276 LIFE WITH THE TKOTTEKS. 



(leal like Mr. Baldwin, known as "Lucky Baldwin"; he 

 says a man is more liable to get there by i)luck. While 

 Marvin has had plenty of raw material of the best quality 

 to work on, to work out the result that he has I think proves 

 that he must have been a man of great ability and industry. 

 That he has filled his position with satisfaction to his em- 

 ployer is proven by his being able to hold it for so long a 

 time. Not only is Marvin caj^able of training and driving 

 a colt but I have seen him handle aged horses equally as 

 well. His training and driving of Smuggler stamped him 

 as a mechanic of the first water. 



I have spoken of Golden and Bowen as men who have 

 made their mark in their profession, and between them they 

 have done more than any other men to bring into promi- 

 nence the Lambert family, which I consider to be in some 

 respects one of the very best strains of trotting blood. It is 

 true that extreme speed on the race-track is not a merit of 

 the Lamberts, but nevertheless Daniel Lambert Has sired 

 something like thirty horses that have made records of 2:30 or 

 better, and for road driving they are in my opinion unsur- 

 passed, being beautifully gaited, with as j)leasant mouths 

 for the bit as one could imagine. 



A breeder of whom the public will know more in the 

 future than it has in the i^ast is Mortimer McRoberts of 

 Chicago. A few years since his physician advised that on 

 account of failing health Mr. Mc Roberts should purchase a 

 fine road-team. He took pains to secure a perfectly matched 

 pair that were fast, and at the same time pleasant to drive, 

 and the trouble he experienced in doing this resulted in his 

 establishing the Rock River stock farm at Dixon, 111. Mr. 

 McRoberts, who had been successful in business life, saw 

 that the breeding of trotters that were distinctly road-horses 

 had been overlooked, and it was with this in mind that his 

 breeding venture was begun. The j)remier sire, at this place, 

 McRoberts' Venture, is a sixteen-hand dark -brown horse, 

 that has aptly been called ' ' The Lambert of Lamberts. ' ' He 

 is by Aristos, son of Daniel Lambert who made a record of 



