174 The Trotting and the Pacing Horse 



was purchased at the same time by Governor 

 Stanford. At Palo Alto Farm, iioo acres in 

 Santa Clara Valley, California, Electioneer had a 

 wonderful career. The horse was never trained 

 for races, but he was a natural trotter ; and Charles 

 Marvin informed me, when I was on a visit to 

 Palo Alto, that he had driven Electioneer at 

 better than a 2.20 gait. In his days of vigor 

 Electioneer stood 15.2^, had immense quarters, 

 and he combined quality with substance. When 

 treated kindly he was easily controlled, and as 

 Governor Stanford said in one of his announce- 

 ments, he imparted the most desirable qualities, 

 "soundness, high form, uniformly pure gait, ex- 

 cellent disposition, and extreme speed at an early 

 age." He was what is called a line trotter, and 

 the low and direct action fairly consumed space. 

 Mares representing many different families were 

 bred to him, but his potency was so great as to 

 stamp his image on the produce of all. His colts, 

 like himself, were natural trotters ; and it was sel- 

 dom that heavy shoes or toe weights were used 

 in their track education. Uniformity of size was 

 also one of the good points of the progeny of 

 Electioneer, differing widely in this particular 

 from the progeny of George Wilkes. Governor 



