THE FAST LITTLE BONITA. 121 



tioneer greatness has sprung in all places and flour- 

 ished in all directions, the success, in a speed-producing 

 sense, of the combination of his blood with that of 

 these trotting-daughters of old St. Clair has been most 

 striking, and has brought the name of the plebeian 

 old-timer out of the obscurity that would have forever 

 enveloped it but for the speed of Electioneer's gifted 

 daughters — Manzanita, Bonita and AYildflower. 



Bonita Avas worked in her younger days by Henry 

 McGregor, and shortly after Wildflower took her 2:21 

 record, Bonita made a two-year-old record of 2:24|, 

 thus placing the first, second and third fastest two- 

 year-old record to the credit of Palo Alto. Had 

 Bonita accomplished this hefore Wildflower trotted in 

 2:21 it would have made a great sensation ; but good 

 as her performance was, it was made under the shadow 

 of the dazzling feat of Wildflower. The glamor thrown 

 around the latter's achievement made the record of the 

 former seem somewhat commonplace, and the applause 

 was measured accordingly. Whether you are first or 

 second makes all the difference in the world. 



I worked Bonita as a three-year-old, but did not 

 start her that year, I being most of the season in the 

 East with Hinda Rose and Wildflower. But she was 

 taken East, in 1883, in company with the mares just 

 named, and, after an unsuccessful start against Eva and 

 others, at Chicago, had a walk-over at Hartford, for a 

 four-year-old stake, October l:th. The day was bad 

 and no attempt was made to go a fast mile, but Bonita 

 showed the public a quarter in thirty-one and three- 

 fourths seconds. The four-year-old record of 2:19 that 

 had been made by Ja\^-Eye-See still stood, and, as 



