54 THE TWO-MINUTE TROTTERS 



that was not known at that time to very many people. So 

 it can be safely said that as the day for the Lexington trial 

 approached "Doc" was confident he could do what he had 

 set out to do. It was not a question of merely lowering the 

 record. The object was a two-minute mile. And Charlie 

 Mitchell had convinced him that he was up to what was ex- 

 pected of him. That he was one of the fastest trotters ever 

 trained is certain. Indeed, a good authority has but recently 

 said that in his opinion Charlie was as fast as Uhlan, and 

 then he added: 'T am not so sure that he was only just as 

 fast; I believe a mile in 1:56 would have been within his 

 capacity that fall had he remained sound. He would have 

 done some things at the Lexington meeting that people would 

 be talking about to this day." But the ailing leg went down 

 and another two-minute record was thereby missed. 



During the season of 1913 Uhlan trotted on exhibition 

 mile in l:59l/> at North Randall. It was not an effort to 

 do anything except go better than two minutes. Late in July 

 he lowered the Comstock Park track, Crand Rapids, record 

 to 1:59%; the Hamline (Minnesota State Fair track) record 

 to 1:59')4; the Galesburg, 111., track record to 2:001/4 from 

 2:03'*y^, day and track both bad; then went to Lexington 

 and established a world's record of 27 seconds for a quarter 

 of a mile and with running mate set the world's record for 

 that style of hitch at 1:541/2, a remarkable exhibition. 



That, no doubt, ended the public career of Uhlan. He 

 is a model saddle horse, and for that purpose Mr. Billings 

 uses him if he is used at all. And as he has passed to private 

 life one can but regret that he is gone, for no nobler speci- 

 man of the trotting breed has ever appeared, and we may 

 not look upon his like again. 



Mr. Robert Proctor, of Readville, Mass., who "discov- 

 ered" Uhlan and in a few lessons transformed him into a 

 real trotter, has written a detailed story of his discovery 

 and the events in the life of Uhlan while that great trotter 

 was in his hands. It is given precisely as written: 



"The summer of 1908 I had been away racing and got 

 home the early part of August. At that time Mr. Charles 

 Sanders told me to keep watch for a nice looking young 



