168 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 



trotted in 2:18|^, beating Bonita's four-year-old record, 

 and then we had the task before us of regaining the 

 four-year-old honors. I began preparing Sallie Ben- 

 ton, Helen (by Gen. Benton) and Hinda Rose to go 

 againsf Elvira's time. The trials were at the Bay 

 District track, December 13, 1881. First I tried with 

 Hinda Rose, and her time was 2:20^. Then I drove 

 Helen, and the best she did was 2:22f . The last string 

 left was Sallie Benton, and right nobly she answered 

 the question that was asked of her. She made the 

 mile in 2:17f, and this four-year-old record stood un- 

 beaten until Manzanita's day. 



When going slow, say at a 2:30 gait, Sallie Benton 

 seemed rather awkward and tumbling in her gait, but 

 at high speed her action was pure and beautiful. 

 She did not pull, and was very resolute in carrying her 

 speed. In making her 2:lTf record she made a break, 

 and her great speed is shown by the fact that I drove 

 her a quarter in 0:30J as a five-year-old. In that year 

 she developed trouble in a rear tendon, and though 

 with our stable in the East, she gave way at Rochester 

 and we had to throw her out of training. She is now 

 a brood-mare at Palo Alto, and we have seen enough 

 to warrant high expectations of her in the stud. 



Helen, the mare that trotted in 2:22f, is not as well 

 known to fame as she should be. She was a bay mare 

 by Gen. Benton, out of Alameda Maid, 2:27^, by Whip- 

 ple's Hambletonian. At Lexington, Kentucky, August 

 31, 1883, she won the third heat of a race against 

 Fugue in 2:30^. The next year, as stated, she trotted 

 the Bay District track in 2:22f, and in her five-year- 

 old form I worked her a mile in 2:19. At Chicago 



