CHAPTER XXVII 



HARRISON DURKEE AND RICHARD WEST 



HARRISON DURKEE, who had made a fortune in 

 Wall Street, owned a tract of land near Flushing, 

 L. I., which he decided to convert into a breeding 

 farm. One of his early investments in horses was 

 Dictator, the brother of Dexter. He bought him 

 in 1863, when he was still by the side of his dam, 

 and was very proud of him, although he could not 

 be induced to put a record on him. 



Blackwood trotted in 1869, as a three-year-old, in 

 2.31, and so many stories were told of his wonderful 

 speed that he became a sensational horse of the 

 country. As a four-year-old Blackwood was in train- 

 ing on the Edge Hill Farm track, owned by Colonel 

 Richard West of Georgetown, Ky., and every breeze 

 that blew from the Blue Grass belt to the Atlantic 

 seaboard was freighted with his name. He was 

 credited with fabulous speed, but the public was 

 hungry for details as to his breeding. He stood 

 15.2 and was powerfully built. 



Early in 1864 D. Swigert saw in the pasture of 

 Alexander Thomas in Scott County, Ky., a mare 

 by Mambrino Chief, to which he took a fancy. He 

 paid $150 for her, brought her home and drove her 



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