, 1877-03-04

WAS the best batter among the players who are to
der assisted the most times. {2) lie is better
Eatsnla,., and play IN more places; whether he
is better catcher will appear when the season
opens.
TILE TURF.
i TIE PACING ELEMENT.
4 Considerable attention has been paid Of late
BY horsemcn, aud especially hy breeders, to the
mysterious influence on strains Of trotting
blood Of the pacing element, as transmitted by
strcs and dams gated in that manner to their
progeny. 1t is not many years since PAGERS
were regarded as worthless plugs, useless for
track purposes and questionable as roadsters,
and their owners looked upon with feeling
! somewhat akin to pity. When the laws Of
| breeding began to be examined into, however,
it WAS found that some Of the spcedicst horses
OF the country were Of pacing ancestry,
| and although this fact was not at
first regarded as Of much importance
it forced itself upon the attention Of
| horsemen with such persistency that an in
| ycstigation was begun, and within the past few
| years it has received careful attention at tho
hands OF intelligent men, aud now, instead Of
being looked upon as an element Of weakness,
u cross Ut pacing blood in trotter's pedigree is
something to be wished for and sought after.
That shfewd horseman, Robert Bonner,
| whose private stables and extensive breeding
farm contain some Of the fastest horses In the
land, was one OF the first to pay attention to the
pacing element; indeed, he demonstrated its
value before other men had given the subject q
thought One Of his earliest purchases was the
| celebrated mare Pochahontas, she being by
Ethan Allen out Of the fast and highly y-bred
| pacing mare whose name she bears, the union
OF the then King of trotters with the fastest
known PAGER producing q mare that has shown
mile heats over three-Quarter mile track in
2:T4; 3 half-mile over the Fleetwood Park
truck in 1:04411(; aud that last winter she was
the boss of the road in New York; something to
be proud OF, " hen SUCH horses as Mamie B., Gen.
Tweed, Windmerc, John VI. Hal, and Bill Thunder
were to be seen daily on Harlem lane. or late
years Mr. Bonner has not overlooked the pacing
element, as his recent purchases Of Grafton and
Molsey attest. The former horse was induced
| to trot only by the use OF heavy toe
weights, and Jet, with but eingle
seasons handling, ho came upon the
Cleveland track during the meeting OF
| 1870 and, without encouragement, trotted full
mile In 2:15, feat that has been accomplished
By but two other horses,-Goldsmfth Maid and
Lula,-and these did it only after years Of
patient handling by the most skillful drivers in
the country. Molscy, one Of tho best and
gamest mares in the land, as her victory at the
Rochester meeting in 1875 proves,-she winning
the fifth, sixth, and seventh heats Of the 1924
race in 2:2314, 2:241111, 2:261z, over field COM
posed OF Clementine, Joker, Gen. Garfield,
Music, Lady Star, Blanche and Vanity Fair
comes of pacing family through her dam. who
was by Dallas, son Of Davy Crockett, the
horse that founded family Of PAGERS.
Smugsicr, the horse that last summer de-
feated Goldsmith Maid at Cleveland, and that
after winning two heats from the Old Queen at
Hartford was defeated By the Judges, and
whose stallion record Of 2:154 is not likely
to soon be eclipsed, inhcrits the pacing
tendency through hts sire, and was induced to
rrot only BY the use OF excessively heavy shoes
and toe-weights, which are such strain upon
the muscles OF Ills forelegs that he is seriously
handicapped by them. Tie history OF the Cali
foznfa wonder, Occident, with record OF 2:162@,
is traced only by means Of his grandsire, St.
Clair, horse that paced in 3:35, his dams
pedigree being entirely unknown. Flora Belle,
the mare that created such q sensation through
out the country a few years ago by her wonder
full speed and great promise, Was natural
PAGER, and much time was expended in teach
4AQAA6AA0 AA~AN1
a. ever stood on iron, with record OF 2:21A,
is also a converted PAGER. Blue Bull a pacing |
stallion Of unknown blood, has been standing
IN Indiana for several years, and from the farm
mares Of that region has produced such trotters |
rs Elsie Good, record 2:23115; Purity, $3.50;
Ella Wilson, 2: 80; Mia c., 2:264; Kate Ben ]
nett, 2:29H; Berthe, 2: 81; Richard, 2:25; and t
many others with records below 2:40~ |
It has often been asserted BY the opponents |
of the PAGERS that the blood is not stout; that |
trotter OF pacing ancestry will quit, and cspe-
cially has this been alleged against the Blue
Bulls, notably in the case Of BERTHE, who, to say
the least preferred the first quarter to the home
stretch. But it was not to be expected that the
staunchest trotteFs were 70 come om pm c9 th
sire Of many duffer, and be had the best bred
mares in the land at bis disposal. Elsie Good,
considercd by many to be the best horse of her
agc n The eou s9 tfoi nbepts ir5m ee
q mare By that game horse, Aodailah; Ihere
are other noted horses that could be tnstanced
as examples OF the good effect Of pacing blood,
but those already given are snmcient % SNOW
that It Is matter worthy OF careful attent1on
and investigation. i
That close corporation, Breeders Association,
the demerits of which this paper exposed a1. sey.
strngqle for existence, which can only end In
the total collapse Of the entire concern, unless
the advice gwen BY this pape5 a9d 4sa thn
feeded The latest act ct the Association, as
represented BY the Executive Committee, was
to hold one OF its CHARACTERISTIC secret meetings
in New York City, and adopt the following pro-
gramuoe f for the 1all meeting Of 1877:
Stakes to be 5000 in each class for colts Ct
years old and under, VIZ, three classes: Three
years old best two In three; and years old,
best three in i've; the meeting to be held on Sept
IS 1877, good day and track; place 70 be hereafter
Monday Of April 1877, by payment d $50 70 The
$50 pa5ah1e on Of before - nfst MonoaI
before BE- fore Sept. 8, 1877. The total enty-money IN
each class to form sweepstakes, to be awar1sd as
fnl1ows: Two-thirds to the winner. two-th1rda OF
the remainder to the second horse, and the residue
to the third horse.
It yerY easy for these gentlemen to assem-
h1a ii a hark ro0n and arrange q programme,
but to eaiTy the proposed meeting to sn:sess
ful copcluston is an entirely different matter.
Of Ill the breeders, but the acttge management m /