TROTTING HORSES. 69 
races overdoes a horse and knocks him off, it is a 
great, almost an insurmountable obstacle to his at- 
taining the greatest excellence, even in speed for a 
mile.” 
After Flora Temple came Dexter, a brown horse 
with a white face and four white feet, by Rysdyck’s 
Hambletonian. He also had remarkable courage 
and endurance, his dam being of the American Star 
family. 
“Some of the Stars,” Hiram Woodruff said, “ have 
given out in the legs; but their pluck is so good that 
they stand up to the last, when little better than 
mere cripples. It is no wonder that they have great 
game and courage; for Star’s grandsire was the thor- 
oughbred four-miler Henry, who ran for the South 
on the Island here against the Northern horse Eclipse, 
in 1823. I went to see the race, being then six years 
old, and got a licking for it when I came home.” The 
Stars were descended from Diomed. 
Dexter was first sold at the age of four, bringing 
four hundred dollars. He lowered the record to 2.174, 
and doubtless would have reduced it still further had 
he not become the property of Mr. Robert Bonner, 
who withdrew him from the turf. The excellence of 
this horse probably gave the finishing blow to an 
old superstition which is embodied in the following 
stanza : — 
“One white foot, inspect him , 
Two white feet, reject him, 
Three white feet, sell him to your foes ; 
Four white feet, feed him to the crows.” 
The first great performance of Dexter was made in 
October, 1865, when he trotted under saddle against 
