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|HOMAS JEFFERSON is a black stallion, 

 over 15} hands high, foaled 1863. He was 

 bred by Mr. T. J. Vail, of Hartford, but 

 was purchased by his present owner, W. B. 

 Smith, Esq.. of Hartford, at $500, before he was foaled. 

 He was got by Toronto Chief, son of Royal George, out 

 of the famous old mare Gipsy Queen, who holds a place 

 in the history of American trotters as one of the gamest 

 mares ever known, remaining perfectly sound after years 

 of trotting at races of three, five and ten miles. She 

 was purchased as a " Wagner mare," but it is probable that 

 she was got by a son of Vermont Black Hawk out of a 

 thoroughbred, or, at least, a well-bred mare, and she has 

 stamped her own great powers and level brain upon her 

 son, in whom the trotting gait is intensified and improved 

 by the cross with Toronto Chief. Thomas Jefferson first 

 appeared on the turf in 1866 as a three-year-old, winning 

 four capital races, and making a record of 2:52}. In 1867 

 he won several races, and reduced his record to 2:42}. In 

 1868 he was not on the turf. In 1869 he won many good 

 races, and made a mark of 2:38. Among his races that 

 year was one with Eastern Queen, trotted in 2:33, the 

 Queen winning the race; but he got first money on account 

 of the mare not being eligible in the race. In 1870 he was 

 very successful on the turf, winning nine races, many of 

 them being hotly contested, and lowered his record to 

 2:29J. In 1871 he came out in fine form, won five of the 

 hardest-fought races of the season, and made a record of 

 2:25}, this being the first season that he had not been kept 

 in the stud through the early part of the year. From 1871 

 up to 1874 he was mainly kept in the stud, and he did but 

 little trotting; but in the latter year the tempting purses 

 offered for trotting stallions induced Mr. Smith to again 

 enter the lists with his favorite horse. He made the season, 

 as usual, at Hartford, and served fifty-three mares. He 

 w.is withdrawn from the stud just twenty-seven days before 

 the stallion race at Buffalo, last year, which was unques- 

 tionably the greatest stallion race ever trotted in the world. 

 True, the time there made was not equal to that made 

 by Smuggler in the champion race at Boston, last year; 

 but it was a struggle a hand-to-hand fight between the 

 champions Smuggler, Mambrino Gift and Thomas Jeffer- 

 son, which it required six heats to decide, and in which 

 each of the three principal contestants covered himself with 

 glory. Out of this hard-fought ' Battle of the Monarchs" 

 Thomas Jefferson emerged a victor not that he possessed 

 more speed than either of the others, but he fairly outlasted 

 them in the race. It was Smuggler's first race, and he 

 was green, and unused to the worry and excitement of 

 scoring. Jefferson and Gift pressed him hard on the first 

 and second heats, the black being second in the first and 



third in the second heat. From this on, it was a race 

 between the black and the chestnut, and it was a contest 

 between them to the finish of the sixth heat. In this race 

 Smuggler won the first two heats in 2:22i 2:20} ; Gift 

 took the third in 2:22}, and Jefferson the next three in 

 2:23} 2:26} 2:28}. He had had but little fast work 

 previous to this race, and was not supposed by any one to 

 be in condition for a hard race ; but all who knew him 

 were aware that his level brain would never fail him, and 

 that his wonderful physical organization would stand up 

 under any call that might be made upon it. Gentlemen in 

 the stand, who took the time of each of the leading horses 

 in each heat, reported that Thomas Jefferson trotted the 

 heats of his race as follows: 2:22} 2:22} 2:2312:23} 

 2:26} 2:28}. Soon after this race he became quite 

 lame, and he was unable to start in the race for the cham- 

 pionship at Boston that year, which was won by Smuggler. 

 In 1875 he was again in the stud during the early part of 

 the season, but he appeared, May 27, at Point Breeze 

 Park, where he won the last three heats of a five-heat race 

 in 2:25J 2:24 2:25} 2:25} 2:26}, beating St. James, 

 Sensation and Young Bruno, the former taking the first 

 two heats. On the week following, he again met and 

 defeated Sensation in three straight heats at Prospect Park 

 in 2:2612:242:23; the last of which heats stands 

 as his best record. This was the last race won by Jeffer- 

 son up to that for the championship at Mystic Park, Sep- 

 tember 14, 1875, when he had an easy victory over a fine 

 field of starters. The track was heavy, and consequently, 

 the time was slow: 2:27 2:26 2:25} 2:26, Common- 

 wealth taking the first heat. On September 20, he met 

 and defeated Comee, Bella (alias Maud), Molsey and John 

 H., in 2:24} 2:23 2:24} 2:24; Comee taking the first 

 heat. On the last heat Jefferson's time, as officially an- 

 nounced for the last half, was 1:10}. He now chal- 

 lenged the mighty Smuggler, and was badly beaten for his 

 temerity. In 1876 he commenced the season at Waverly, 

 N. J , September 22, where he defeated Barney Kelly in 

 slow time. At Providence, October 6, he was unsuccessful, 

 Comee winning a hard-fought race, with Honest Harry 

 second, and Jefferson third. At Watertown, Conn., Octo- 

 ber 12, he defeated George H. Mitchell and Billy Dawes 

 in three straight heats, but at Fleetwood Park, October 30, 

 he was again beaten, and at Hartford, November 1 and 2, 

 he wound up the season by being fourth and last in the 

 2:23 class, Frank Reeves winning, with Annie Collins 

 second and Honest Harry third. Thomas Jefferson is one 

 of the purest-gaited horses on the trotting turf, and is a 

 perfect picture of grace and elegance when in action. He 

 is the peer of any trotting stallion in the world in point 

 of endurance. Spirit of the Times. 



