THE TROTTiNG-IIORSE OF AMERICA. 61 



Iiea^s, and the time was somewhere about tliree minutes 

 and seven seconds. We thought it good at that period, 

 and so it was. In considering th*^ fast time made by our 

 best trotters of late years, we ouglii not to forget tliat tlie 

 tracks and all the appliances have been improved, as well 

 as the horses. Go upon the Fashion and Union courses in 

 tlie trotting-season, and you will find them so ordered as to 

 be as smooth as a bowling-alley. It is scarcely necessary 

 to sa}'' that the courses thirty years ago were very different. 



Tlie next very prominent trot between young horses was 

 that in which Ethan Allen defeated Kose of Washington 

 when they were four \, ears old. It was the first time that 

 a young stallion had appeared in public at that age ; but 

 Holkam and Roe had great confidence. Ethan was indeed 

 a superior colt, and has since turned out a superior horse. 

 He had a good one to beat, too, in Rose of Washington ; 

 and she has also turned out well. It cannot be said that 

 their training and race hurt either of them ; but it must 

 not be forgotten that both were in the hands of wary and 

 experienced men. Their time (2m. 36s.) was the best then, 

 but it has since been very much reduced in Kentucky. 

 Lady Emma affords another instance of speed and handling 

 when young, with subsequent improvement into a first-rate, 

 fast, and lasting trotter. At three years old she went half 

 a mile in public in one minute nineteen and a half seconds, 

 and a mile in two minutes fifty-two seconds, or thereabouts. 

 The training and racing she had as a three-year-old did not 

 at all impair her bottom, as her more recent performances 

 have abundantly shown. In this regard, I look upon Lady 

 Emma as a strong case in point. She steadily increased her 

 pneed every year of ner training, and in bottom she was 

 second to none. 



A friend of mine, who is a noted admirer of running- 

 horses, has always insisted that this mare was thrown back 

 to some ancestor'in the pedigree of Old Messenger — very 

 likely Flying Childers himself, he says. It is true that she 



