CHAPTER XXVI 



THE TROTTING HORSE IN TENNESSEE 



PONCE DE LEON, Bow Bells, and Rosy Morn for- 

 merly were members of the celebrated Hermitage 

 Stud at Nashville, Tenn. The farms owned by V. 

 L. Kirkman, John Thompson, and May Overton 

 afforded a range of 2000 acres along the Franklin 

 Pike, south of Nashville, in what was known as the 

 heart of the Blue Grass region of Tennessee. This 

 section had for many years been recognized as the 

 birthplace of successful running horses, and there 

 was no reason why the trotting horse should not be 

 grown there. I recall a visit to Nashville in the 

 fall of 1888, one year after the Hermitage Stud had 

 been organized. The State Fair was in progress 

 at Westside Park, and, with General W. H. Jack- 

 son, I was drafted into service as a judge of horses. 

 We distributed the ribbons to the great gratification 

 of the few and to the serious disappointment of the 

 majority of exhibitors. We lunched in the Club 

 House with the President, G. M. Fogg, and I re- 

 produce the report of the conversation : 



" General Jackson remarked that the best suc- 

 cesses at Belle Meade had come from mares which 

 had not been raced off their legs. The General inclines 

 to the Hamlin theory. He does not believe that 



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