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| MERICAN GIRL was bred, in 1861, by Mr. 

 Philip Travis, of Westchester County, N. Y. 

 She was got by Amos' C. M. Clay, out of a 

 mare of utterly unknown blood, that was 

 brought in a team from Virginia, at the breaking out of 

 the war, and did service in a brick-yard at Kruger's 

 Station, on the Hudson River road, until her death. Mr- 

 Travis presented the filly to his sons, and they soon after 

 sold her to Mr. Odell, who was not long in finding out 

 that, in the daughter of the black horse and the old 

 mare that worked in the brick-yard, he had a trotter 

 of no ordinary merit. He started her in a scrub race at 

 Newburgh, and then sold her to Messrs. Travis & Mason, 

 near Peekskill. In the fall of 1867, when the mare was 

 only five years old, she had developed such speed as war- 

 ranted her owners in matching her two races against J. J. 

 Bradley, in the first of which the mare was to go to wagon, 

 and the horse in harness, and in the second, both were to go 

 in harness, and this may be said to have been the beginning 

 of her turf career. The mare won the first heat, the fast- 

 est of the race, in 2:32 J ; the third was a dead heat, in 2:36, 

 and the horse won the second, fourth, and fifth ; but each 

 heat was so closely contested, that Borst, who controlled the 

 horse, became satisfied that when they came together on 

 equal terms, the mare would win the race. He accordingly 

 elected to pay forfeit on the second match. Soon after this 

 race she was sold to Mr. Win. Lovell, of New York, for 

 $7000, who placed her in the hands of John Lovett, and 

 on the 4th of June, 1868, she first met Goldsmith Maid in 

 a race. It was a hotly fought contest, which was not de- 

 cided until six heats were trotted, the Girl taking the third, 

 fifth, and sixth, and the fourth a dead heat, the Girl's best 

 time being 2:28. On the 17th of June, she was defeated 

 by General McClellan, after having won the first and sec- 

 ond heats. After this race the change of drivers, which 

 has so often been made under Mr. Lovell's ownership, com- 

 menced. She first went into Hiram Howe's hands, and 

 under his management met and defeated Goldsmith Maid 

 again, in a race of six heats, best time, 2:25. She trotted 

 several other races during the year 1868. winning four 

 races during the year, and beating, among others, the Maid, 

 Geo. Wilkes, and Rhode Island. Her best record that 

 season was 2:24, made in a third heat in her race with 

 Rhode Island. In 1869, she started out, under the care of 

 Peter Manee, and her first tilt was witk Lady Thorne, by 

 whom she was defeated. She next met with Lucy, and 

 was again beaten. Then another change of drivers came 

 about, and Roden became her pilot. Her first race under 

 Roden's administration was a great one, and occurred on 

 Prospect Park May 29, in which she won in straight heats, 

 beating Lucy, Goldsmith Maid, Rhode Island, Bashaw, Jr., 



and Geo. Wilkes; time, 2:23} 2:23i 2:21. This race 

 established the big mare's fame as a first-class trotter beyond 

 dispute; but on the 26th of June, of the same year, at 

 Narragansett Park, she capped the climax, and placed her- 

 self second on the scroll of fame, at that date, by defeating 

 Lady Thorne, Goldsmith Maid, Lucy, and Geo. Palmer, in 

 straight heats, in 2:22} 2:192:20}, which was the best 

 race ever trotted up to that date, and against four of the very 

 best trotters that the country could produce. During this 

 season, 1869, she won ten races, and trotted sixteen heats 

 in 2:25 or better. In August of this year, another change 

 of drivers took place, Ben Daniels superseding Roden, but 

 the change did not add anything to her speed. She com- 

 menced the campaign of 1870, in Daniels' hands, by beat- 

 ing Geo. Palmer and Geo. Wilkes, May 31, and won seven 

 races, but only made seven heats in 2:25 or better, during 

 the season, and was clearly not up to the standard of the 

 previous year. In 1871 she remained in Daniels' hands, 

 and won six races, but none of them up to the mark of her 

 1869 performance, her best heat during the year being 2:20. 

 The next year she was handled by Ben Mace, and won eight 

 races, beating W. H. Allen. Lucy, Henry, Goldsmith Maid, 

 Geo. Palmer, Rosalind, and others. It was on the 9th of 

 August of this year that she made the record of 2:17i, 

 that placed her by the side of Dexter in point of record, 

 but she lost the race to Lucy. Her best race of the year 

 was at Fleetwood, July 9, when she won over Lucy, Henry, 

 and the Maid, in 2:21 2:19} 2:24, and during the season 

 she won sixteen heats in 2:25 or better. In 1873, she was 

 handled by Dan Pfifer, and won five races, the best of 

 which was over Fullerton and Camors, at Prospect Park, 

 October 24, in 2:20 2:22 2:22J. In 1874 she started 

 in a great many races, and won nine of them. Her best race, 

 and the crowning one of her career upon the turf, was at 

 Albany, Sept. 25, when she beat Camors in 2:20i 2:16} 

 2:19, being an average of about 2:18} to the heat, among 

 the fastest three consecutive heats ever trotted in a race. 

 She commenced the campaign of 1875, at Jackson, Mich., 

 June 18, where she won a heat in 2:28}, but lost the race. 

 She was subsequently beaten at East Saginaw, Detroit, 

 Chicago (winning fourth heat in 2:25), Cleveland, Pough- 

 keepsie (winning first heat in 2:17.1), Rochester, Utica, and 

 Hartford. At Springfield she beat Lula and Nettie in 2:22 

 2:242:22. And at Elmira, N. Y., on Saturday, Oct. 

 2, 1875, in the Free-for-all Race, she dropped dead at the 

 quarter-pole in the first heat. She had been slightly ailing 

 from the prevailing epizootic, but it was thought that she 

 had recovered so far that there was no danger in starting 

 her in this race. A post-mortem examination showed her 

 lungs in a congested condition, engorged with blood. 

 Spirit of the Times. 



