RECOLLECTIONS OF MEN AND HORSES 



by Senator Stanford, I had authority and felt at 

 liberty to make a proposition. It was to trot Sunol 

 against Nancy Hanks for not less than $10,000 a 

 side, winner to take all. This silenced the Nancy 

 Hanks boomers, but my interest in the daughter of 

 Happy Medium and Nancy Lee did not abate. 

 After Nancy Hanks had trotted in 2.09 as a five- 

 year-old, Sunol reduced the five-year-old record to 

 2.o8i. The sale of Nancy Hanks at Lexington to 

 J. Malcolm Forbes was one of the sensational topics 

 of the meeting, and, when her purchaser, Mr. 

 Forbes, was pointed out to strangers, there was much 

 rubbing of eyes. It was difficult to believe that the 

 quiet, scholarly-looking man was a trotting-horse en- 

 thusiast. In this respect he was the antithesis of 

 many other prominent owners of trotters. The price 

 paid for Nancy Hanks was a long one, and I was 

 gratified to see her march steadily to the throne. 

 During the season of 1892, drawing a bicycle sulky, 

 she reduced the record to 2.07^, to 2.05^, and to 2.04. 

 The latter performance was made at Terre Haute, 

 September 28, 1892. I was in Boston at the time 

 and had made an engagement to meet Mr. Forbes 

 at his farm early in the morning of September 29. 

 Mr. C. J. Hamlin went to Readville with me, and 

 from there we drove to Canton. The sun, which 

 was rising above the crest of Blue Hill, was convert- 

 ing thousands of dewdrops into diamonds, when Mr. 

 Forbes stepped from the office of the farm and bade 

 us welcome. His manner was so serene that we could 



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