WALNUT HALL AND CRUICKSTON PARK 



Wilkes, by George Wilkes, by Rysdyk's Hamble- 

 tonian, and her dam was Docia Payne by Almont 

 (son of Alexander's Abdallah and Sallie Anderson 

 by Mambrino Chief) ; second dam Maggie Gaines 

 (dam of Hamlin's Almont Jr.) by Blood's Black 

 Hawk, a direct descendant of Justin Morgan. Here 

 we have the sterling lines from which the American 

 trotter was evolved, intermingled with skill, and the 

 student of breeding would have confessed to a feel- 

 ing of disappointment had Walnut Hall shown no 

 ability to trot fast in harness. 



The brood mares of Walnut Hall Farm represent 

 fertile speed lines, and to them must be given much 

 of the credit for the achievements of Mr. Harkness 

 in the domain of breeding. The stallion whose form 

 is in harmony with his blood lines, whose force is of 

 the positive kind, is severely handicapped by a harem 

 of mediocrity. 



Cruickston Park at Gait, Ontario, is one of the 

 show places of Canada, and horses of high breeding 

 graze over the fertile tract of 1000 acres. Miss 

 K. L. Wilks, an accomplished lady, has studied 

 blood lines to advantage, and has not hesitated to 

 pay the price for animals whose individuality im- 

 pressed her. The premier stallion, Oro Wilkes, was 

 a conspicuous track performer in his two, three, and 

 four-year-old form, and retired with a record of 2.1 1. 

 In his race with Azote he trotted in 2.09. Oro 

 Wilkes is by the once champion three-year-old, Sable 

 Wilkes, 2.18 (son of Guy Wilkes, 2.15^, and the 



231 



