228 lAFK WITH Till-: l' ROTTERS. 



one i)urchase transferred from the ownership of Mr. Back- 

 man to that of himself no less than $44, 000 worth of trotting- 

 bred stock, the largest purchase of the kind ever made in 

 the world for breeding purposes. To mention Stony Ford 

 Avithout bringing in the name of Johnny Hoag would leave 

 the subject incomplete. He is like some of the colts, took 

 his first lessons in horses at Stony Ford, and to say that he 

 has improved, and kept up with the colts, and with the 

 breeding, only partially tells the truth. As a handler and 

 trainer of colts he is rated by those who are supposed to be 

 judges as in the first class of that profession. 



In this connection I might mention a grandson of Ken- 

 tucky Prince which I had in my charge for a short time — 

 I mean the black gelding J. Q. by Kentucky Prince. 

 When I say that I consider this horse one of the fastest I 

 ever drove I think his performances will bear me out. J. Q., 

 like Guy, seemed to be born with his trot in him. The 

 lirst time I saw him he was in the hands of a man who at 

 that time had not made much reputation for himself as a 

 horse trainer. J. Q. is one of the best evidences of my argu- 

 ment that all great horses, like poets, are born and not 

 made; in other words that their speed is a natural gift and not 

 a developed quality, and I can cite some very notable in- 

 stances in support of this idea. The first time I ever saw 

 Johnston the pacer he could pace for a short distance as 

 fast as I ever saw him go afterward. By this I do not 

 want to be understood as saying that he could have gone a 

 mile in 2:06|^ at that time, but I know that he was cai:)able 

 of pacing 100 yards at that rate of speed. The first time I 

 saw Mattie Hunter she had all the speed that she had, when 

 she went a mile in 2: 12|. The same can be said of Little 

 Brown Jug, Rarus, and Maud S. St. Julien is a very 

 noticeable instance. I saw him brush close to a 2:20 gait 

 the day he was sold for $600. 



In the case of J. Q., at the commencement of his career 

 he was fast enough to warrant the belief that some day he 

 would go a very fast mile. He was handed about from one 



