to England, having the run of their hunting-sta- 

 bles, he might select nags enough which could 

 soon be made, under his training and consum- 

 mate jockeyship, to go along with Edwin For- 

 rest and Lady Suffolk, Ripton, Rattler, Amer- 

 icas, and the Dutchman ? On this point the 

 following may be aptly exti-acted from the high- 

 est authority — our Bell's Life in London — to 

 wit : Porter's Spirit of the Times : 



" Nimrod, in ' admitting the superiority of our 

 Trotting-Horses to the English,' claims that the 

 English approach very near to the Americans,' 

 even in this breed of cattle. But there is no 

 comparison whatever between the Trotting- 

 Horses of the two countries. Mr. Wheelan, 

 who took RatlJer to England last season, and 

 doubly distanced ■with ease evei-y horse that 

 ventured to start against him, as the record 

 sho\%s. informs us that there arc twenty or more 

 roadsters in common use in this city, that could 

 conqiete successfully with the fastest trotters on 

 the Enelish Turf They neither understand the 

 art of training, driving or riding, there. For 

 example : some few years since, Alexander waiH 

 purchased by Messrs. C. &: B. of this city, for a 

 friend or acquaintance in England. Alexander 

 \vas a \vell-known roadster here, and was pur- 

 chased to order, at a lo\v rate. The horse was 

 sent out and trials made of him ; but so unsuc- 

 cessful were they, that the English importers 

 considered him an imposition. ThusJthe matter 

 stood for a j-ear or more. When 'W' heelan ar- 

 rived in England, he recognised the horse, and 

 li'amed the particulai-s of his purchase and sub- 

 sequent trials there. By his advice the horse 

 was nominated in a Stake at Manchester (we 

 bi.'lieve) witli four or five of the best trotters in 

 England, he (Wheelan) engaging to train and 

 rid(j him. When the horses came upon the 

 ground, tlie odds were 4 and 5 to 1 against 

 Alexander, who won by nearly a qnarter of a 

 VI lie '. Wheelan says he took tne track at 

 .'Starting, and widened the gap at his ease — that 

 near the finish, being surprised that no horse 

 ^vas anywhere near him, as his o^vn had not yet 

 made a stroke, he got frightened, thinking some 

 one might outbrush him — that he put Alexan- 

 der up to his work, and finally won by an im- 

 mense way — no horse, literally, getting to the 

 head of the quarter stretch, as he came out at 

 the winning stand ! The importers of Alexan- 

 der, at any rate, \vere .so surprised and delighted 

 at his performance, that they presented Whee- 

 lan \vilh a magnificent gold timing-watch, and 

 other valuable presents, and sent Messrs. C. & 

 B. a superb service of plate, which may be .seen 

 at any time at their establishment in Maiden- 

 Lane." 



Here it is clearly shown that the comparative 

 speed of American horses is to be attributed not 

 to breed, but to management, on which we the 

 rather insist, as it is to be desired that American 

 agriculturists, and all breeders and trainers of 

 horses, should understand and practice upon 

 some fixed and rational principles, rather than 

 rely for success on some imaginary strain of 

 horse.s, of no certain origin or established blood. 

 After all, \ve have accounts of performimces in 

 trotting, by English horses, that may be consid- 

 ered as extraordinai-v as those of our own, when 

 (177) 



allowance is made for the greater value placed, 

 and the more attention and skill bestowed, upoa 

 trotters in this country than in that. 



The celebrated English ti-otter Archer, de- 

 scended from old Shields, a remarkably strong 

 horse and master of fifteen stone, (two hundred 

 and ten poimds,) trotted his sixteen miles, in a 

 very severe fi-ost, in less than fifty-five minutes. 

 In 1791, a brown mare ti-otted in England, on 

 the Essex road, sixteen miles in fifty-eight min- 

 utes and some seconds, being then 18 years old ; 

 and. while we are writing, we learn from aa 

 official report tliat Lady Hampton, on the Od of 

 May, 1842, in England, trotted seventeen miles 

 in 58m. 378. in harness. She was driven by 

 Burke, of great English trotting celebiity. On 

 the 13th of October, 1799, a ti'ottiug match wa3 

 decided over Suubury Common between Mr. 

 Dixon's brown gelding and Mr. Bishop's grey 

 gelding, earning twelve stone (one hundred 

 and sixty-eight pounds) each, which w^as won 

 by the former in twenty-seven minutes and tea 

 seconds. A Mr. Stevens made a bet which was 

 decided 5th October, 1796, thai he would pro- 

 duce a pair of horses, his own property, tbat 

 should trot in tandem from Windsor to Hamp- 

 ton Court, a distance of sixteen miles, witliiB 

 the hour ; notwithstanding the cross country 

 road, and great number of turnings, they per- 

 formed it with ease in fifty-seven minutes aa3 

 thirteen seconds. Plienomena trotted nineteen 

 miles in an hour. — These examples are adduced 

 to show the fallacy of that impression whisb 

 would lead the public to look to any but the 

 ti-ue and rational sources of superiority — iar 

 mankind has ever been prone to the marvelona^ 

 prefen-ing to look for all that does not lie on the 

 surface, to some mysterious influence, uneon- 

 nected ■with known and rational causes. The 

 trotter, according to the distance prescribed as 

 the mea.sure of his capacity, needs the combina- 

 tion of form and blood — of bone and of muscle, 

 which give distinction to the hunter; and the 

 reason, if it be asked, %vhy the thorongh-trrtd 

 cannot be relied upon for a hard run over a 

 rough country, is, that he rarely combines these 

 requisites, and is, moreover, put to his work 

 when too young ; but does any one doubt that 

 Sir Archy, or Timoleon, or Eclipse, or imported 

 Tranby, or Leviathan, ■would have made first- 

 rate hunters or trotters, if, before they were put 

 to hard ■work, their frames had been left to ripen, 

 and their bones and joints and muscles to get 

 fii-m and solid, and at the same time pliant omA 

 supple, by gentle and moderately increasing 

 exercise until five or six years old — for here it 

 is to be noted that, as to the age at wh ich the 

 trotter should be put in training, and that at 

 which he reacheshis maximum of power, thoagu 

 there would seem to be some difference of opin- 

 ion, all agree that the d'Otter is not in his prime 



