RECOLLECTIONS OF MEN AND HORSES 



colts of good size with great beauty, style, and speed. 

 Before closing the purchase Dr. Herr showed me 

 King, both at the bridle and in harness. Although 

 he had not been harnessed since last fall, when led 

 out and being hitched to the sulky he was perfectly 

 quiet and docile, standing still when the doctor got 

 up to drive him. I just liked him more and more, 

 and at once closed the bargain. If Dr. Herr is not 

 square, I am no judge of men. Dr. Herr and his 

 son told me they had often timed Mambrino King, 

 when in stud condition, quarters in 34 and 35 sec- 

 onds. At the Lexington Fair in 1880 his colored 

 groom drove him two half miles in 1.14 each, in the 

 presence of a large crowd of people." 



The transfer of Mambrino King from Kentucky 

 to Village Farm helped amazingly Mr. Hamlin's 

 breeding industry. The envious sneered at King as 

 a " dude stallion," but the handsome chestnut silenced 

 opposition by winning championship honors in the 

 show ring, and by begetting sons and daughters that 

 developed gameness and a high rate of speed in 

 Grand Circuit battles. The fastest trotter by Mam- 

 brino King is Lord Derby, 2.05!, and the fastest 

 trotter out of one of his daughters is The Abbot, 

 2 '3i The plastic thoroughbred strains in Mam- 

 brino King contributed largely to his success in the 

 show ring and on the track. Previous to the coming 

 of Mambrino King to Village Farm, Mr. Hamlin 

 was a persistent advocate of short races, and his 

 enemies charged that his advocacy was prompted by 

 a knowledge of the fact that the sons and daughters 



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