The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1894-12-23
THE pALO ALTO SYSTEM.
SENATOR sT1NFoRD's METHOD OF
Training TRoTTING HORSES.

He Saw the SysteFH In OperntiOn Hs
became an Entbusisst-T Trottine
Kindergarten, How Evolved and Used.
Probably no form " outdoor sport hns grown
more rapidly in public favor IN the last four
years than harness racing, and, except in the
two greater cities Of the continent and a few
minor points, IL may fairly be said to have a
nrmer hold on the general public than any
other sport. With tho rapid extension Of tho
business of breeding and racing harness horses
Improvement has been equally rapid In every
department connected with the industry, and
In none more than In that of training.
OF course the general system Of training
both thoroughbred and trotting racers in the
last decade has differed materially from that
pursued a generation ago: but in the last few
years the changes and notifications in the
methods pursued by the most successful trotting
trainers have been especially marked. and this
has been due probably more to the influence of
what is known rs the Palo Alto system - than
to any other single cause.
Almost every year from 1850 to 1904 paio
Alto has sprung " some new sensation on the
trotting world. Its list Of champions. from
Hinda Rose, It's first yearling record holder. to
Adbell, 2:23, as a yearling to-day, is one that no
other establishment even remotely approaches.
In that time Palo Alto has produced four year
ling worlds record holders, four two-year-old
worlds record holders, three three-year-old
worlds record holders, four four-ycar-old
worlds record holders. one "qurcn of the turf"
and one stallion champion. not to speak u many
phenomenal t]rottCrs below the championship
plane. The system NJ training that produced I'M
Arion, a Sunol. n Palo Alto, II it developed
nothing else would naturally interest aud in
iuence all progressive trainers and breeders Of
%trutters, and the recent success OF Mr.. Marvin
with the Prospect Hill ~trotters has rcawakened
interest In the system he did so much to mould.
This, properly called the Palo Alto system"
differs radically from the established methods
OF the old time trainers in two chief %particu-
lars, viz:
a. In training ut short 4" brushes instead of
driving repeated full miles at slower rates.
CO. The invention and adoption of the minia-
turc training track for young ~trotters.
The story of the evolution of the system that
has done so much in the way Of producing phe-
nomenal speed In harness Is worth telling. The
late Senator Leland Stanford was n man of
marked originality of thought and of doggcd and
courageous persistcncy in whatsoever he I'M
dertook; but, not even in his part in build
ing the first transcontinental railroad nor
in any Of the other enterprises that in the ag-
gregate threw together one Of the greatest for
tunes even of the golden state and age, did he
exhibit these characteristics In n higher degree
than in his adherence TO his own convictions as
to the systems of breeding and training best
devised TO bring the trotting horse to the highest
point OF development. As a breeder he believed
I'm the liberal use Of the blood OF the thorough
bred race horse in improving the %trottCr. and
practiScd the theory more successfully than had
any before him; but it was in his theories OF
training that Senator Stanford made the most
daring, successful. and interesting departure
from the paths generally followed since training
for fast trotting speed first began.
Like Mr.. Bonner. Senator stanford had tho
inherent love of the horse, that. accompanied
by what has been loosely called ian eye for
form the intuitive appreciation Of individual
ity- makes the +" natural" horscman; and, like
Mr.. Bonner again. it was not until reasonably
late In life that lie began to give serious atten-
ton to the pursuit that was his chief pleasure.
But in less than ten years from its real founda-
ton, the IL ,0OO-acre ranch in the Santa Clara
Valley was the most famous as II certainly was
the most extensive horse-brecding establish
ment in America. 1t more than once held all
the records for young ~trotters up to four years
old; and 1t is but natural that the system of
training that brought such results should wide
ly interest horsemen. and leave its impress upon
the method q educating young horses TO trot
fast and conditioning them to sustained efforts.
II must not, however, be. supposed that the
Palo Alto system. as latterly pgactised, was Il
sudden inspiration. 1t was, 1t Is true. even at
the beginning a positive innovation, but the sys-
TEN under which SunOl and Arion were trained
to world beating form was one evolved gradu-
ally from the crude beginning by inductiVc and
sometimes by accidental degrees. over twcnty
Years ago an obscure horse In California
named Occidcnt showed such wonderful speed
that Governor CnllfOrnians always call him
MISREPRESENTATION paid a high prize for him.
this being his first notable purchase. so high
were the pretenslons of the dark horse" that
his first race was against the then Queen Of the
Turf, Goldsmith Maid. He was unsuccessful Ia
racing, but in 1873 he lowered the worlds rec
ord TO 2;l6ai. and thus, in his first purchase,
the GOvernOr" picked a record breaker. Later
upon this horse his theory Of training was first
tried; In 1873 the trotting department NJ lalo
Alto had assumed serious proportions, and Gov.
Stanford decided 10 engage n trainer. selecting
Charles Marvin, who hud already earned n great
reputation with the famous Smuggler, with
which horse he had not only captured the stall
lion record; but bad yanqmlshcd the almost in
planned 10 his trainer his theory and instructed
him. to train Occident and the also fast Abe
Edginton accorllngly., The old plan Of working
horses mile after mile IN a drilling way Mr..
stanford did not believe in. lIl- idea was that
the better way, to develop "A high rate Of speed
WAS 10 drive the horse At short, sharp dashcs
or brushes, never over n quarter of u mile at first,
nearly up To his limit, and never Ia work him
enough 10 jade. tire, ar discourage him. speed
being the thing most urCrssary Ia racing, the
master ~ Pslo Alto goplendcd that the rational
ami then - condition him go ~usi,uH Lis
speed through a rarr,
The trainer und,rtook 10 folluw instructions.
with many misgivings, and II Is NOT Strange that
the plan. being new 10 him a. IL was 20 IN"
horSes, 9rough, at Rf'I my tnllGr" ana ii>,mNr,
- 800 s"' . - 'ff' -. w w.
return TO the nid -tnshtoned way, hrt. the Gov
eTn0r's' faith. "kn'w n" Nariahi"uc"s nor
shadow uf turning lie saw TINT to rlrTS ont
his plan success fully trainers ~ wen ~ horse
must h" educated in he ncw ller. and l. TO-.
sisted upon perseverance N hi system. Marvin
per>evcrCd, and ia time hr wu- able Ia -aN that
Was not r"rcesarS Ia S'rk any rNriauu'run Of
the first unsuccessful experiment, pther than
that was working a system did not under
stand at first how 10 apply with proper judg-
ment.' lie might, perhaps, also have added
that tSO 'outClass5d" t%rutters that had been
drummed stale were mot the best sort ~ speCi-
mems q begin on. rn-ihy almost every lead-
ing trainer has modified his methods In the
direction adopted ~ lnlp Alto IN 1875.
From 1880 may he aid "a date What cOnscTva-
tive hOrscmcu called the craze TOR CaTly >uecd.'
and into that su-cHlltd craze" which i now
universal, senator stanford plunged suthuriaS-
tlcally. ana "a long ns he lived the principal ain
at IalO Alto was 10 produce and develop the
fastest young %trotters In the world, and from It's
phenomenal success IN that regard sprang PalO
Altos greatest prestige; while To this constant
striving for early sUeed was due the invention
Of the most interesting and most radical of all
the establishments Innovations, viz, the minis
tuTe tTask for training baby ~trottcrs," or. "a
Ia lnA No.. 4.tEHn. 1.an aal1asN sH fNa q