CHAPTER VI 



THE AMERICAN TROTTER AND PACER 



The history of the English trotting horse goes back for several 

 centuries. About Norfolk and Yorkshire trotters were great favor- 

 ites two centuries ago, and trotting races of an unofficial char- 

 acter were of frequent occurrence. Old records tell us that the 

 Norfolk trotting mare Phenomena in 1800 trotted 17 miles in 

 56 minutes on the Huntingdon road, carrying a weight in saddle 

 of about 225 pounds, In 1806 the horse Pretender trotted 16 

 miles within an hour, carrying 210 pounds. All the early racing 

 records were made under the saddle. In connection with the 

 early evolution of the Hackney its use as a trotter and racer 

 became popular. 



The early use of the trotter in America no doubt extends back 

 into colonial times, though to what degree is uncertain. What 

 were probably running horses were taken from England to Massa- 

 chusetts as early as 1629. Horses of this class were also bred 

 in Virginia and the Carolinas. The recorded use of the trotter 

 in America extends back to the first part of the nineteenth cen- 

 tury. In 1802 a law forbidding all horse racing and trotting was 

 enacted in New York, but this law was amended in 1821 to 

 permit training, pacing, trotting, and running of horses upon 

 certain regulated courses in Queens County on Long Island. 

 Early trotting records take us back to June, 1806, when the 

 horse Yankee, under saddle, trotted a mile in 2:59 on the Harlem 

 race course, New York. On August 25, 1810, a horse from 

 Boston is reported to have trotted a mile at Philadelphia in har- 

 ness in 2:48^-. Later, in 1818, Boston Blue made an authentic 

 mile in 3:00 at Jamaica, New York. This record compares favor- 

 ably with English records in Norfolk and elsewhere. 



A most important trotting blood foundation in America was the 

 importation of the stallions Messenger, Diomed, and Bellfounder, 

 whose histories are worthy of special mention. 



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