212 



The Driving Clubs of Greater Boston 



WM. RUSSELL ALLEN 



Wm, Ri-ssell Allen is known in all quar- 

 ters of the globe as the breeder of trotting 

 horses of fashionable and prepotent blood, but 

 very few persons are aware of the reason for 

 Mr. Allen having his extensive breeding estab- 

 lishment — the Allen Farm — in Pittsfield, Mass. 

 It is quite well known how he was a success- 

 ful business man in the Southwest, amassing a 

 large fortune, and now owning vast interests 

 in that section. With this fact in mind it 

 might be supposed that Air. Allen would have 

 located his farm in some part of the West or 

 the Southwest. 



In locating at Pittsfield, though, Mr. Allen 

 came back to the old family homestead. His 

 grandfather was the lira minister in Pitts- 

 field and took part in the Revolutionary War 

 at the battle of Bennington, \'t. Mr. Allen's 

 grandfather lived on what is now a part of 

 the Allen Farm, nearly if not quite ioo years 

 ago, and Mr. Allen's father built a home in 

 Pittsfield, in 1857, and bought another farm 

 in 1865, which has not been out of the family 

 since and is also now a part of the Allen Farm. 

 Mr. Allen, when a boy, spent ten years in 

 Pittsfield, which intensified his longing, while 

 in the Southwest, to return later in life to the 

 scenes and associates of his youthful days. 



The breeding operations of the proprietor 

 of the Allen Farm commenced in 1873, when 

 two fast road mares were bred to Waltham, 

 a son of Hambletonian (10). From these 

 mares came one colt and one filly. The filly 

 was called Pansy, from which descended 

 twenty-nine trotters in 41 years. Of these 

 five secured records, six are still owned at 

 the Allen Farm, five have died, while the re- 

 maining 18 sold for $6,425. 



To illustrate the large proportions in which 

 the breeding of trotters has been carried 

 on at the Allen Farm : In twenty-four years, 

 to the close of 1913, 834 horses were bred and 

 146 horses purchased, a total of 980. Of 

 these 776 horses were sold and 98 died, leav- 

 ing at the farm 106 horses. Of the total num- 

 ber bred and bought, 233 have taken records 

 of 2 130 and better, and it must be remem- 

 bered that 63 of the total were under two 

 years of age. 



In the years that Allen Farm has been 

 conducted there have been sold from its 

 stables trotters that have gone to nearly every 

 state in the Union, while twenty-four have 

 gone to Europe and thirty-three have gone to 

 Canada. 



During the twenty-four-year period named, 

 there have been used at the farm seventy 

 stallions, and their success in siring pre- 

 cocious speed is demonstrated by the fact 

 that thirtv-five of their get have taken records 



when two years of age, and fifty-five earned 

 their way into the 2 130 list at three years of 

 age. 



Space would not permit of giving the com- 

 plete list of fast performers bred at the farm, 

 like Baden, 2:05 1-4, the largest money-win- 

 ner of any single season on the turf, and 

 Belvasia, 2:061-4; Bergen, 2:063-4; Binvo- 

 lo, 2 :07 3-4, etc., but it may possibly be better 

 used in telling of a few of the noted stallions. 



Kremlin, 2 :o7 3-4, Mr. Allen bought when 

 a two-year-old and had trained to the world's 

 trotting stallion record. It was likely the 

 grand turf career of this stallion which 

 brought the Allen Farm more prominently 

 before the public. In his five-year-old form 

 he was not only the champion, but he won 

 the Transylvania stake over a crack field of 

 starters, and in his campaign secured the race 

 records at Mystic, Narragansett, and the 

 Lexington, Ky., tracks. This was a great 

 test that he was not a fair weather trotter. 



While Kremlin has made a name for him- 

 self in the stud, both through his sons and 

 daughters securing fast records, and, while 

 seventeen of his sons have their get in the 

 list, vet the great nick has been in blending 

 the blood of Kremlin with that son of Bingen, 

 — the remarkable sire of speed, Bingara. This 

 Air. Allen did through the daughters of 

 Kremlin. The result of this cross has been 

 amply demonstrated in the public careers of 

 such trotters as Bisa, 2:101-4; Bergen, 

 2 :o6 3-4 ; Bismya, 2 :o9 1-4 ; Binvolo, 2 x>7 3-4, 

 and about twenty others of prominence. 



Bingara was a yearling when purchased by 

 Mr. Allen, and he was never trained, never 

 raced, and never afterward off the farm. Be- 

 fore Mr. Allen bought him he had worked, 

 as a yearling, an eighth in 19 seconds, which 

 makes it reasonable to believe, that had he 

 received a season's training he could have 

 gained a record of merit. However, his suc- 

 cess in the stud has been so great that it is 

 fortunate that he was not placed on the turf 

 for a year. 



From the very beginning Bingara gave 

 promise of what a brilliant future there was 

 for him, as, when five years of age, he got 

 one in the list, the two-year-old Birri, 

 2:283-4. The next year, when only six, he 

 had three new performers in Binvolo (2), 

 2:151-4; Barra (2), 2:291-2; and Bisa (3), 

 2:273-4, and timed in a race in 2:083-4. 

 W T hen seven years of age Ringara's list was 

 increased by five more trotters, and so the 

 increase has been each year since. Of the 

 total number of his foals that have been 

 trained, over 70 per cent have taken records 

 of 2 :30 or faster. 



Of other stallions standing at the farm are 



