WOODBURN FARM ALEXANDER 



early student days of breeding and action. Planet 

 was transferred to Woodburn in 1867, an ^> ' m mak- 

 ing a note of his purchase, I was prompted to say: 

 " He possesses good action; is expected to cross well 

 on Woodburn mares; and the combination doubtless 

 will produce some excellent trotters." The object in 

 purchasing Planet was to produce candidates for the 

 prizes of the running turf, but one of the mares bred 

 by Mr. Alexander was Dame Winnie by Planet out 

 of Liz Mardis by Glencoe, and she is a distinguished 

 mother of trotters. At the head of her five trot- 

 ters is Palo Alto, 2.o8f, to high-wheel sulky. The 

 guess I made in my immature days was happy, to say 

 the least of it. Robert Aitcheson Alexander died 

 December i, 1867, age 48 years, but his work was 

 so well grounded that his brother, A. J. Alexander, 

 although not in robust health and of a retiring dispo- 

 sition, was able to carry it forward and give Wood- 

 burn an enviable reputation throughout the civilized 

 world. 



It was in February, 1865, that Alexander's 

 Abdallah and Bay Chief were captured by a guerrilla 

 band. The outlaws were pursued and overtaken, 

 and in the fight that followed the two stallions were 

 destroyed. Among the trotters left by Abdallah were 

 Goldsmith Maid, Rosalind, and Thorndale, with 

 records from 2.14 to 2.22^, and high on the roll of 

 his speed-begetting sons are Belmont, Almont, and 

 Wood's Hambletonian. If the life of Alexander's 

 Abdallah had been preserved, probably no son of 



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