CHAPTER VI 



THE AMERICAN TROTTER 



The history of the English trotting horse goes back for several 

 centuries. About Norfolk and Yorkshire, trotters were great 

 favorites two centuries ago, and trotting races of an unofficial 

 character 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 evolu- 

 tion 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 Mas- 

 sachusetts 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 Queen's 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 Har- 

 lem 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 source of trotting blood in America was the 

 importation of the stallions Messenger and Bellfounder, whose 

 histories are worthy of special mention. 



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