74 THE HORSE 



1903, constitute a true measure of the increase of speed 

 in the trotter. It should be borne in mind that great 

 improvement has been made in tracks, sulkies, harness 

 and all the equipments of the fast trotter. The per- 

 formance of Lady Suffolk in trotting a mile in 2:29%, 

 in 1845, was fully equal to a mile in 2:15 under present 

 conditions. When Maud S. took her record of 2:08%, 

 in 1885, she drew an old-fashioned high-wheeled sulky, 

 on a regulation track; a feat that stood unmatched 

 for nearly twenty years. In 1891, Sunol, by Electioneer, 

 trotted a mile to a high- wheeled sulky in 2:08%, but 

 it was done on a kite-shaped track, which some horse- 

 men believe to be a shade faster than the oval, when 

 attempts are made at extreme speed. The stallion 

 Palo Alto, also by Electioneer, took his record of 2:08% 

 to a high-wheeled sulky, but this performance, like that 

 of Sunol, was on a kite-shaped track. Sunol, Maud S., 

 Palo Alto, Cresceus Major Delrnar and Lou Dillon 

 mark the highest development of speed of the trotter. 

 The progress in breeding has been steadily upward. 

 Though so much has been accomplished, it cannot 

 be said that there has yet been produced a breed of 

 trotters in the sense that the thoroughbred horse, 

 the setter and collie dog, and the game and Dork- 

 ing chicken, are ranked as breeds. This is due to 

 the comparatively late period of the commencement 

 of anything like a systematic effort to establish a 

 breed, and to the irrational methods of many breeders. 

 A striking illustration of this proposition is the 

 fact that the National Trotting Horse Breeders' 

 Association for years had rules which admitted for 



