PETER MANNING 



8l 



Stroke that is characteristic of our modern trotters. He 

 strides fairly high in front, but instead of putting his feet 

 down with a sharp or forceful impact, seems to lightly let 

 them fall of their own volition, without the slightest apparent 

 effort." 



And on this same subject his trainer says: "He lands 

 very flat with his front feet, but when riding behind him I 

 have observed that just before he strikes the track his feet 

 are given a slight outward flip, the toes turning towards the 

 outside with a quick movement. I believe that this keeps 

 him from hitting the ground with the hard impact that flat- 

 footed striders usually do." 



A brief but graphic description of Peter Manning's rec- 

 ord mile at Lexington October 6th, 1921, appeared in the 

 American Sportsman, and is as follows: "There was not one 

 in all the crowd that was heard to express any hope that he 

 could trot in time to make necessary the removal of the fig- 

 ures 1:58 that had adorned the timing stand since 1912, the 

 year Uhlan made that record. Peter Manning was accom- 

 panied by the runners driven by John Benyon and Hunter 

 Moody, and trotted the most wonderful mile yet achieved by 

 any horse. When he reached the quarter and the time showed 

 thirty seconds, and then the half in fifty-nine seconds, it was 

 generally thought that Murphy had made a mistake in going 

 too slow. Then when the three-quarters showed only 1 :29 the 

 task looked hopeless. But he came through the stretch like a 

 runner, and at the seven-eigths was joined by a third 

 prompter. Murphy was after him with one of his 'high line' 

 drives, and the horse flashed under the wire in 1 :57'^, a rec- 

 ord never touched by any other trotter, and a feat worthy of 

 the greatest commendation." 



The world's records held by Peter Manning are five in 

 number, and are as follows: Fastest trotter, 1:57'%; fastest 

 gelding, 1:57'^; fastest four-year-old gelding, 2:02l^; fast- 

 est five-year-old, 1:57'"^; fastest three-heat race, 2:03, 

 2:023/4, 2:021/0. Until the season of 1921 he held the record 

 for the fastest race heat by a gelding, 2:02^4' loshig it when 

 Grey worthy trotted in 2:0214 



