270 Alexander's abdallah and descendants. 



largely identified with horse breeding interests in the State of New 

 York. I should have mentioned in my chapter on Volunteer, that 

 Mr. Thome was with Mr. Goldsmith the joint purchaser of Volunteer 

 and owned an interest in him for several years. He was also owner of 

 Sentinel, the brother of Volunteer, that earned such a brilliant repu- 

 tation in Kentucky. He has more recently been President of the State 

 Agricultural Society of the State of New York, and is one of the most 

 agreeable gentlemen of the State in which he lives. In October, 1868, 

 Thorndale was exhibited at the Narragansett Park Fair, Providence, 

 R. I., in harness, in class of stallions three years old and under five. 

 He took the first premium over ten others. He also won the first 

 premium in the stallion class for getting roadsters, at the New York 

 State Fairs, at Albany, in 1871 and 1873. He was thenceforward kept 

 for service at Mr. Thome's place, Thorndale, Duchess county, N. Y., 

 and with the exception of a few weeks handling in the autumn of 

 1875, he was never hitched to a sulky until sent to Mr. Budd Doble 

 to be trained on the 17th of May, 1876, after eight years continuous 

 stud service. He had been kept regularly, and weighed 1,164 lbs. the 

 day he left home. He was in such high condition that they were 

 obliged to feed him light and work his flesh off — not giving him above 

 four quarts of oats per day. On the 27th of June, forty-one days 

 after going into Mr. Doble's hands, he received a trial, and was driven 

 to the quarter pole in 35|-, half in 1:11, three-quarters in 1:49, 

 and the mile in 2:24^. On July 17th he received his second tiial, 

 and a repeat as follows: Quarter 35, half 1:10, three-quarters 

 1:47, mile 2:24; quarters respectively, 35, 35, 37 and 37. Repeat in 

 like manner in 35^, 1:11, 1:48 and 2:24; quarters respectively, 35|^, 

 35^, 37 and 36 — 2:24 — which was a performance truly great, consid- 

 ering the circumstances, and was sufficient to satisfy his osvner and 

 trainer that he was a safe horse. 



These were the only trials he had before leaving Philadelphia to 

 start on the grand Eastern circuit of 1876. He started at Buffalo in 

 the 2:32 class on the 3d of August. It is not my purpose to fill up 

 these pages with the reports of turf performances, but I can not better 

 show the great qualities of the horse and family under consideration^ 

 than by copying from the Spirit of the 2'i/nes, of August 12, 1876, 

 the report of Thorndale's first great encounter, as follows: 



THE 2:32 CLASS. 



This was the first event on the regular card of the day, and it proved to be 

 a, most exciting race, and on its result large sums of money changed hands. 



