THE AMERICAN TROTTING HORSE. 123 



in progress before the advent of Messenger, although at present 

 the idea is almost universally held that the history of the 

 standard bred American Trotter begins with the advent of 

 Messenger in America. 



But while I do not desire to belittle the influence of this 

 horse, Messenger, I believe we had already, in America, pre- 

 vious to his importation, a good foundation trotting stock, 

 especially in the New England States, derived from the former 

 importations of the Arabian and thoroughbred stock, and also 

 from the Narragansett Pacer, which, as a breed, contributed 

 much to the early fusions that resulted in the trotter, which 

 completely supplanted them before the beginning of the present 

 century. (See ISarragansett Pacer, Chapter IV.) 



Pacing of all kinds was common in those early days. "Writ- 

 ing about Khode Island in 1735, Eev. James McSparron 

 observes that he has seen some of these pacers " pace a mile in 

 a little more than two minutes and a little less than three." 



It appears from this that the timers of those days were not 

 so particular as to split seconds or really to count them in a 

 horse race. 



The first demand for trotters seems to have sprung up in 

 Connecticut, where horses advertised for sale in the newspapers 

 of seventy-five years ago sometimes had reference to their 

 trotting qualities ; and history points to a time when Connecti- 

 cut found a market for her fast trotters among the wealthy 

 planters of the West Indies, who, it seems, were at that time 

 acquiring a taste for this kind of sport. But the fast trotters 

 of that period would hardly be reckoned as such at the present 

 time. 



When the trotting horse "Yankee" made a record of 2.59, 

 he astonished the world, as well as the unlucky man that had 

 bet heavily that no horse could beat three minutes. 



It was many years later when Topgallant brought the 

 record down to 2.40, and in 1843 Lady Suffolk lowered it to 

 2.28. Thirteen years later, in 1856, Flora Temple dropped it 

 to 2.24J and in 1859 to 2.19J. It then took seven years more 



