, 1889-08-25
MAUD q

hAbD n
"Why," says Mr.. Bonner, Guy, the horse
that has done the best time this season, has
only made a mile in q :1Ox, and that il three
quarters OF a second behind Jay-Eye-See and
two full seconds slower than the record Of
Maud s."
Two seconds is not a long time, do you sayi
Well, 50 it isn't, but look at two seconds for a
moment through Mr.. Bonner's spectacles.
'If you were to sec two horses come In at
tho finish one eighty-two feet behind the
other you wouldn't call it a very close record,
would your he asked a reporter the other
day. We'll, eighty-two feet to the mile
represents the difference In speed between
Maud S. and Guy"
Still the handsome speedy little mare will
be trained. Mr.. Bonner explains why this
was not done earlier in the season. John
Murphy, her old trainer, was Ill, and tn ere
fore he could not undertake the task, and
Mr.. Bonner did not wish to wound the sensi-
tive trainers nature by giving his favorite's
care to another during his life. Mr.. Bonner
feds the loss OF Murphy very keenly.
II had the most implicit confidence In
him" he says, "and so did Mr.. Vanderbilt. l
had known him for twenty years, and for
the last ten he had driven my best horses"
1t is Mr.. Bonner's intention to work the
little mare very gently at first. She has
been out Of training for a long time, and is
too fat for speedy t%rotting. But her easy
work will not be exactly the pace of a snail.
"lf l were to give her work by the watch
tomorrow" her owner explains, al should
awe her trot the first mile in, say ESQ. The
next day she might go in 2:25, and a few
days later In 1921, until by degrees she would
regain something like her old speed"
Mr.. Bonner talks as coolly about Maud s.
and her achievements as II her possession
were not the envy of all lovers of fine trot-
ting horses.
Maud s. did her best time at Greenville,
o., July 80, 1885, and she is therefore more
than four years older now than when she was
at her best. She has, however. never been sent
for all she is worth since then, and 1t is, Of
course, quite possible, though by no means
certain, that she can still do as well as she
could then.
The interest in trotting, which has unfort-
unstely Jagged a good deal for a few years
past, seems to have taken a new lease OF life
this year, II we may judge by the wonder
fully successful meetings Of the grand circuit
at Cleveland, Buffalo and Rochester, and 1t
may be that it will again invade the vicin-
ity of New York, which has long been a
stronghold OF the running race. 1t is sin
cerely to be hoped that 1t may, for trotting
is as distinctively an American institution as
baseball. In fact there Is no trotting of any
moment outside OF America The running
horse Is supreme in England, France and
Germany, the three transatlantic countries
in which trials OF the speed OF horses are
popular.
Forty-fve years ago Lady Suffolk was the
fastest and the most famous OF ~trotters. Her
best time in harness, made In 1874, was only
2:26G, yet she held first place with this rec
ord for twelve long years; though in 1S49
Lady Suffolk trotted a mile under the saddle
in 2:26, and in 1851, Tacony, also under
saddle, In 2:25H. In 1856 Flora Temple made
a mile In 2:25H, and in the same year broke
the record again in 2:24L. Three years later,
In 1850, she lowered the record to 2:19X, and
she held the title Of queen OF the track till
1867, when the famous Dexter trotted a mile
in 2:17A. He had made a mile in 2:1SA In
1865, but this was under the saddle. 1t was
not until 1871 that Dexter was dethroned by
Goldsmith Maid, who trotted a mile in har-
ness in 2:l7, knocking off a quarter of a sec
ond of Dexter's best record. In 1879 she cut
under her own record, making a new one OF
2:16%.
Two years later, in 1874, In a series of beau
tiful performances she cut the figures down
to 2:l6, 2l54, 2:l44 and 2:14. The country
went wild over her and worshiped at her
shrine for four years, when Rarus reigned
in hOr stead when he first equaled and then
cut down the record to 2:l3L. Rarus was
king pub u year Wnen St. Julen seized the
scepter by trotting a mile In 1879 in 2:l2X.
The next year, 1880, no other horse lowering
the record, he did 1t himself, making new fig
ures, first Of 2llA and then Of 3:1lA.
Then came peerless Maud s.. She has not
appeared in public nearly so often as did her
predecessors, but her record Is extremely
brilliant. In September, 1850, she made a
mile In harness in 2:lOA, thus beating st Jul
lien and securing the proud title of Queen,
which she has held ever since witt the ex-
ception of n single day. In July, 1881, she
trotted a mile in 2:10H, and a month later
in 2:10A. This record was the best for three
years, when Jay-Eye-See in 1884 knocked off
the quarter and made a mile In 2:10. The
next day, however, Maud s., who was then
the property OF W. H. Vanderbilt, trotted a
mile In 2;o9&. Maud s. best time, made in
1885, is, as stated above, 2;0SH.
1t il extremely doubtful, IL outside Of Ken
lucky, running has ever awakened the gem
uine enthusiasm that used to blaze along the
line of the grand circuit in the good old days
now happily come back again The present
writer, who for many years reported the
meetings in Buffalo, Rochester and Utica,
can remember the time when the ''best" peo-
pie, from Chicago to Hartford, In every
sense, outside the very straitlaced, who
looked with horror upon all sporting events,
used to gather annually under the canopies
of the grand stand of the track nearest them.
In those days race" week-the lover of the
right To the use Of the word race" in speak.
a. g.