CHAPTER XII 



BOSTON THE KING 



Taking up in succession the great events of 

 the turf, we are brought down to a horse called 

 Boston. This animal, whose name stood domi- 

 nant for nine years on the American turf, is 

 to-day thought by many students of the turf to 

 be the greatest horse that ever lived this side 

 of the Atlantic. Some are inclined to give the 

 crown of kingship to Boston's son, Lexington. 

 And yet, on the records, Boston, it seems, has 

 a place of his own creation from which he has 

 not been ousted in all the succeeding years since 

 he was galloping to such magnificent victories. 

 The story of Boston takes us back to the story 

 of the Union Course, and to that day, which 

 was perhaps as great a day as we have had on 

 the turf, when he met the star of the North, in 

 the chestnut filly Fashion. 



Boston was a Virginia product, and was the 

 natural successor of the line which Diomed had 

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