The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1893-02-13
MAINE HORSES.
Facts and Remi iseenees Of Present
and Past Pine Tree State Mays.

ALSO and Ma1on will be Fitted for the
Trotting Campaign This Season.-"Mac,'
the Famous Maine Horse that twice De-
feated Lady Suffolk.
Mr. Ira P. Woodbury. of this city pro-
poses to take the trotter lopez to Lew
iston to participate in the races on the
/ ice during the winter carnival to be held
in that city Feb. 21stt and 22d. 1t is not
improbable that other Portland horses
will take part
MI. M. l. Pooler. the extensive and
| progressive horse breeder of Skowhegan
will on the first of June begin in earnest
the fitting of his noted horses Also and
Malon for fast work during the coming
trotting campaign and may take wide
circuit with them. Also is superb
looking and resolute going large bay
stallion of the Almost family, his dam
being the famous mare $3.50. The per-
Torrance of Also TWO years ago in trot-
ting heavy and slippery half mile track
at Topsham in 2.209 has stamped
him as very speedy young horse. His
friends think that he will be reliable for
anywhere from 2.10 to 2. Is this year and
those who witnessed his exhibition at
Topsham will not be inclined to question
| the possibilities of his speed.
Malon is of the Alcostate family and a
wonderful young stallion. As 4-year
old he won desperate race at the breed
ers meeting, at Mystic Park last year,
trotting the fifth ana deciding heat in
| 2.221. At the finish of this exciting race
| Mr.. SpauIding, of Boston, who owns an
interest in the horse rema ked to the
driver, Ira P. Woodbury., of this city that
was worth $1,000 to him and present d
Ira with hundred dollar note and Mr..
Pooler gave him a check for 800 and
then remarking that he would want
something to pay his expenses home,
| handed him $25 more. This made the
snug little sum of 1925 so it appears that
| good Maine horse to victory in hard
fought race has no reason to complain of
lack of appreciation.
| A Great Trotter in His Day.
Comparatively little is known concern
ing one Of the most distinguished horses
ever bred in Maine-an animal that twice
defeated the pride of Massachusetts in
the early days of trotting-the gallant
gray mare Lady Suffolk, the first trotter
to beat 2.3O. This horse was simply
known as ''Mac" yet he made himself
very famous .forty-five years ago and
Maine got little or no credit for produc-
ing him, because he like a great many
other good horses bred in Maine was alb
sorbed by the mother state. Even the
great trainer and dri er in early days of
the trotting turf, Hiram Woodruff, in his
book on ''The Trotting Horse of
America has only this to say about the
Maine horse and not word as to where
he came from or about his breeding.
Mac W S a very famous horse and very
fast. He was a brown gelding 154 hands
high, when he first came to my notice
owned by Mr.. Robert Walton Of Boston.
He sold him to Henry Jones of New York
who in time disposed of him to Mr.. John
McArdle of Albany, N. Y.
And the honest Hiram Woodruff dis
poses of the Maine horse as far as posi-
BILE. Perhaps the incoruptible jockey
and driver did not altogether fancy Mac
for he had not only beaten Lady Suffolk
but his own horse Gray Eagle on two
occasions.
The first time that the Maine horse
met Lady Suffolk was at Providence r.
l.. June 9Th, 1S49. In field of four Mac
won in three straight heats, On the 14th
of the same month Lady Suffolk, Gray
Eagle and Mac met on the Boston course
and it was upon this occasion that the
Maine horse Mac won a great race and
forced Lady Suffolk in the second heat
to the record of 2.26 which stood at the
head for many years as her previous per-
Torrance of 2.263. They were evidently
.splaying Off with the Maine horse in
the first heat for he was allowed to win
in $50. SIN the next heat he forced Lady
Suffolk to 2.26 and captured the third
and fourth heat himself in 2.27 and 2.29. 4
Somebody must have got badly wounded
in their pocket-book in that race for the
Lady of Suffolk was warm favorite.
Mac afterwards figured prominently as
a mate with another trotter in double
harness. and ''Whalebone and Mac were
glorified in colored prints throughout
the land as the phenomenal double team
of trotters.
Mac was bred in the eastern part of the
State, and was of that ill strious old
Drew family, happy blending of the
Messenger Morgan strains that hourished
so finely under the invigorating climate.
pure water and nutritious grasses and
gra MS of Maine.
: Hiram Drew, a big stallion we'll ad-
vanced in years, that esaily beat all com
petitors in the State Fair sweepstakes in
this city in 1859, driven by Grin NJ
Shaw, then of Bangor, was another shin
ing light of the Drew family, and one of
his grand daughters brought $4,000 at
aution last summer, and an own daugh-
ter, though is years of age, brought
$4,000 for breeding purposes.
There is considerable of this fine old
Drew stock scattered throughout the
State yet. Mr.. Dana, of the P. & R., has
Red Jacket that although twenty-one
years old can make about as lively an
appearance as any of the younger horses
of the day.
W. S. Eaton General Freight Agent of
the Maine Central railroad, has pair OF |
particularly well bred Maine horses.
They are mares and full sisters. one four
and fine other five wears old Potb o,o h., |