WOODBURN FARM ALEXANDER 



The training necessary to prepare a young horse for 

 a cup performance is light as compared with the 

 fitting for a hard race, and there is much less danger 

 of injury to young animals, a very important consid- 

 eration to those who are breeding to sell. Now, as 

 regards the effect that cup performances have on the 

 strictly racing community, especially drivers who do 

 nothing but trot horses in races. A professional 

 driver wants every horse, but his own, forced to trot, 

 and take a record at the limit of his speed. The 

 sooner a horse gets into a class where he has to trot 

 his best, the better it is for good sport and pure 

 racing. How much better it is for the circuit drivers 

 that Sable Wilkes has a record of 2.18, than if he 

 were a maiden and could be entered in the slower 

 classes, where a walk-over would probably result. 

 In the 2.18 class there is a chance to beat him, at any 

 rate his measure has been taken, and he is eliminated 

 from the uncertain quantities. As a four-year-old we 

 gave Viking a cup record of 2.24^, with very little 

 work, and at an expense of say $10. This advertised 

 the horse, and we sold him for three times what he 

 would have brought on a private trial. This record 

 forced him into the 2.25 class as a five-year-old, where 

 he won all his races except one. His cup record did 

 not prove him a single-heat trotter, which some 

 writers seem to argue is the natural result of allowing 

 cup records. Viking is a fair illustration of the 

 benefits of these performances. The breeder demon- 

 strated to the public at very little cost the speed of 

 his horse and tripled his value, besides the collateral 

 benefit accruing to sire, dam, sisters, and brothers. 

 The purchaser bought the horse on a public per- 

 formance, and not on a private trial. The public 

 had some measure of his speed, and he was forced 



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