Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1874-10-10
KNGi IsH VIEW OF AMERICAN
RACING

RACING.
WI lie the coming race for the Doncaster st.
LIE er engages the eager attention Of our Brit
nn sporemen, their American copgeners are La
ecstacies about two unparalleled Performances
IN Whieh 10 quote an old song In vogue when
esquire Osbaldeston" rode two hundred males
In ten ours, slime was beaten hollow" by q
co Iple OF transatIsntic steeds. Il should he
promised that horse-racing, as we practice il In
England, has not rs yet taken deep root in
American soil. True il is that two year-old and
thret-year-old races are beginning to fiud
favor upon the race courses OF New York state
and OF Maryland, and that an equine com
petition called the " Belmont Stakes" cele-
brated at one OF the jerome Park meetings in
each successive July, has been honored with
the eupbemistic title of ''the American Derby"
But it has never been pretended In the United
who are most familiar with Epsom, New
market, and Asc0t-that the English thorough.
bred has any rival beyond the seas. The trainer
Of Mr.. Ten Broeck's horses while he was racing
in this country usea to write TO his friends at
home that there were Gas many good horses In
England as pine trees in Virginia" There il
put little doubt that every average winner Of
our English Derby or St. Leger would give from
one to two stone and beating to the best three
year-old Of his year across the Atlantic. But
Americans, especially in the Virginia of ante
the stout f0ur-mile racehOrses which were so
dear to our fathers when George Washington
and his ADglophilist successor John Randolph
were enth usiastic subscribers to the English
" Racing Calendar"
For about two centuries our sporting descen-
dants in the United States have regarded the
time test'' as an uneTriDg indicator OF a race
horses or uotters merits. With us, on the
contrary, the time-test is held in light esteem
as our system OF starting and the way in which
our races are run differ altogether from the
fashions of our klnsmen. We have found by
experience that a race like the Two Thousand
Guineas is won in a shorter time by platter
like PIeteDder than by flyer like West Aus
traliaD, and we therefore give little heed to the
minutes and seconds recorded by Benson's
chronograph. But In the United States the case
Is very different. Every sportsman upon the
transatlantic race course Is as cOnyers9nt with
the "best time ever made" over a given course
IS Scotch COvensnter with his Bible. Few of
our modern frequenters of Newmarket could
rehesrse at moments notice how long it took
for Thormsnby or Doncaster TO win the Derby
or for Lioness or Julius to win the Cesarewitch
But nowhere in the United States could a turf
man be found who is ignorant that Lexington
did four miles in i'm. t93 =. 1t may then readily
be conceived that the performance OF a horse
called Fellowcraft, who has surpassed Lexinp-
toms time, has not failed to provoke general
excitement among spOrtsmen there. The sire
or TINS now famous transatlantic four-year-old
was bred in England by the present Lord
Feyeshan, and Is perhaps destined to have as
conspicuous career as his illustrious prede-
cessor, Lexington. Australian-for such is the
naBe of Fellowcraft's sire-had already been
the progeniter OF many good American colts
and hllles, and Is himself the son of Mr.. BoWes'
Derby and st. Leger winner, West Australian
We do not for a mement imagine that Fellow
craft would beat DOncaster at even weights or
that Lily Agnes ana Leolinus would have to
lower their c0lOrs to him at weight for age.
But we understand 80 little in England about
running against time that il is extremely doubt
ful whether any of our most experienced tram
ers CO uld produce an animal capable of accom-
plishing four miles in I'm. 1Ss. The best time ON
record cover the Beacon" is considerably in ex-
cess or Felloworaits performance, and we must
ItaVe our sporting dOctrtRGiTeS to argue with
Transatlantic writers whether the greensward
OF Newmarket is less favorable to speed and
St0utness than the "dirt tracks OF the New
World. When, however, we leave what ia
called, across the sbig water" the GgalIoning
turf" and turn to the consideration of another
field of sport in which the Americans have
always been unapproachable. we shall be con-
strained 10 admit that dozen or more of the
ia nous "trOtters" the United States have pro-
duced leave this country and Europe far in the
lurch. In England we have always regarded a
horse which can trot mile in three minutes as
a paragon. But in the United States have
already been ''raised' more than a score of ami
mails W hich can do their mile in less than Pm sos
:, I ne iate Hiram woodruff, who was not only the
best uottiDg driver and rider in the world but
also the accomplished biOgrspher of the s'Trot-
ting Horse OFT America" records the matchIess
achievements OF such miracles of equine speed
ana stOutness as Ripton, Kemble, Stonewall
y jackson, Dexter, G neral Butler, Dutchman,
and many more. The pictures of these famous
trotteTs are as dear in the states those of The
Fly1ng DutchmaD, Nolugeur, TediingtOn
Nancy, and Newminster are to ourselves; nor
should the unparalleled feat of the present
'.QHeen Of the American TrottiUg wOrid'-as
the celebrated mare Goldsmith Maid IS caIIad
ack chrontcler upon this side the Atlantic
ON the 18th of last month, when many a
Wlelder OF the b.eechloadeT in these islands was
getting drenched upon the hills of Yorkshire
ana Scotland, there was a race meeting at
Rochester, in the state of New York, which will
long Inquire in American story. Upon this Oc-
CASTOR, to quote our contemporary, the New
York Spirit of the Times, Goods NTH Maid
the greatest of all the famous horses whose
achievements are recorded in trotting history.
came out and beat her own previous time nv
more man nan second; In England We are
Newmarket and York when hambIetOnian heat
Diamond, and the Dutchman showed mis- heels 10
Hoiugeur, as without parallel for thrilling ex-
cltenent. But II Is doubtful whether even in
Yorkshire, where thoroughbred horse Is the
object OF alteration for men, women, and chill
dren, more apprecative audience was ever
gathered upon knaYesmlre, or the DOUcaster
town moor, than is often collected to watch the
OF great trotter in many states
OF the American Union. Foremost among the
spectators on these occasions President NAV
often be seen; nor is there ever any lack of Dnh-
lie men whose voices are commonly heard in the
TRANSATLANTIC Congress. when our iamented
minister N at Washington, the late Sir Frederick
Bruce, was for the first time an eye witness OF
great trotting match at Baltimore he pro-
nOunced tt TO be the most exciting moment of
his lie. 1t VIII not, therefore, be difficult for
Us to understand that the recent performance of
Goldsmith Maid at Rochester has moved sports
men to paroHysms Of unprecedented enthusiasm
'Ihe Maid,' says our New York contemDo-
rary, event in single harness, but running
horse accompanied her. Every one of the thou
sands present felt proud of having witnessed
the fastest time ever made, and not one but
felt that it would be long before it was
equaled." Ii was on the second day of the
Rochester meeting that her driver, DobIe-a
name well known upon the trotting turf-de-
cided that she would push the Maid for vet
more glory" She had already left the 2m i8s
OF Flora Temple and the 2m. III rs. OF Dexter
far behind. "It was a grant sight as, during
the second heat, she strained every nerve, and
sbot onward to beat her unparalleled time.
Doble sat like a rock, steady and firm, guiding
the lighting stopper on her wondrOns path,
The spectators held their breath a., like
whirlwind, she came up the stretch
and shot under the wire" But 1t was
rot until the judges marked tho time
Pm. 14Hs.-that cries of victory were heard
For EngIisbmen, the proudest thought in con-
nection with this triumph is that the best
trottiDg blood of America is descended from
our own MambTino, who was a well-knoWn
" slayer at Newmarket towards the close of
last century. When We read that such scenes
are OF not unfrequent occurrence in the United
States, and that the result OF every great race
in England is spread far and wide through the
Union within few minutes of its occurrence
We may rest satisfied that our blood runs warm
IL ID