RECOLLECTIONS OF MEN AND HORSES 



Wilkes, out of Alma Mater by Mambrino Patchen, 

 she out of Estella, thoroughbred daughter of imp. 

 Australian, and she out of Fanny G. by imp. Mar- 

 grave. The thoroughbred strains are among the 

 best in the studbook, and, as I made many a 

 stout fight for Alma Mater in the old days of 

 experimental strength, I was glad to see her ob- 

 tain the high rank that she holds among pro- 

 ducing matrons. Dr. A. S. Talbert, who bred 

 her, and who drove her in the streets of Lexington, 

 modestly hoped for success, but scarcely dreamed of 

 the crown which came to her. Alma Mater has eight 

 trotters in the list, and one of these, Alcantara, is 

 the sire of no trotters and 48 pacers. I was at 

 Lexington when W. S. Hobart paid $15,000 for 

 Alma Mater, and transferred her to his farm in 

 California. He bred her to Electioneer, but, when 

 I renewed my acquaintance with her on the Pacific 

 Coast, she was not in foal to this greatest of Cali- 

 fornia stallions. The dam of Rosy Morn also car- 

 ried the best of thoroughbred strains. She was 

 Noontide, 2.20^, the producing daughter of Har- 

 old, dam Midnight, dam of Jay-eye-see, 2.10, by 

 Pilot Jr.; second dam Twilight, thoroughbred 

 daughter of Lexington ; third dam Daylight by imp. 

 Glencoe, whose blood is almost priceless in England, 

 and fourth dam Darkness by Wagner, the competitor 

 of Grey Eagle in the famous race of four-mile heats. 

 Rosy Morn is the dam of two trotters, Boreal (3), 

 2.15!, and The Curfew, 2.27^, and of two pacers, 



252 



