TROTTERS. 579 



Budd Doble, who steered Dexter, Goldsmith Maid 

 and Nancy . Hanks (Fig. 568), when they made their 

 respective best-on-records, is said to have recently 

 expressed the opinion that Goldsmith Maid would have 

 made as good time as Cresceus, had she trotted under 

 as favourable conditions as he did. Although this idea 

 may contain a strong old-time bias, the fact remains 



I'UolO bij] [" AMraiCAN HORSE BREEDER." 



Fig. 567. — Mr. T. Malcolm Forbes's Arion (2.iojat two years old, to high wheels) ; 



stands 15. 1, 



that mechanical improvements greatly tend to lower 

 records. The sulky is undoubtedly the most important 

 factor in this connection. In the early part of last 

 century, the sulky took the form of a light gig, which 

 probably did not weigh less than 125 lbs. Goldsmith 

 Maid's sulky, which was the best of its kind up to that 

 time, weighed about 46 lbs., had wheels 4ft. loin. in 

 diameter, and a straight axle, which prevented a " close 

 hitch," because, if such a sulky was brought close to the 



37* 



