80 THE HORSE 



the worst possible horse under saddle. These con- 

 siderations have such weight in the judgment of 

 horse -owners that the porportion of trotters to pacers 

 throughout the United States is fully one hundred to 

 one; this, notwithstanding the general prevalency of 

 pacing on the race -tracks. 



Within the last twenty-five years great advances 

 have been made by pacing -horse breeders, and an 

 animal has been produced with which the old-time 

 pacer is not worthy of comparison. These breeders 

 had in mind the creation of a type of fast and game 

 pacers for racing on the track. This was the chief 

 purpose they had in view, and their wisdom is shown 

 by their success. They did not attempt to make of 

 the pacer a road- or general driving -horse, or a 

 saddler, but aimed solely at his improvement as a 

 racing animal. As a result the pacing record has 

 been lowered below the two -minute mark by the follow- 

 ing named horses: Dan Patch, 1:56, by Joe Patchen, 

 2:01%, Prince Alert, 1:57, and Star Pointer, 1:59%, 

 by Brown Hal, 2:12%. Among pacers whose 

 records are close to two minutes are Little Boy, 

 2:01%; Anaconda, 2:01%; Coney, 2:02, and a great 

 many others. 



An analysis of the pedigrees of the great pacers 

 will show that the highest results have come from the 

 use of sires that were themselves fast pacers. The rule 

 of intelligent breeders is to have for both sire and 

 dam pure-gaited pacers with speed and endurance. 

 Soundness and other plainly necessary qualities are, 

 of course, not ignored. 



