TROTTING HORSES. 75 
him. Woodruff describes Topgallant as “a dark bay 
horse, 15 hands 3 inches high, plain and rawboned, 
but with rather a fine head and neck, and an eye 
expressive of much courage. He was spavined in 
both hind legs, and his tail was slim at the root. 
His spirit was very high, and yet he was so reliable 
that he would hardly ever break, and his bottom was 
of the finest and toughest quality. He was more 
than fourteen years of age before he was known at 
all as a trotter, except that he could go a distance, 
the whole length of the New York Road, as well as 
any horse that had ever been extended on it.” 
At the close of the Civil War there was living on a 
small farm at Greenport, Long Island, one Mr. R. B. 
Conklin, a retired stage carpenter, who by industry 
and thrift had saved a little money. Mr. Conklin had 
a passion for horses, especially for trotters, and he con- 
ceived the idea that a certain colt born on his farm, 
and the only one that he ever raised, was destined to 
become the champion trotter of the world. The 
colt’s sire was Conklin’s Abdallah, whose breeding is 
unknown. Its mother was a gray nag called Nancy 
Awful, half-thoroughbred, and very high-spirited. She 
also belonged to Mr. Conklin, and his belief in her 
and in her colt became a sort of religion. Many men, 
no doubt, under similar circumstances, have been 
equally enthusiastic, but the peculiarity in this case 
was that Mr. Conklin had always enjoyed the repu- 
tation of being “hard-headed.” His neighbors there- 
fore came to the charitable conclusion that on this 
particular subject the old carpenter had gone mad. 
The foal was certainly very promising, long, muscular, 
and full of life and spirit. “From the day of its 
