2o6 The Trotting and the Pacing Horse 



Startle 



In the first Stony Ford catalogue (1870), 

 Startle appears with Victor Bismarck and 

 Dauntless under the head of three-year-old 

 colts. He was a bay colt, foaled May 14, 

 1867, by Rysdyk's Hambletonian, dam Lizzie 

 Walker by Seely's American Star. He stood 

 1 5. 1, but had strong shoulders and massive 

 quarters. He was the first Northern-bred three- 

 year-old to trot in 2.36, and he passed from 

 Charles Backman through George B. Alley to 

 Robert Bonner, who drove him on the road and 

 track. Startle was the first horse to trot a mile 

 over the old Fleetwood track in 2.19, and on 

 another occasion he trotted a half-mile in 1.04!^. 

 Mr. Bonner thought so much of Startle that he 

 paid Mr. Backman #5000 for the unborn colt 

 of Lizzie Walker by Hambletonian, which came 

 dead. Startle was not given much of a chance 

 in the stud, but among his ten trotters were 

 Instant, 2.14J, and Majolica, 2.15. Portia, one 

 of his daughters, is the dam of four in the list, 

 including Lightning, 2.1 1, and Protein, 21 if. 

 His best producing son is Mambrino Startle, 

 sire of 14 trotters, among them the excellent 



