Salt Lake evening Democrat. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1885-1887, 1885-06-16
AND THoRoUGHBREDs,

The question of the successful breed
inc of trotters is one of much import
ance to all American -horsemen, as the
trrotting horse is to America what the
running horse is to England. England
is the home of the runner, and there he
has attained to his highest development,
and our runners on this side of the At
lantic can be traced directly back to him.
So America is the home of the trotter,
and it is here that he has arrived at
his greatest excellence, and accom-
plished his most wonderful feats.
What has produced this new breed of
horses in America? Was it produced by
the breeding of the runner, or thorough
bred. and training him to trot? Or was it
produced by the selecting Of those horses
which were more than ordinarily disposed
to trot, and the propagation OF them?
We maintain that it was the selecting and
breeding of the horses which were most
inclined to trot that has produced the
modern trotter. As every one knows, all
horses, or other animals, as for that
matter, even of the purest blood which
traces back to the most ancient pedigrees,
do not possess the same qualities.
Nay, further. Horses of the purest OF
anv strain and of the most ancient line
age, out of the same dams by the same
sires are not all of the same excellence.
Why are they not? No one can tell, but
the fact is attributed to the law of varia-
ton, and variation is greater where the
blood is most complex. The pibald scrub
horse is the perfection of variation. The
reason why running blood is objection
able in the trotter is because it is an ad-
ditional element of variation; it
destroys the constancy of the in
heritance. If the infusion of running, or
thoroughbred blood is a desirable thing
in the trotter, are there no particular
strains which are better to combine with
the trotter than others? In breeding
runners for the turf there is a great choice
among the various families, and as a rule
the blood of Lexington has been sought
for more than any other. 1t was the
Lexington blood which carried Ten
Broecll through his famous four-mile race
in which he beat all the records. OF late
the blood of imported Bonnie Scotland
has been much sought after, owing to
its power to carry horse a long way at
high speed There are other families of
the runners in America, but none so IA |
NOUS. The Dance strain has also pro-
duced many winners, although War
Dance was the best of the family. Which |
OF these strains is best for mixing with |
the trotter, and in combination with what |
families do they give the best results?
Among the various trotting families, the
Hambletonians and the Mambrinos may
be ranked as foremost. Other families |
have as much of the running blood in
them as these, and yet have not so uni
formly produced trotters. For many |
years, Hambletonian, 10, stood at the !
head of the list of sires of 2:30 horses, !
but last year another horse went
up higher and took the leadership
He was what is usually termed a
cold-blooded horse. This horse,
which has produced more 2:30 horses
than Hambiltonian 10, George Wilkes
$40, Daniel Lambert 102, or Almont 33,
was horse without any particular breed
ing, his dam being unknown and he a
PAGER. The pacing blood seems to trans
NIT a stronger tendency to adhere TO the
pacing or trottinS gait than does the
trotting blood. Now, why was it
that this horse was so successful
in producing trotters? 1t must be
because his pacing instinct was so
strong that it dominated and controlled all
other instincts as TO the mode of action.
No one will deny that the trotting and
pacing gaits are interchangeable. If any
one does, we can point them to
two horses in our own town
which are very rapid at either
gait, and one of them is the favorite in the
2.44 class tomorrow. There seems to be
much misapprehension as to what is a
cold-blooded horse, and the term is gem
orally confounded with what is called a
scrub horse. A cold-blooded horse is
merely horse that is not a thorough
bred that is all. The Tribune saws:
'"The difference is this: They" (the |
trotter and runner) care of different |
races, and the colder race does not DOS |
sess alone the necessary qualifications to |
accomplish what is hoped for from it,
What are qualifications that the run
ner can give to the trotter to improve |
him as he is to-day? We believe |
not any. The trotting horse to-day is
an established breed, with the strength
and endurance of the runner, but with n
different action; and we believe that anv
infusion of running blood into him will !
tend to destroy his gait, and will not lend
him any staying qualities he does not
possess. The Tribune says it cannot
"scubscribe to the theory that any trot-
ting horse that ever lived has the en-
durance of a real thoroughbred on SUI
preme trial, T" and says that no one would |
who ever saw Jo Daniels after he had
run twelve miles against Thad Stevens. |
The same rate of speed is not claimed |
for the trotter that is claimed for the |
runner, but the same endurance is
AS a supreme trial. for the
trotter, it is only necessary to