The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-11-23
TRACY ON THE TROTTER.
He Doesn't Think That palo Altos
Performance Equals That
of Maud S.
II Ther5 Is to Be a Two Minute
= Horse, It Will Be
AriOn.
Tho Secretary Docs Not Like the Thor
oughbred Cross as Much AZ Stan
ford and Bonner.

'It is absurd to claim that a mile trotted
over a kite track is equal to q performance
over the same distance ON an oval or regu-
lation track, when it is conceded that the
former is from one to two seconds ~faster,'
said Secretary of the Navy B. F. Tracy to a
correspondent recently when discussing
Palo Altos remarkable milo at Stockton
on Tuesday last. "You might as we'll
make a comparison" he continued, "as far
as the full merts of the performers are
concerned, with a ~straightaway course for a
mile. In saying this much, however, I do
not wish to be understood as assuming that
Senator Stanford's stallion did not accom-
pllsh a great feat. 1t was, on the other
hand, a wonderful performance, especially
when it is generally understood that the
horse has a complaining leg, and has had
for some years past, His gameness under
the circumstances was quite as wonderful
as his speed. This latter was especially
surprising to the trotting horse
world, lnasmuch as it WAS not generally
believed until Il few days since that Palo
Alto was equal to the task of materially
lowering his record. Certainly no one east
OF the Rocky mountains thought the stall
~ ASSoAN " ! q LOW HC6Ab
since was in any particular danger. Never
theless l maintain that Palo Altos per-
formance OF 2:0sM is not as great rs that of
Maud s., made at Cleveland seven or eight
years ago.
~ have been frequently asked of late if l
thought that the kite-shaped track had
come to stay. My reply is no, because,
first, it does not permit the public, without
whom racing cannot flourish, to see an ex-
citing finish in contests of speed and can
never become as popular as the regulation
track, where the start and finish can be
equally witnessed. Second, unfayorable
comparisons will always be made between
records achieved on the kite and oval
tracks.
ITO digress. I wish to say something
more about the two-minute ~trottsr. | be-
lleve WAS the first man to publicly pro-
claim that a horse would appear that would
trot Il mile in two minutes. | have been
quoted as limiting the period in which the
feat would be achieved to a few years. |
was misconstrued named no time, but
did say that | thought it highly probable
that within five or ten years n mile would
be trotted in two MINUTES. Why. just CON
cider for a moment that quarters have boon
trotted III twenty-nlne ana Il half and thirty
seconds. This being the case, all that re-
mans Is to speed a full mile and the trick
is accomplished, the two-minute trotter
will have arrived. When one contem plates
the rapid advance made in breeding for a
high rate Of speed and the power to sustain
within the past two years this idea of a two
minute trotter is not go utepian as some
very intelligent breeders think it to be.
Whatever they think, l will stick to my
text and leave time to determine the wis
dom Of my belief. Az fer the t~wo-rninute
~trotter, | should not be surprised if Senator
Stnpford's two-year-old Arion will eyentu-
ally'trot in that time, if his recent wonder
tul performances have mot injured