ORIGIN OF AMERICAN TROTTING HORSES 149 



years, however, owners and trainers did not care to race 

 them at their natural gait, and sought instead, by the use 

 of toe-weights, hobbles, and other appliances, to convert 

 them into trotters, a conspicuous example of which was 

 Smuggler. Even when the chestnut mare, Pocahontas, had 

 paced a mile in 2.17^ at Long Island in 1855, at a time 

 when the trotting record was but 2.27, achieved by High- 

 land Maid, trainers were not converted, and made little 

 attempt to train their animals to a gait which was unfashion- 

 able. Many of the greatest sires, however, have produced 

 both pacers as well as trotters, and with more valuable 

 prizes offered for competition the list of fast pacers has 

 grown. The present record-holders are Dan Patch, 1.55^, 

 who holds the record for stallions, Prince Alert that for geld- 

 ings, 1.59 J, and Dariel the one for mares, 2.00^. Prince 

 Alert is now in England, and in a letter, June 25, 1909, Mr. 

 Walter Winans mentions: "My brother, Louis Winans 

 owns Prince Alert, and drives him at Brighton every day." 



Sentiment has been the main factor in the marvellous 

 evolution of the American trotting and pacing horse, and 

 the enthusiasm thus engendered has encouraged the strain- 

 ing of every nerve to possess an animal capable not only 

 of defeating great rivals on the track, but also of acomplish- 

 ing the still harder task of beating the common enemy, 

 Time itself. As each record has been broken a thrill has 

 permeated thousands of eager watchers in a fashion 

 unknown to dwellers in more matter-of-fact Europe, and 

 thus the magic names of Flora Temple and Dexter, Gold- 

 smith Maid, George Wilkes, Jay-Eye-See, Maud S, Sunol, 

 Nancy Hanks, and others have, in turn, swayed the passions 

 of the nation, and been household words, as they flitted their 

 hour upon the stage, in a way that the mere winning even 

 large money prizes would have failed to effect. Whether any 

 further development of actual speed is practicable it is 

 impossible to forecast, but America may well be proud of 

 having established such a remarkable breed of horses, which 

 must have a far-reaching influence upon all their harness- 

 horses in general use, and is therefore of the greatest 

 national importance. 



