The record-union., 1892-06-29
PAGERS VS.. TRO7TERS.
The Side-Wheelers Have Generally
Held the Record.
Interesting Comparisons OF the De-
velopment of Pacing and Trot-
ting Horses to Date.

The PAGER has only recently obtained
just recognition IN the ight-harness
world. For many years he was the
Ishmaelite of the track. His right to
recognition as breed or type was de-
MED. His gait was looked upon as a
freak or an accident.
! Influential associations left him out OF
their programmes or accorded him Two
or three minor purses grudgingly. A
! breeder looked upon it as 2 misfortune
when likely colt would insist upon
pacing. and the vast majority were Zoe
weighted to ruin 10 make them trot.
| a few illuslrious exceptions became
| famous at the trot, but large number
| fell by the wayside, which, had their
natural gait been developed, would have
been winners at that gait. The race
! going pubic have never shared this
| prejudice against the PAGER: they like
| races of extreme speed. no matter at
what gait, and the PAGER supplied the
want.
| Gradually but surely he forced upon
the associations the necessity OF recognl-
| ton, and he now takes his place al every
meeting, with ample purses TO reward his
speed.
He now has a. standard and stud
! book, and his claims to a distinct breed
are formidable, and are, strangely
enough, only held in check by the large
number OF fast PAGERS which have come
past few years.
This significant fact has led many able
thinkers to maintain that the gaits are
| interchangeable, and that the PAGER and
the trotter are but one breed. They
strengthen their arguments with the ex-
amples of such trotters as Direct, who
have turned to pacing. But in all proba-
| bility when fast and ambitious trotter
turns to the pace 1t is because his confor-
nation is such that at the trot he cannot
| go as fast as his ambition desires and in
stinct teaches him that by changing his
gait he can do SO.
Despised as the PAGER has been, it is in
| teresting to note that, since the begin
ming OF the 2:30 list, although vastly in
the minority, he has usually been at the
head of the speed list. In 1889 Droyer, a
| bay gelding of unknown breeding, paced
to record of 2:2S. This performance was
at the Beacon Course, n. j., on October
Sd, five years before Lady Suffolk trotted
in that time. In 1874 the chestnut gelding
! Unknown paced to wagon in 2:23, thus
| leading the trotters by five seconds.
In 1910 the chestnut gelding James K.
Polk paced in 2:27. In 1866 the famous
mare Pocahontas paced to wagon in 2:l74,
and placed a mark which the trotters
aimed at in vain for twenty-five years,
till the mighty Dexter beat it in 1867 in
| 2:I74. In 1859 Flora Temple trotted in
2:l98, the pacing record being still 24 sec
onds In the lead. Three years before Poca-
hontas made her record the roam gelding
Pet paced in 2:1S4.
Dexter was not allowed to remain long
at the head OF the speed list, for in 1868
Billy Boyce, by Corbeau, paced to saddle
in 2:l44, and year later the dun gelding
! Yankee Sour paced in 2:l64.
In 1874 the immortal Goldsmith Maid
trotted in 2:l4, and again the trotters were
in the lead, a lead which they maintained
for some time, for Rarus followed in 1878
with his record Of 2:134, and in 1879 st.
Julien trotted 2:l2i, but in 1879 that ia
nous PAGER, the chestnut geIding Sleepy
Tom, electrified the world by pacing in
2:l24. In 1880 st. Julien trotted in 2:l14
and Maud s. in 2:l04, and again The trot-
ters led in the great speed race, the trot-
tiers still continuing to lead till 1884,
when the lightning PAGER Johnston left
all the champions far behind by pacing
a mile in 2:064. This looked like the
! speed limit and it so remained for five
years, when the black whirlwind Direct
paced in Z:06 against time and in 2:0S in a
race and became the champion stallion OF
the track.
The record Of 2:Os4, the champion trot-
ting record, is thus Il seconds behind
that of the PAGERS. and it remains to be
seen whether Sunol or some other trotter
will be able this season to knock off the
chip which rests on the PAGERS shoulder.
The fastest pacing stallion is p seconds
ahead OF the fastest trotting stallion. The
fastest pacing gelding, Hal Pointer. leads
his troitfng contrere, Jay Eye See, by a
quarter OF second only, while Cricket.
2:l0, the fastest pacing mare, is II seconds
behind the champion trotter Sunol. AS
! The extreme of speed at each gait is APP
/ preached, the records get close together.
But it must always be borne in mind that
the majority OF the fast PAGERS of to-day
are trotting bred.-New York Spirit.