Robert Bonner Made It Popular for 

 Gentlemen to Own a Trotter 



TO no man are the amateur 

 drivers of America so much in- 

 debted as to that grand gentle- 

 man and prince of amateur 

 sportsmen, the late Robert Bon- 

 ner. It was he who made road driving the 

 one all-absorbing sport and popular pastime 

 away hack in the forties, and it was his acts 

 which took that distinctly American product, 

 the trotter, out of the hands of gamblers and 

 elevated him to such distinction as made him 



ROBERT BONNER 



sought after by men of refinement and 

 wealth. 



Robert Bonner paid what were, in the 

 earlier days, fabulous prices for trotters, and 

 retired them from the track to comfortable 

 quarters and his own private use. The first 

 team to trot a mile faster than 2 130, was 

 owned and driven by Mr. Bonner. In 1861 

 he hitched Flatbush Maid and Lady Palmer 

 together, and drove them a mile over Union 

 Course, Long Island, in 2 37. 



At that time the feat was of such extra- 

 ordinary character as to attract wide atten- 

 tion, and its credibility was questioned by 

 gentlemen of such character that a doubt 

 was expressed quite frequently as to the 

 authenticitv of the record. 



Mr. Bonner was a gentleman who kept 

 his own counsel, but later events proved that 

 he was not only annoyed by these reports, 

 but decided to prove to the world conclu- 

 sively that the time was not only correct, but 

 that the team was capable of repeating the 

 performance. 



(In May 10, 1862, Mr. Bonner arranged 

 with the management of the club at Fashion 

 Course, Long Island, to start the team 

 against their record of 2 :2j, and on that day, 

 in the presence of a large crowd of repre- 

 sentative gentlemen, including a great many 

 of those who had doubted the previous per- 

 formance, Mr. Bonner drove Flatbush Maid 

 and Lady Palmer a cleverlv rated mile in 

 2 -.26. 



It is needless to say that when this mile 

 was finished and the time was announced, 

 the applause which followed clearly demon- 

 strated that all doubt regarding the ability 

 of this then sensational team was removed. 

 Three days later, on May 13, Mr. Bonner 

 drove the same team two miles in 5:01 1-4, 

 the first mile being in 2:26 1-2. 



Until the advent of the pneumatic sulky, 

 after which world records followed each 

 other in such rapid succession. Mr. Bonner 

 became the owner of almost every champion 

 trotter. He paid $35,000 for Dexter, 

 2:17 1-4; $40,000 for Maud S., 2:08 3-4; 

 841,000 for Sunol, 2:08 1-4; $20,000 for 

 Fdward Everett, and gave $36,000 and 

 another mare for Pocahontas, 2:26 3-4. 

 Pocahontas was a remarkable mare, having 

 shown her ability in 1878 to trot close to 

 2:20, to wagon, and in 1880 Mr. "Allie" 

 Bonner, a son of Robert, drove the mare a 

 full mile in 2 :i~ 1-2. 



All of the animals mentioned as having 

 been owned by Mr. Bonner are now dead 

 Dexter and Maud S. lie side by side at East 

 View- Farm, and a monument bearing an 

 appropriate inscription has been erected to 

 their memory. 



The efforts of Mr. Bonner resulted in 

 bringing into active participation in ro.id 

 driving, that famous general and President 

 of the United States, U. S. Grant; Win. H. 

 V'anderbilt, Frank Work, Shepard Knapp, D. 

 S. Hammond and many other gentlemen of 

 that character, who became known through- 

 out the world as members of the "Sealskin 

 Driving; Brirrade" of New York. 



