66 The Trotting and the Pacing Horse 



difficulty that Splan could make his way through 

 the crowd and then into the judges' stand. When 

 he reached the steps, he cleared them three at a 

 bound, and after handshaking, was led to the rail 

 and presented with a handsome basket of flowers 

 by President Bush. No words were spoken. 

 It would have been useless to have attempted 

 speech-making in the presence of the crowd that 

 filled the quarter-stretch, and which made the 

 ground shake with its shouts. While Splan was 

 blushing and bowing his acknowledgments to the 

 applauding thousands, Rarus was being unhar- 

 nessed, and he looked on with dazed eye, quiver- 

 ing nostril, and trembling flank. He had made a 

 new mark in the annals of the turf, had wiped out 

 the record of Goldsmith Maid, which had headed 

 the list for so many years ; and modesty well be- 

 came him in the hour of his brilliant success. It 

 was a proud day for Buffalo Park, and those who 

 were present will never forget the uproar caused 

 by the beating of 2.14." In the latter part of the 

 summer of 1879 Mr. Robert Bonner, who had 

 long looked for a record-breaker to head his 

 stable, purchased Rarus for $36,000. The geld- 

 ing made a record of 2.15, 2.13^, 2.1 3^- for three 

 consecutive heats at Hartford, and trotted a mile 



