64 THE TWO-MINUTE TROTTERS 



miles. These were around three minutes and by the first of 

 May I had asked him to increase the clip to miles in 2:30. 



"We then shipped the horses to Lexington, Ky., and 

 shortly after we reached there I began to ask him for miles 

 at 2:20. Of course this was on a mile track (the track 

 at Thomasville is a half-mile). I would work him twice 

 each week, three heats one work out and four heats the 

 next. After he began working around 2:15 I would step 

 him the last quarter at a two-minute gait. Then I would 

 step him the first quarter at a two-minute gait and go the 

 last end easy. I did this until he could step away from the 

 wire fast or come home fast. As you may know, after he 

 had been given a lot of miles in this way it was easy for 

 him to beat 2:10. Always a good feeder and doer his work 

 was never interrupted at all. 



"I worked him a great many miles close to 2:10, then 

 I dropped him about two seconds each week until about 

 the 20th of July when I worked him one mile in 2:04. That 

 was his fastest mile before he started at North Randall to 

 beat the record for trotting stallions which he succeeded in 

 doing, trotting twice during the second Grand Circuit meet- 

 ing in 2:00^4 '^^^ beating the record three-quarters of a 

 second, it being held then by The Harvester at 2:01. 



"The next trial was to be at Syracuse at the time of the 

 New York State Fair in September. So I had about three 

 weeks to wait. In the meantime I kept him fresh but stepped 

 him a good mile every four days. When he made his effort 

 at Syracuse he trotted every quarter in exactly thirty seconds 

 and his mile in two minutes made him the first two-minute 

 trotting stallion. 



"After that effort I continued to work him every four 

 days and would ask him to step one good mile in every 

 work-out. Part of his work was given him at Columbus 

 where he had no start and over that track 1 worked him 

 two different miles in 2:02. We then started him at Lex- 

 ington, on October 4th, and he reduced the stallion trotting 

 record to 1:591/2 and on October 7th he further lowered it 

 to 1:581/4. At the same meeting Mr. Devereux drove him 

 to the world's wagon record for trotting stallions — 2:02%. 



