The Standardbked Horse 21 



notable centers of standard breeding 



It is impossible to divorce in our minds Standardbred and 

 New York State. Not onlv in Orange county the cradle of the 

 breed, figuratively speaking, but the very sentiment for road 

 driving of which the '' light harness " idea was born, had its 

 inception on the improved roads about Xew-York City.- 



That ideals are essential to successful breeding, and that these 

 ideals are most cherished where greatest Successes have been 

 achieved, is made plain by a visit to that part of New York State 

 made famous by Standardbred ;history. . Na,tin'ally among the 

 older pre-motor-day generation the American trotter is idealized. 

 Goshen, the county seat, has been dubbed " The Lexington of the 

 Xorth " in recognition of the important part it played even after 

 the formative period of the breed, as a centre of light-harness- 

 horse activities. Its^ historic half mile . track and stables where 

 many champions have been trained and quartered, as well as 

 championship honors contested, is directly across- the way from the 

 Court House, and apparently has been an institution of equal 

 rank in the aifairs of the town. The streets are broad, and time 

 was when a lively brush straight away down the street was a com- 

 mon occurrence. (Conversation with old-timers elicits inspiring 

 accounts of this horse or that, his achievement and a character 

 sketch of the man who br-€^d.him. About the countryside, and even 

 in the towns, are monuments in granite to the memory of the most 

 notable horses. Most conspicuous among- these- shafts; are those 

 erected to Green Mountain^ Maid at Stony Ford and Hamble- 

 tonian 10 at Chester. 



More local color is added to the picture of the history of the 

 Standardbred by the part played by the old race tracks on Long 

 Island and about New York City. The initial performance of 

 Lady Suffolk, Flora Temple and Dexter, as well as many lesser 

 lights, were at Beacon, Union and Fashion courses respectively, 

 while one of the first trotting matches recorded w^as on the 

 Jamaica Road (Long Island) 1824. 



From southeastern New York, as the original center in which 

 the Standardbred was established and his foundation blood lines 

 laid down, the sentiment for the trotter, and consequently some 

 breeding stock, was carried to Kentucky and especially to Cali- 

 fornia. Philadelphia has always figured more or less intimately 



