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| ADIE BELL, the winner of the Republic Race 

 for four-year-olds, at the Breeders' Ceutennial 

 Meeting at Philadelphia, may justly be consi- 

 dered a phenomenon, for she was bred in a part 

 of the country which has not been distinguished 

 for the development of trotters, on the coast of Virginia; she 

 represents none of the approved trotting strains, her pedi- 

 gree on the side of the dain being entirely unknown; she wag 

 brought up, from all accounts, helter-skelter, doing plough- 

 work rather than track-work ; and yet she won a bitterly- 

 contested battle over the best-blooded and most carefully 

 reared four-year-olds from all parts of the country, in a 

 raee where a victory was the highest possible honor, and in 

 which every contestant was sent for every ounce there was 

 iu them. Once in a while there are such scratches on the 

 turf; but they furnish no argument against intelligent 

 breeding, being rather the exceptions which prove the rule. 

 Sadie Bell was bred by a Virginian, named Duncan, who 

 has a farm on the little island off the peninsula formed by 

 Accomac and Northampton Counties. Her dam was a 

 mare, which Mr. Duncan worked on his farm, and of whose 

 breeding absolutely nothing is known. Her sire was a 

 horse called Oden Bell, one to fame unknown except through 

 his now illustrious daughter. Sadie was a puny foal, and 

 scarcely considered worth the keeping. No attention was 

 paid to her ; she was allowed to shift for herself, and pick 

 up a living as best she could, both summer and winter, 

 running pretty nearly wild. When three years old, however, 

 she was taken up, and broken to harness, it being the 

 intention of her owner to use her as a plough-horse, and in 

 this capacity she did some service, keeping up her end 

 creditably, though small and young. But she was not 

 destined to wear out her days in such ignoble work. Speed 

 in a horse, like genius in a man, cannot remain concealed. 

 A son of Mr. Duncan's discovered that Sadie was very fast, 

 and ideas of winning great triumphs and bar'ls of money 

 with her on the turf sprang up in his mind. The father, 

 however, was adverse to such courses as race-courses, and 

 more to remove temptation from the young man than for 

 any other reason, sold the filly for $300, to Mr. T. McCon- 

 nell. of Pungoteague, Accomac County, Va. On trial, this 

 gentlemen liked his bargain very much. Under training, 

 she rapidly developed speed, and when the purses for the 

 Breeders' Centennial were advertised, her owner did not 

 hesitate to enter her in the four-year-old class. When that 

 entry was announced last April, "T. McConnell, Pungo- 

 teague, Va., chestnut mare Sadie Bell, by Olden Bell," 

 horsemen said, " Who is Sadie Bell, who is .Oden Bell, 

 and where is Pungoteague ? " Any one who had predicted 

 that in this unknown filly, of mysterious breeding, was to 

 tnrn up the conquerer of such well-known four-year-olds as 

 Girl E. Queen, Woodford Chief, and Montezuma, would 

 have been set down as a lunatic. But as time went on, 

 strange rumors began to be heard of this Virginian filly. 

 She was quietly being given trials, and stories leaked out 

 of her trotting a half mile in 1:06, and all such marvellous 

 tales. The few who had sight of her, said she was a verit- 

 able ghost for speed, and those who had entered for the 



Republic Race representatives of the more prominent, strains, 

 in their calculations began to have an eye askance on Sadie 

 Bell. Soon the encouraging story for her opponents got 

 abroad that, though very speedy, she was not reliable, and 

 they breathed easier. But when she first appeared in 

 public, at Lancaster, Pa, Sept. 5, in a race for the three- 

 minute class, she showed no signs of unsteadiness. After 

 dropping two heats, to different horses, she won the next 

 three, in fine style, her best time being 2:39 ; and, at the 

 same place, Sept. 9, she won in the 2:50 class, in straight 

 heats, best time, 2:37J. Sept. 13, at Point Breeze Park, 

 she trotted a much better race in the 2:40 class, winning 

 straight heats in 2:32 \ 2:322:33. In this race she was 

 steady as a clock, and it was about the best sustained per- 

 formance ever made by a four-year-old. On account of it 

 she was made a favorite in the Breeders' Centennial Race. 

 In this event her opponents were Woodford Chief, Monte- 

 zuma, Lady Patchen, Echora. Post Boy, and Girl E. Queen. 

 The race is fresh in the minds of our readers. Sadie Bell 

 won the first, second, and fourth heats, in 2:34 2:34| 

 2:34, Woodford Chief taking the third, in 2:30J. These 

 age races at this meeting, by tacit consent, partook of the 

 nature of championship contests, and the Virginia filly 

 may now be considered as bearing the bell among the four- 

 year-olds. Sadie Bell stands fifteen hands one inch, and is 

 lightly built. Her color is called chestnut, but is so light 

 that it rather verges on the cream, while her tail and mane 

 are flaxen. She has a good head, with considerable brain 

 development, and a neat set of rather lengthy limbs. Her 

 quarters are strong, but her hips are very ragged. She 

 wears no boots or weights, and seems to know no other gait 

 but trotting. When at full speed, she goes very wide 

 behind, so that, as the phrase goes, you could roll a barrel 

 between her hind legs. While she has not as yet trotted 

 a mile in public faster than 2:32, she has, in bursts of 

 speed, shown a gait far faster than that, and if she does not 

 succumb to the severe work she has had in her youth, she 

 may yet be a world beater. Her advent to the turf bears 

 some similarity to that of Flora Temple, and she may 

 become as famous. As a five-year-old she commenced the 

 season of 1877 at Norfolk, Va., by defeating Carrollton, in 

 three straight heats in 2:48 2:45 2:46. At the Point 

 Breeze Park, Philadelphia, May 25, she met her first 

 defeat; Champion Morrill winning in three straight heats, 

 to the great surprise of the betting fraternity. At Ambler 

 Park, near Philadelphia, May 30, she was distanced in 

 the 2:31 class, and two days later, at the same place, 

 she won the five-year-old Purse, defeating David Wallace 

 and Helen R. At Pottstown, June 8, she was second to 

 Delaware in the 2:30 class, taking the third heat, however, 

 in 2:30, her best record. Thence she went to Wilmington, 

 where, June 13, she defeated Delaware, Andy Johnson and 

 Lizzie Keller, after an obstinate race of six heats, the best 

 of which was 2:32J, and at W T oodbury, July 3, though a 

 great favorite she succumbed to Jersey Boy, the best time 

 being the second heat, which she won in 2:321. At Wil- 

 mington, July 13, she was defeated by Delaware in two 

 races in poor time. Spirit of the Times. 



