Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1888-11-16

contains tnlS reinarkaDle languaSe'
"'Ben Franklin has fine neck, but as he
has small goitre he was marked low on
this point He has record Of 2:29, and
two of his get are just inside the 2 80 list.
Taking the 2:Osi of Maud S., for perfec-
ton, and remembering that the 2 80 per-
formers are counted by the thousand,
three points seem about right for record
of 2 30; and when we compare the num-
Der of Ben Franklin's performers and
their speed rate with those of George
Wilkes, the horse is not entitled just now
to more than three points for character
of offspring. Mr.. Cults, proprietor of
Brooksde Stock farm, doubtless will ar
que differently, but that will not change
the judgment of the committee
"As to the small gotre,' the eyes of
the committee must have been unusually
keen. Ben Franklin has the trlflng en-
largement of the glands under the jowl,
, found, think, in more than half the stall
lions that have reached middle age, but
to call it 'goitre, or an unsoundness of
any kind, is as wild as to call this COM
mittee at once fair and capable.
, "And now as to pedigree: Ben Frank
lin marked so high on all points Except
the neck) that go to make up a horse,
that If his breeding was allowed to be
good, he would stand first. SO they
. marked Naaman 43 and Franklin 30, and
| thus made up 123 points for the former
f as against l Is for the latter. Then they,
, as usual, hasten to explain: AS Naaman
e is by the sire of the fastest performer,
.. Maud S. g :0S3) out of Fadette, dam of
| Favonia (2:15), he was scored high on
\ breeding
, "Well, perhaps so, but candid people
e might question if he is really better bred
than Ben Franklin. Naaman's sire, Har-
. old, at the close of the year 1887, accord
ing to Wallace, had seventeen trotters in
the = 80 list to his credit, five against
time. None of his get except Maud S.
ever beat 2 30 Daniel Lambert, sire of
: Ben Franklin, had 30, none against time.
I The average record of Harold's seventeen
n was :26S; of Lambert's 30, :26s. Az
erage number of heats in 80 or better,
e Harold eight; Lambert 115. Harold had
y got three sires of four 80 trotters Lam
r bert, nine sres of 10 80 trctters. Lam
S bert is six years older than Harold, but
= Harold has always had the splendid adj
e vantages of WOODBURY. farm. The get of
S Harold are not noted for beauty or road
d quality, while the Lamberts are called
la, la, 4
: world.
V "As regards the dams, Black Kate,
Y dam of Ben Franklin, never had but two
9 foals addison Lambert, 2:27 and Ben
Franklin, 2:29) that came to maturity,
t and both are in the 2 80 list. Fadette.
e dam of Naaman, has no representative
: but Favonia in that list. On the whole,
: the pedigree points in Naaman's favor do
e not seem to stand out with very striking
e prominence.
: Next, the committee generously allow
!, Ben Franklin three points for perform
= aDce, which seems to them about right.
S 1t does not to me. If perfection of per-
L Torrance is fifty (and if not it ought to
}, be, the same as pedigree, for trotting
t horse without a pedigree is better than a
J, trotting pedigree without a horse), then
a record of 2 80 should entitle the horse
e to 20, and every second off should add
J one point down to 2:l6, and below that
g two should be added for every second off.
: For records lower than 2 80 two points
). might be taken off for every second.
i "This would give 40 horse five
r points for performance, which is fair, for
|. a horse that can trot in 40 is surely five
O points better as trotting sire than one
q that cannot trot at all. Ben Franklin
e was on the turf one season only, and that
n at six years CS19), when he trotted
f through the eastern circuit, four races in
e two weeks, winning them all over large
!. fields of good horses, trotting nine heats
f in : 80 or better, and retiring with re-
n cord of 2 20.
: SIS not this performance far better
than that of a majority of the trotting
\ bred stations now standing for service ?
, for performance at least half way up to
f perfection, instead of one-sixteenth, as
t the committee placed it? Three points in
{ $50 is practically nothing, being less than
= one-eightieth.
"Naaman, taker of the first premium,
{ also trotted one season, 1887 las tive-year-
e old. He started in two races only. In
{ the first the time was from 2 :46 to 2 :54t !;
in the second, from 2 :444 to 2 AZ. Naa-
? man was the last horse in every heat in
both races. L'Empereur, taker of third
: premium, has started in one race only,
and was distanced in the first heat in
t :544. Absolute and Solicitor, between
whom the second premium was divided,
) make a somewhat better showing; they
never have started at all.