542 A SHORT HISTORY 0¥ THE 



His last race was at Utica, AugiTst 28, 1879, where he beat Hope- 

 ful easily in 2 m. 171- s., 2 m. 16'. s., aud 2 m. 10 s. After some 

 negotiations, Mr. Kobert Bonner, who already had in his stable 

 Dexter, Joe Elliott, and Edwin Forrest, purchased him for $36,000, 

 and withdrew him from the turf forever. 



Many good judges consider Edwin Forrest the fastest trotting 

 horse in the world, not excepting the mighty Rarus. He is a rich 

 bay gelding, 16 hands high, was foaled in Cass county, Missouri, 

 in 1871. His sire was a horse called Ned Forrest, Jr., aud his 

 dam a granddaughter of the thoroughbred Leviathan. Taken to 

 Kentucky when young, he trotted his first race there in 1875. In 

 1877 he won two races at Madison, Ind., beating Pruteine, Kitty 

 Bates, and Andy Meshon, while in a race which he lost at Lexing- 

 ton, Ky., he attained a record of 2 m. 25|^ s. In 1878 he passed 

 into the hands of Gus Glidden, and entered the Michigan Circuit 

 in the spring, but being kept for the Grand Circuit he was not 

 allowed to win for fear of lowering his record. At Toledo, however, 

 the entries to the Grand Circuit being completed, he was given his 

 head and won in straight heats, the fastest of which was 2 m. 23 s. 



When the bell rang for the 2 m. 24 s. class at Cleveland, July 

 24, 1878, and Trampoline, Darby, Edward, Dick Moore, Alley, and 

 Edwin Forrest answered the summons, the spectators knew that 

 there would be a good race, but few expected that Edwin Forrest, 

 after breaking and losing the first heat to Edward, would win the 

 last three heats in the quick time of 2 m. 19i s., 2 m. 29^ s., and 

 2 m. 18j s., tlie last heat being won in a jog. At Buffalo he won 

 from the same field in 2 m. 20 s., 2 m. 262 s., and 2 m. 20| s., 

 and at Rochester he won again in quick time. In all those races 

 his superiority over his opponents was so evident that at Utica a con- 

 spiracy was formed by the owners aud drivers of the various horses 

 in the race, Forrest's driver being one of them, to make him a 

 great favorite in the betting, and then pull him so as to lose the 

 race. This disgraceful job succeeded only too well, and the speedy 

 Edward was the winner; and though the National Association 

 months afterwards ferreted out and punished the originators and 

 abetters of the iraud, it will be years before the turf recovers from 

 the wounds it then received at the hands of its professing friends. 

 In the fourth heat of that race he came from the rear at the last 

 with a burst of speed that amazed all beholders, and caused Charley 

 Green to make a dead rush for his owner aud secure the refusal of 

 him at $16,000, within five minutes. 



The real purchaser was Mr. Robert Bonner, of New York. Not 

 wishing to endanger the reputation of the horse until he should 

 become familiarized with his new driver. Green did not start him 

 until the last day of Hartford Meeting. When, after Rarus had 



