494 PILOT AND HIS DESCENDANTS. 



without a defeat, and winding up his trotting season in a blaze of glory, at 

 the National Breeders' Meeting, by winning tlie 2:20 stallion purse, beating 

 such good ones as Blackwood Jr. and Nil Desperanduni, and lowering his 

 record to 2:21i^. 



His breeding represents three trotting crosses, and the balance thorough- 

 bred blood, which helps to account for his wonderful staying qualities. He 

 has beauty of form and color, very rapid action, line disposition, and is as 

 garde a horse " as ever looked through a bridle." As a five-year-old he was 

 started in one race which was won by the then famous Clementine, Voltaire's 

 time being 2:^i%- As a six-year-old he did not appear in public, but in his 

 seven-year-old form he trotted two races in one week, and was beaten by such 

 horses as St. Julien and Orient, either of whom could trot close to 2:20. He 

 did not start in 1876, being badly handled, and made his first appearance ia 

 1877 at Mystic Park, Boston, June 5, in the 2:50 class, which he won after a 

 hard-fought contest of five heats, beating Powers, the hitherto invincible son 

 of Volunteer, and gaining a record of 2 : 24. At Beacon Park, Boston, June 

 12, he again defeated Powers in a race of five heats, and trotted in 2 : 24. At 

 Granite State Park, New Hampshire, June 19, Voltaire and Powers renewed 

 the struggle, and Powers again met defeat, after a five-heat race, Voltaire 

 winning the last three heats. August 28, at Charter Oak Park, he met and 

 defeated such horses as Honest Harry, Tom Keeler, Richard, and Alley, 

 another fast son of Volunteer. This race created great excitement, and was 

 won by the pluck and indomitable courage of the Hartford stallion, in spite 

 of a strong combination to beat him, and an effort to break down his sulky. 

 This, as usual for Mm, was a five-heat contest, but it was in reserve for him to 

 win an easy victory (the first of the season) the following week, at Mystic 

 Park, which he did in three straight heats, over the same field of horses as at 

 Hartford, and trotting the third heat in 2 : 24)^, the fastest of the race. His 

 race at the National Breeders' Association Meeting, at Hartford, was won in 

 great style, trotting the last three heats without a break, lowering his record 

 to 2:21)4;, and placing himself in the foremost rank of trotting stallions. He 

 has now the fastest record in the State, beating Jefferson's record one and 

 three-quarters seconds, and the second fastest record in New England, the 

 famous Smuggler standing first. 



His career marks him as one of the most successful trotting stal- 

 lions that have ever appeared on our trotting turf. 



In the progress of these chai)ters I have steadily taught the lesson 

 that in our American roadsters and trotting horses we had certain 

 very valuable lines of trotting blood, and had reached such an ad- 

 vanced stage of breeding as to render it unnecessary and unadvisable 

 to go outside these elements and resort to any new strains of blood, 

 however attractive they may be; that it is also certainly true that all 

 excellence for trotting purposes does not belong exclusively to one 

 line of breeding. I have also shown that in the Messenger family, 

 closely in-bred and in certain lines of racing blood, there is a ten- 



