ORIGIN OF AMERICAN TROTTING HORSES 141 



pedlar at New Orleans, about 1832, but was soon after- 

 wards sold to Mr. Heinshon, of Louisville, Kentucky, where 

 many of the best-bred saddle-horses of America were to be 

 found, and in such he infused his own vigour and hardiness, 

 a fortunate boon for the country in general. He not only 

 produced fast performers himself, but was able to transmit 

 the same power to his sons, who have been noted sires, 

 such as Pilot Junior, Tom Crowder, Ole Bull, and numerous 

 others. 



A great-great-grandson of Messenger, destined to become 

 one of the most famous of the foundation sires, was Mam- 

 brino Chief, bred by Mr. Richard Eldridge, of New York, in 

 1844, Although he but sired six sons and daughters able to 

 trot in 2.30, or under, his descendants able to do so are almost 

 countless, while the famous Lady Thorn alone, who trotted 

 106 heats inside the standard, was sufficient to make the 

 reputation of any stallion. 



The earliest trotting races were usually under the saddle, 

 for, roads being primitive, riding was more general than 

 driving, while the race-tracks were far from being in the 

 state of perfection they are to-day. The wagons in use, 

 too, were very different to the pneumatic-tyred, ball-bearing 

 sulkies now in use, and it was difficult then to find an 

 animal capable of trotting in harness a mile in three minutes, 

 the first authentic record of such a performance being that 

 of the black gelding Boston Blue, at Jamaica, New York, 

 in 1818. By degrees, as the tracks and wagons improved, 

 so also did the time records, though but slowly, and it was 

 not till 1845 that the modern standard time was reached, 

 when Lady Suffolk trotted the mile in 2.29J on the Beacon 

 Course, at Hoboken, New Jersey. Four years afterwards, 

 on July 2, 1849, she reached 2.28, at Centreville, Long 

 Island, a performance that had already been attained by a 

 bay gelding, Pelham. Flora Temple first got inside 2.20, 

 her record being 2.19f, in 1859, at Kalamazoo, Michigan, 

 and then Jay-eye-see reached 2.10 in 1884. Finally Lou 

 Dillon, with the help of a pace-maker with a dirt-shield in 

 front of her, trotted in 1.58|, at Memphis, October 24, 1903. 

 The bicycle sulky came into use in 1882, and Maud S. still 



