THE HORSE HISTORY. 521 



JAY-EYE-SEE is a five-year-old, is by Dictator; dam by Mid- 

 night, by Pilot Jr., a son of old pacing Pilot. Dictator, son of 

 Rysdyk's Hambletonian was a trotter and got trotters. He is 

 the sire of Phallas. Phallas does not resemble a runner, but a 

 great trotter. His father was a trotter, so was his grandfather, 

 but his great-grandfather had running blood in his veins, and by 

 this token the through-bred theorists claim him as an example 

 in proof of their theory. 



It seems to the writer that it is too soon yet in the history 

 of the development of the breed of trotters to assert positively 

 as to the power of the thorough-bred in development of the trot- 

 ter. It is true that all the noted families of trotters are in- 

 debted to near or remote crosses of thorough-bred blood for 

 valuable qualities. It is also true that the thorough-bred was 

 an important factor in the make-up of the Clydesdale and Cleve- 

 land bay, but at so remote a day that no man now claims that 

 the special working qualities of these breeds would be improved 

 by a fresh cross of the speedy race-horse. The next generation 

 of men will see the breed of trotters so well established and fixed 

 that he who would attempt to improve the gait and staying qual- 

 ity of a well-bred trotter of the Hambletonian line by a cross of 

 running blood, would be the laughing-stock of the trotting fra- 

 ternity. There are successful families of trotters which prove 

 in the stud and on the track their superiority, and the wise 

 breeders are to-day looking to a concentration of this blood 

 rather than to running blood for their success in breeding. Be- 

 fore passing to the table of trotters of the last year, it may not 

 be amiss to notice, in this connection, the death of Governor 

 Sprague. He was foaled at Providence, R. I., in 1871, died of 

 pneumonia at Lexington, Ky., May 5, 1883, cutting short a life 

 of rare promise and great usefulness. He made his first ap- 

 pearance on the track when four years old. He made a public 

 mile that season in 2.2 li. Horsemen said his equal had 

 never been seen. In his five year old form he trotted the first 

 half of his third mile at Chicago in 1.08, but was taken up by 

 his driver and jogged under the wire in 2.30. In less than half 

 an hour after this feat Mr. J. I. Case bought him for $27,500 



