124 THE AMERICAN TROTTING HORSE. 



to bring out a Dexter capable of reducing this fastest time 

 record only If seconds, placing it at 2.18, and one year more 

 to reach 2.17^. It took four years more to get off that quar- 

 ter of a second, which was done by Goldsmith Maid, who 

 ifinally reduced it to 2.14. Eight years more of breeding and 

 training brought out Rarus, who reduced the record in 1878 to 

 2.13J. St. Julian, a year later, got off another half second 

 and Maud S. took off a few more, reducing the time to 2.08f, 

 which record she held as Queen of the trotting turf from 1885 

 to 1891, when, with greatly improved tracks, sulkies, and trot- 

 ting appliances, she was compelled to lay down the crown ; 

 while to-day Alix holds the trotting record of 2.03f. 



Seventy-five or eighty years ago no one could have been 

 made to believe for a moment that a horse could ever trot a 

 full mile inside of three minutes ; but now it is confidently ex- 

 pected that an American trotter will make a mile in two 

 minutes. 



In 1843 there were but two horses in America that could trot 

 a mile in 2.30, while in 1881 there were over twelve hundred 

 that could do it. In this country, we, as American horse 

 breeders, have not been satisfied to raise horses that would 

 beat our neighbors' horses, but have been trying to beat " Old 

 Father Time" himself. 



The time has passed when horses can command long prices 

 on breeding and performances alone ; they must combine with 

 speed and good breeding, good looks and symmetrical confor- 

 mation, coupled with size sufficient to enable them to become 

 useful servants to man, in case their owners, like myself, are not 

 sporting men ; and the market calls for fast road, carriage, and 

 business horses, instead of fast trotters for sport or gambling ' 

 purposes alone. 



