The Lady Suffolk Era 41 



best of his contemporaries. In 1829, when 

 twenty-two years old, Topgallant trotted against 

 Whalebone, four heats of four miles each, all 

 under 12 m. 15 s. It was more a test of bot- 

 tom than of speed. Boston Blue, Topgallant, 

 Whalebone, Screwdriver, Paul Pry, and old-time 

 performers of their caliber helped to turn the 

 public mind toward trotting, but they contributed 

 very little to the formation of the breed. The 

 speed standard now in force does not recognize 

 them. The first horse to trot a mile in better 

 than 2.30 was Lady Suffolk, a gray mare, foaled 

 in 1833, and bred by Leonard W. Lawrence of 

 Smithtown, Suffolk County, Long Island. Her 

 sire was Engineer 2d, son of Engineer, the son 

 of imported Messenger, and her dam was by Don 

 Quixote, son of Messenger. She was full of 

 race-horse blood, and her nervous organization 

 was high and her courage beyond question. She 

 stood 15.1, and had legs of iron. Her first 

 public appearance was on a cold day in Feb- 

 ruary, 1838, for a purse of $11, and she won 

 it after three heats, the best of which was 

 3.00. She was then the property of David 

 Bryan, who subsequently campaigned her for 

 15 consecutive years. At Beacon Course, New 



