The morning call., 1893-05-28

ASKED me AT the Time, lover paltry gain OF
less than five secOndS?''
To the unnitiated The question sounds rea-
sonahle, hut in order to realize what Is implied
in this apparently trifling gain one must trans
la'e time into distance and see what each mare
actually Accomplished.
Maud ). travelling her great mile in 2:0Ss4
went over the course at the rat of Al OO9 feet
per second, or a little more than the average
distance covered by a passeng r train on the
Southern Pacific Railroad in the same time.
Ia making her mile in 2:04 Nancy Hanks
Travelled at the rate OF 1888 feet per second
Had The TWO animals made their record IN a
race together, when Nancy Hanks had COM
pieted her mile Maud 5 would have trotted
only oOo5.7l feet Of hers, 50 that. meaSur d in
distance the Happy Medium maze finished
jus 2OI24 feet in advance of the daughter of
Harold In other words, Nancy's record of
2:O4 represents gam of 2O1.71 feet in dis
lance over the 2:06s4 of Maud S.
The horse that trots mile In two minutes
must travel A feet per second. Whether
this can be done is a matter not merely OF
speed, courage and endurance of the animal
attempting it. nor Of the judgment and skill of
the driver, but Of applied mechanics. The gain
10 be made in distance is only 176 feet but
that in reality, represents a greater perform
arce by the coming trotter than the 2O1 feet
gained by Nancy Hanks over Maud s. Just as
Il
than does The gain of 54S feet by which Maud
5 beat the record of game old Lady Suffolk.
OF course no mile Travelled by any horse was
ever rated with perfect evenness. That is, the
distance was not made at a uniform rate of
speed. The first quarter is rarely done In as
good time the last. The animal naturally
puts forth greater burst of speed as he ne rs
The goal. I have so ewh- re read that in the
third quarter of her great mile Nancy Hanks
fruu lad for
gait. The two-mlnute tiotrer, however, must
rale very evenly indeed. He must 90 his slow
est eighth as well as Nancy went her best To
go much faster than A feet per second is
simply mechanical impos sbility for an animal
built like The horse. Therefore his mile must
be done az pretty uniform rate OF speed. He
must have stride OF % feet and be able to
complete one stride every half-second through
out the mile. 1t Will take pretty good horse
to do this-a horse OF enormous strength, great
endurance, level head ana high courage.
No one VINO has watched the wonderful prog
ress made during the last f W years in breed
Ing the tIotter can VENTURE TO pronounce the
two-miuute horse an impOsSibtily. STILL
close stud Mt of the subject VIII hardly believe
that we are even yet as mar to him as some
seem to think. What with pneumatic tires.
Improved tracks, aluminium shoes and skiliful
trainers we have achieved OF lare some wonder
sufficient much further to augment the mechan-
ical possibilities OF the horses legs. Flesh and
blood have their limitations, and far as
equine flesh and blood are concerned ii seems
if we have nearly reached the ultima te OF
their achievement.
In the matter Of vehicles, too, while there
may VT be Improvements in The minor details
of construction, ball bearings and the pneu-
matte tire have about reduced friction and
4 in ra tn
be made In harness at all.
1t might be of interest, could the trotter be
brought TO thai degree of training, to let him
trot free, as the colts do in the kindergarten
without harness. vehicle or driver with only a
mounted marshal or two to accompany the
field around the track and keep them up to
their work. No one who has ever watched
colts in the kindergarten and noted how
quickly the little creatures come to understand
what Is wanted of them-how if one "breaks"
a crack of the whip will bring him back to 4
trot and word will halt turn him-can
doubt the pos ibiliIy OF training the horse to
the same perfect understanding of what j,
wanted of him The creature knows as much
as the average mat-more than The aver.
age horse 10ckey-and he cannot b. taught
TO lie or cheat, to "Dull his own head Off at a
word from lie be ting-stand, or 90 lame at the
instance of the booksellers. There would be
no more diSputes oveF differences between snl-
k.es, harness or mistakes OF drvers-and speed
tests could then be absolute. Could we have
SUCH trotting matches, where all depend d upon
The tained intelligence of the contesting aui-
mails. the element Of sport might again appear
on the facecOurse, from which t was long since
driven BY tbs fagrant dishonesty and bad man.
aeement that have so long prevailed there.
CT = might again become 'the sport OF kings
it.stead OF the mainstay aud hope 0f gamblers
and stable hangefs-On. AS an experiment the
plan would be worth trying by those who want
honest racing. From my own knowledge OF
horses believe The thing entirely feasible and
under this system the two-minute trotter may
yet swing TO the wire.