164 LIFE WITH THE TROTTEKS. 



a brood liiare, and that she will prove a great success in this 

 department cannot be doubted, as, in addition to possessing- 

 wonderful speed, she had also the quality of stamina to a 

 great degree, as was shown by her trotting two miles in 

 4:43, lowering the record for that distance three seconds, 

 her performance being still the best. In blood lines she is 

 of a most fashionable quality, being by Almont, one of the 

 sons of Alexander's Abdallah, and out of a mare by Gough' s. 

 Wagner, thus uniting in her the strains that produced Maud 

 S. and Jay Eye See — the Hambletonian family on the pa- 

 ternal side and that of Lexington in the female line. 



The third performance of that memorable day at Chicago, 

 was v/ith Minnie R. This was a remarkable mare in more 

 ways than one. In the first place, she was not a trotting-bred 

 mare, her pedigree being almost thoroughbred. In the next 

 place, she was the only horse I ever saw that had a record 

 at pacing and trotting, both better than 2:20. When she 

 first came into my hands Minnie R. had a trotting record of 

 2:19, and with a disposition to pace. She had been trained 

 and driven Avith heavy toe- weights and from the use of them 

 had become very sore and lame, so much so that, in fact, it 

 was almost impossible to make h^r strike a trot, no matter 

 how much weight I would put on her. I told Mr. Wood- 

 mansee I thought it was very foolish to try and train her to 

 trot, and suggested that he make a pacer of her. He 

 seemed to think it better not to give up the idea of trot- 

 ting her. As the first year 1 had her I had done little if any- 

 thing with her, when I went to Cincinnati with Johnston, 

 I took her along, took off her shoes and toe-weights, and 

 went to work on her, with the idea of trying to relieve some 

 of the soreness in her feet and legs. We succeeded in that 

 very well, and when the training commenced in the spring, 

 I insisted on trying to make a pacer of her, and Mr. Wood- 

 mansee finally consented. When I first began to work her 

 on a pace I had to put about sixteen ounces oh her in front, 

 and about nine ounces behind. She could pace about a 2:40 

 gait. I commenced very moderately with her, the same as 



