The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1889-06-04

There are at Palo Alto about 800 brood
mares, which are being bred to Electioneer,
Nephew, Piedmont and their sons, and to the
sons OF Gen. Benton.
At Palo Alto great attention is paid to the
mating sire and dam, with a view to con-
formation, temperament and gait. Indeed,
this point is considered Of paramount impor
lance, even ranking above the mere question
of blood lines One theory is that colt by
good sire out of a good dam will show
speed according to its balance and friction
less way of going, and he places these points
far above any mere question of breeding.
Senator Stanford's theory is that extreme eff
forts atan early age can only be sustained by
great vigor, perfect conformation, high
nervous organization and long, unbroken
line Of extreme speed inheritance.
He finds these qualities to his greatest salts
faction In choicely selected thoroughbred
mares of certain families, and believes that
his grand stallion will impart to them the
trotting instinct and action. It is nonsense
for any one to say they can detect the differ
ence in trotting action between the foals by
Electioneer from thoroughbred mares or
those strictly trotting bred. This theory is
rank heresy to the mere theorist in breeding,
but pending their discussion Of what some of
them are pleased to call eccentricities, he goes
on astonishing the world with his phenomenal
record breakers.
On this subject a writer in The Horseman
says:
"Our own ideas concerning the selection Of
trotter by Electioneer would be a colt from
a mare with one trotting or pacing cross, and
long line Of choice thoroughbred ancestry.
When we first saw Norlaine we thought she
was the sweetest thing of animal creation,
but when Sunol was placed by her side we
saw even greater finish, fully as faultless con-
formation, and a sort of 'hard as nails look, :"
which excited our unqualified approval Nor
laine had all the grace and beauty, and the
sweet, mild look of fawn; Sunol had the
proud, self confident, reliant air Of royalty,
and in very truth she seemed in all respects
a queen. 1t was this, together with her
easy, elastic action, that induced us to pub
licly predict that, if no accident occurred, she
would break the 2-year-old recorl Of 2:21
How grandly she has performed her task is
known to the world She has made three at
tempts, the first early in the season in 2:25,
the second early in October in 2:2O1f,
the third few days later in 2:1S. What
in store as surprise we are unable to pre-
dict. Last spring he stated to us that his
ambition was to beat 230 with yearling, to
beat 2:1S with 3-year-old, to beat 2:20 with
2-year-old, and to reduce the 4-year-old rec
ord below 2:15 This accomplished he was
willing to rest upon his laurels
IF he meets with no accident in the next
two years we firmly believe he will accom-
plish the task. People wonder that more
Electioneers do not go into the 2:30 list, and
that more daughters of Electioneer do not
produce. 1t should be remembered that there
is practically but one trainer at Palo Alto,
and that his sole aim and purpose is to
SECURE each year some phenomenal youngSter,
and to that end all other considerations are
sacrificed. We have seen at Palo Alto and
3-year-olds from Electioneer mares which,
without being in Marvin's hands, Jamestown
quarters in SO to 81 seconds, and were then
ordered by him to the stud or paddock. 1t
would give us great pleasure to see system
attic effort made for two years to train all Palo
Alto horses to n record better than $50 which
show ability to train to such record"
When Senator Stanford goes down to his
country home it is his pleasure to sit in
large chair in the center of ring and see his
favorite young flyers brought out for trial
1t was while watching one of these fast trot-
ters-an animal which had the enormous
stride of twenty-three feet-that the million
aire conceived the idea that in some part of
his course the horse must entirely clear the
ground and have all four feet in the air. So
he decided to have his horses photographed
while in motion. He secured the services of
skillful photographer named Muybridge,
who arranged an ingenious system Of cam
eras worked by electricity, by which an in
Simultaneous view of the animal was given as
he passed the home line.
About SAC, 900 were spent on these expert
ments; but they overthrow all previous no
lions on the subject, and the book which
Stanford had written and published, "The
Horse in Motion" is valuable contribution
to science
The success of the Palo Alto farm has
demon rated that the climate of California
is equal to that of Kentucky for the breeding
of swift trotting and running stock.
The recent sale of Palo Alto trotting stock
at the American Institute in New York city
realizel about $4,000, and many celebrated
horses were sold.