The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-04-13
Budd Doble Thinks II Will be
Lowered During the Com
ing Season.
Either Sunol, Nelson or STEAMBOAT
May be Able to It
Maud 8. Has Been Nearly Two Seconds to
the Good for Almost Two Years
Now.

harness racing nave been made in this re-
public and Canada, nearly $50 meetings be,
ing already announced, covering twenty
six states, and tho country across the north
ern border, most of the latter in Ontario
says the New York Sun. This means that
the trottsr Rnd his track companion, the
paoer, will play a more prominent part than
ever in the sporting drama that will begin
in a few weeks. Judging by the calendar
as it stands, the west will lead in the nun
Der of events, especially Iowa, Illinois,
Ohio, Indiana. Missouri and Minnesota. SO
that the swift steppers bred on the plains
can hnd plenty of engagements at home,
even if they should not get up to grand cir
cult form. Independence, Iowa, alone has
a programme which will occupy three weeks
between July and October, and the town
that first attracted attention by the doines
Of the phenomenal colts Axtell and Aller-
ton bid fair to become the hub of
tho sulky universe. Though Axtell
has been taken to Indiana. Allerton still
holds court at home, after winning the
highest honors as a campaigner in his
three and four-year-old form, besides earn
ing the best record, 2:l3l1ss, for his sex at
our years old.
Independence has a track which in one
season leaped into the front rank az a
speeding place by reason of its kite shape
and wonderfully elastic soil. In the same
town Is published a paper devoted entirely
to trotting, which can vie with any of the
turf journals in the large cities. This lat
est enterprise did not develop from a small
sheet, as many of its older contemporaries.
but sprang into being, Ninerva-like, full
grown and voluminous. An instance OF its
ambition ia found in a late issue, which,
speaking Of the speed limit of the %trotter,
makes the astounding predictions: "a
mile in one minute and fifty seconds will
not stop him." AS it is nearly twenty years
since the champion record was placed be-
low 2:l6. and after getting less than
performances of Maud s. has withstood ali
efforts for nearly six years, it would be in
teresting to n on what this ~sanpuine
augury is predicted. There is a musty ira
dltion on the running turf that Eclipse gal
!oped a mile IN sixty seconds, but whom, af-
ter the lapse of years and with all modern
improvements in breeding and training, the
peerless Saltwater could only get within
35L5 seconds of hat time, the impossibility
OF the ancient allegation is the more empha-
sized.
Nobody expects that a horse will eventu-
ally run a mile in a minute any more than
he did in the past. and it may be safely as
presaRed that not even the generations yet
unLorn will record the marvel of a 1:5O
%trotter. More than one old-time horseman
Will tell you that in his younger days there
was about as much natural speed as there is
now. They explain the difference between
the miles made by Lady Suffolk, Moscow
and other cracks OF forty years ago, when
2:oO performers were rare, and the more
rapid flights of to-day by the fact tina the
artificial aids to the trotter nave done
more than breeding. Nicely poised
feather-weight sulkies with their high
nrched axles to prevent interference with
the most sweeping stride, have replaced the
clumsy old contrivence ON whose low,
Straight axle many a promising animal has
been hopelessly crippled. With the help of
toe-weights and advanced skill in shoeing
that desirable thing known as the balance"
is more readily obtained, and the trotter
learns to use his legs so easilysthat sven the
yearling can cover his mile below 2:3O, as
proved by freedoms 2:29s4 last October.
Add to this the improvements in hitching
and biting gear. to say nothing of the level
and scientifically built courses which nave
succeeded the primitive ring with it's fat
IRON turns, and it is little wonder that the
modern trotter can reel off the miles 80
much faster than his ancestors.
Pocahontas. the famous pacer, drew a
wagon in 2:l719 over Union course, Long
Island, some thirty-hve years ago. AS she
could speed close to a two-minute gait and
was unusually lame, it is probable that the
wonderful old chestnut mare could have
eclipsed %Johnson's 2:064 under equal condi-
tions. After Lady Thorn was injured SO that
she could trot no more, Dan Mace said that |
her record, 2:lS4, was no measure of her
ability, and did not hesitate to declare that
he could have driven her in 2:10. That WAS
twenty years age when the best track was
least three seconds slower than tracks
now available. Reasoning from these two
alone. the physical progress of the
racer during the mast quarter of n
is not much to boast of, and the
1850 trotter seems to be as remote as the
visit OF Macaulay's New Zealander to the
luins of London.
Nothing daunted, however, there are
scores OF bresders who are aiming to pro-
duce a trotter capable of sustaining a two
gait for a mile, or, at least. one
that can outstrip all existing records. Each
year brings a more formidable array of
prospective cham pions, this one being no
e1ceptlon: Last season we had Sunol, AK
Tell. STEAMBOAT, and possibly Guy as candi-
dates for highest honors. or these STAN
boul was the only one to improve on VIVA,
he had done in 1889, while Nelson flashed
with his claim by doing several miles be-
low 2:l2. Already speculation ia rife re-
snrdlnR what these and other very fast per
formers may accomplish i'll the next six or
seven months. Meanwhile, Maud s. has
still nearly two seconds to the good, against
rivals now on the turf, for Jay-Eye-see,
With his 2:l0, has, like Robert Bonner's
mare herself, retired from training.
III IL interesting to note that as compe.
,ent a judge as Budd Doble, who has been
n the sulky for some thirty years. and has
irlven more celebrated horses than most
men, thinks the present record is in danger,
ABOUT a year ago Doble put himself on
'ecord by saying that he did not believe
':Oo4 would be beaten in 1890. In RESPONSE
% an inquiry about his own stable and the
General outlook for the coming season he
writes from Chicago under recent date:
During the past winter l have had in nv
'harge at 1 ERE Haute the following horses:
lxtell, Nancy Hanks, Houri and McDoel.
IN April my training stable will be repu-
arly opened ut the place above mentioned,
: is too early for me to give a list of the
lorses that are to be added. However, /
viii name Pixley, Graylight, Godelia and
tussia (full sister to Maud 81, which have
lready arrived. / have quite a number of
God ones 10 come whose names | do not
are to give until they have arrived.
II am less inclined to make n prophecy :
his year In relation to Maud SIS record
eing beaten than / was last. Howe yer, !
ince my opinion is asked, | shall not be
timid to write frankly what | think.
I is barely possible that Maud SIS record
nay be equalled or beaten the present year,
Mt II il is by either horse ] have in mind,
would not have any one think that | con
der him III any sense the equal of Maud s.