210 THE TBOTTING-UORSE OF AMh'IilCA. 



tc^ok along more weight by G51bs. tlian Palmer and Colmu 

 bia did in their matches, and more by S-lIbs. than Palmei 

 and ]*eerless did in their best trial. An addition like either 

 of those to weight already high makes a vast difference. 

 The English had a theory once, that weight was of no mo- 

 ment in trotting ; and some of the best horses they ever had, 

 such as Archer and Ogden's mare, carried about IGSlbs. in 

 their performances, although the matches were made catch- 

 weight. It is curious tliat they should have cherished such 

 a delusion ; for in reference to running-horses they appn^ci- 

 ated the effect of weight closely enough. About the close 

 of the last century, however, some of the more reflective 

 began to doubt this maxim ; and when Robson's mare Phe- 

 nomena came out, she being a very easy-going-trotter and 

 no puller, they got a boy out of the racing-stables at New- 

 market, and practised him in the riding of her. They soon 

 found out the difference between IGSlbs, and the compara- 

 tive trifle that the boy rode. The mare won her two matches, 

 doing seventeen miles in fifty-six minutes in the first, and 

 seventeen miles in fifty-three minutes in the second. Her 

 owner then offered to match her to trot nineteen Tniles and 

 a half in an hour ; but the backers of time declaied they had 

 had quite enough of Phenomena and her boy from New- 

 market. 



