pilot, 

 in brief, was a black stallion, standing less than 15 hands, with short 

 neck, rather thick and heavy about the throat ; a long, coarse mane, 

 showing the handsome, wavy curl which characterizes the French Cana- 

 dian wherever found; a close-knit, muscular body; a sloping rump ; a 

 heavy tail of same quality as mane, and long quarters, with hocks placed 

 low down. His whole make-up was one of utility, and his descendants 

 chiefly through the blood of his greatest son, Pilot Jr., combined with 

 the blood of established trotting strains have among them the fastest 

 trotters in the world. 



The dam of Maud S. 2:08^ the fastest trotter known before the 

 advent of the kite track and the bicycle sulky, was by Pilot Jr., as was 

 also the dam of the famous gelding Jay Eye See 2:10 whose 1892 

 pacing record of 2:06^ makes him the fastest double-gaited horse in 



