APPEXDIX. 423 



Ftallion was of course very great, but it did not much exceed the 

 Burprise of those who knew the mare best. That the horse waa 

 capable of such a performance they had not believed ; that the 

 nuire was able on that day to force him to it they never had 

 imagined. It was one of those races after which everybody is 

 well content. Those who favored the stallion were pleased, of 

 course ; and tlwse who stood by the mare against all comers, as a 

 general thing, had reason to congratulate themselves upon the 

 fact that they had supposed her to be much below her usual 

 standard. For this reason they had not backed her. After the 

 race I Avalked across the fields from the Union Course to Hiram 

 WoodruflTs house with Mr. Relf. We talked of the race, of the 

 stallion, and of the mare. 



" Foster," said he, " I have lost the race, but I believe I nm 

 the luckiest man on Long Island, and all owing to ignorance. If 

 I had known how good the mare was before they started I should 

 have lost thousands of dollars, for I should not have deemed her 

 beatable by anything out." 



The best performance Lady Thorn ever made to wagon was 

 some two years after the above race, and before she had reached 

 near her best rate in harness. On the 21st of May, at the Fashion 

 Course, she beat Lucy, George Wilkes, and General Butler, in 

 three straight heats in harness. On the 28th of the same month 

 she beat the same horses to wagon, trotting the three heats m 

 2m. 24s. ; 2m. 26s. ; 2m. 25|s. This beats the next best race to 

 wagons, that in which George Wilkes beat her two years before, 

 by two and a-half seconds. The aggregate of Wilkes's race was 

 7m. 17|s — that of Lady Thorn's 7ra. \b\s. In the preceding year 

 Dexter had trotted in 2m. 24s, to wagon on this same course, but 

 the other heats were slow. Before the close of 1868 Lady Thorn 

 manifested another improvement in speed, and this was made 

 necessary by the fixst trotting of her opponent. Mountain Boy. As 

 this horse beat her once in 1867 and three times in 1868, he is 

 worthy of especial mention. It may, however, be noticed at the 

 outset that the races in which he beat her in those years were do< 



