THE ORLOFF TROTTER 



57 



ranging from $300 to $995. In 1890 Jacob Heyl, of Wisconsin, 

 imported two black stallions, and in 1892 two stallions and four 

 mares. That same year F. G. Bourne imported five stallions and 

 one mare, while on July 25, 1893, eighteen head were imported, 

 for showing at the Columbian Exposition. On April 10, 1902, 

 after spirited bidding, twenty-eight Orloffs, imported by Bergh & 

 Company, were sold at auction in the American Horse Exchange 

 for an average price of $1243. With the exception of one chest- 

 nut, all of these were blacks or grays. The highest price paid 

 was $6400 for a pair of matched drivers. 



The speed of the Orloff is most excellent, but not the equal 

 of the American trotter. The gray Orloff, Wzmakb, imported 

 by Jacob Heyl, has a record for a mile in 2.27I. In 1893 Mr. J. 

 H. Sanders gave the fastest Russian record of 1.40 for one verst 

 (3500 feet) as made by the Orloff trotter Poitieshnoy, equivalent 

 to a mile record of a trifle under 2.31. In short-distance races 

 the record of the Russian trotter is inferior to the American, 

 but on long stretches of three or more miles he is distinctly the 

 superior. 



A cross of the Orloff and the American trotter seems to have 

 been attended with excellent results. In recent years trotters 

 have been taken to Russia from America, and the cross-bred 

 progeny has shown superior speed, especially where the dam was 

 the Orloff. In fact the half-bred offspring has shown greater 

 speed as a rule than the sire. 



