The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1883-07-19
Our Untraveled Horses.

On our own soil we have as good horses,
probably as those that have won glory in
England and in France. We have Hin
doc, the winner of the Kentucky Derby
and the Clark Stakes at Louisville, and OF
the Blue Ribbon Stakes at Lexington. We
have Thora, grand filly, who in 1881 de-
| feated both Hindoo and Crickmore, but
succumbed last year at Jerome Park to
| Sly Dance, having to concede year and SIX
pounds. We have back from his English
campaign our old favorite Parole, whose
brillinnt performance in the Manhattan
handicap with 20lbs, deserved the enthus-
asm it aroused. We have the steeple-chaser
Trouble, who on the fifth day of the
October meeting at Jerome Park won
the handicap steeple-chase, carrying l57
pounds. We have Glenmore, the gallant
chestnut that achieved the unparalleled
performance of running the four miles in
the last two heats for the Bowie Stakes in
the time of 1901 and 7.31 respectively
With his easy action and great staying
powers he is a wonderful horse; and in
spite of the long races i'll which he has
been engaged, he is as fresh as ever. In
the Coney Island Cup race he defeated
Luke Blackburn, Monitor, Parole and I'm
cas-, winning in $3.50.
We have every reason to expect that in
the near future other foreign victories will
be obtained by our sportsmen. We pos
sess some of the best blood in the world.
We have rich pastures; we have better
climate, at all events, than the British ISL
ands and we have trainers second to none
in their art, and owners second to none IN
their enterprise. The performances of II
oquois and Foxhall leave no longer any
room for cayil on these points.
The best trotters that fourished about
1880. could not do mile under ESQ,
but in 1856 Flory Temple reduced the
time to 2.241. In 1866, Woodruff's pride,
Dexter, under the saddle, did the mile
at Buffalo, i'll Els, and in the following
year in 2.174. Since that time MI. Bonner's
famous Rarus, Goldsmith Maid, Lulu, and
others, have trotted their mile in 2.15 OF
10.
are nothing to the wonderful trotters of
to-day. Maud S., the queen of the turf,
reduced the time, at Rochester in 1880, |
to 2.l0a and in 1881, over the same course,
she trotted mile in the unparalleled time |
of 2104. The first half of the Rochester |
track is by no means good; had it all been |
equal to the last half, she would have made |
the distance in 30. AS q sustained per-
Torrance, however, her achievement at |
Belmont Park, Philadelphia, in July, sur
passed all previous record. She trotted
three consecutive heats in 2.12, 2.134, 2.124.
Her slowest heat beat Rarus' best at Hart
ford in 1878, when the record was 2.134,
2. 49,, and 2.15. Maud S. has now the |
glory of having achieved the fastest heat,
the fastest two consecutive heats, and the |
fastest three consecutive heats that have
ever been seen.
If Maud S. is the queen, st. Julien is the
king, of the trotting turf. He stands sec
ond to her alone with his last years record
of 2.114.
His trainer, Hickok, has in Santa Claus
another horse not unworthy of being match
ed with the queen Of the turf. AS a five
year-old he got record which is still UNI
beaten, making the mile in 2.1S.
The speed of our trotting horses can not
be approached by the animals of any other
country. 1t has been attained, to quote
from Hiram Woodruff's book, ''by our
method of breeding, training. and driv-
ing trotting horses, aided by the enterprise
and ingenuity which provide vehicles, har-
ness, and all the paraphernalia of that COM
bination of ightness with stregth whichis
modelled upon the plan of the best trotting
horse himself. ''-HUGH CRAIG, in Hdr-
per's Magazine for August.