Evening star., 1896-03-23
Views Of the Owner Of Nancy
Hanks on Breeding.
TR0rTING RECORD TO Be LOWERED
What Can Be Accomplished by
Good Blood.
THE BEST SPEED LIN E

Forbes, the well-known Boston millionaire
sportsman.
Il do not think so,'' was the answer; ''in
fact, am positive it hasn't. I believe that
the two-minute goal will be reached and
even shaded. Everything points to this
conclusion. and while it would be foolish
to pick out any one animal for the task CT
set any approximate date, I think it more
than possible that before the end of the
present decade the 2.O3 3-4 which repre-
sents the trotting record today will be con-
ssderably lowered.
"As to the possibility of the pacing rec
ord. I cannot speak with such certainty.
for 1T is branch of the business that
have never studied. The consensus of opin-
Ion, however, and the statistics OF the
track seem to indicate that the two-minute
goal will be sooner reached by horse of
that gait.
Everything in the trotting world is pro-
crossing. Naturally, now that the figures
have settled to point below 2.O4. the pro-
gression is bound to be slower. 1t is the
pace that kills. When Maud S. trotted a
mile In 2.OS 3-4, and that record stood for
over five years, it looked as If the mark
had been well nigh reached. but now,
with many trotters below that figure. and
ore five seconds faster. 1t looks as if it
We're foolish to set limit.
Scientific Breeding.
Il believe the future of the sport depends
on the closer and more scientific applica-
ton Of the principles Of breeding. If Die
tator got a Director, and he in turn a Di-
rectum. the speed element being intensified
with the progression in production, why
may not Directum's son be greater than he,
and his grandson even more advanced?
horses are being more scientifically
shod, harnessed. trained and driven than
ever: they have better tracks to race on,
and the instinct which teaches a horse to
trot and keep trying harder to maintain
that gait, to the limit of his speed ability,
Is being intensified. Certain families of
trotters have been noted as phenomenal
speed producers. In the judicious breeding
OF the best obtainable members of those
families. with due care for size, strength
and brains, lies the best possible chance
for a marked reduction of the record
am firm believer in American ingenuity,
pluck and faith, so that 1 deem it almost
assured that one day We will see the two
minute trotter."
The name Of ]. Malcolm Forbes is possi-
ply better known to the American horse
loving people than that Of any other who
has been identified so short a time with the
industry: This is due. in a great measure
TO two things. The first is the fact that the
forbes family has been most prominently
loe ntiiied with the defense of the Americas $
cup; the other. that Mr.. Forbes has gone
nto the breeding of the light harness horse
win MS brains as strongly marked q fac
tor as his money.
Working for Speed.
His first purchase to attract continental
attention was that of the unbeaten and. in
some ways. Incompatible harness queen
Nancy Hanks. 1t was not for her race
ability that he bought the renowned daueh-
ter Of Happy Medium: but in pursuance of
his theory for the advancement of speed.
OF sx~x III.
payment of $125, 900 for the horse he want
ed. This was the figure at which the
transfer or Arion was made from the late
Leland Stanford TO Mr.. Forbes. At that
tlme e Arlon looked like the surest prospect
1or two-minute stallion, for he had pulled
hiSh-wheeled sulky-as a two-year-old-
mile In 2.1OSs, a feat yet unequaled by
any trotter of the same age under i'm
proved conditions.
Mr. Forbes theory is a simple one for It
Is based on the old axiom Like begets
like" Thus. If champion is bred to a
champion and the produce is sound.
straight and right Gn the parlance of the
sale ringl. the argument is that the pros
pective ability, from the right Of speed in
heritance, is vastly improved.
The objection that the world famous
mares Lady Suffolk, Highland Maid,
Flora Temple, Goldsmith Maid and Maud
s., all champions in their day, or the equal
ly renowned Ley, American Girl, Fanny
Witherspoon, Martha Wilkes, or dozens as
phenomenal SDead
producers does not deter Mr.. Forbes Apart
from the fact that some of these mares
never produced, there is the objec ton that
they were raced or trained till so late in
life that good share of their vitality was
wasted. This is hardly possible nowadays.
Combining All Elements.
1t Is not so many years ago that the
best horsemcn thought a horse was too
young to train till he had turned his fifth
year and the stud was only counted Gt for
the honorable retirement of old age
Though trained as a two-year-old and hav-
ing, in three years training. reduced that
record of 2.1OA to 2.O7A, Arion is only m
his seventh year. He has been hurt but
very little, If speed development of his
kind is to be counted harmful, so far as
the draught ON his vitality is concerned.
Nancy Hanks is but ten years old, and as
her extreme flights of speed were confined
mainly to public trials she has not had the
hardship of the mares which have been
subjected to the trying experience of rae
ing on their vitality.
Mr.. Forbes is great believer in bre ed
ing through channels of speed production,
or by combining all possible elements of
championship form to reproduce and in
tensify their charact teristicS. The idea Mr.
Forbes had in the purchase of Arion vas
this: He was by Electioneer, and the best
colt trotIer of a horse that has sired more
phenomenal speed than any horse living or
d
trot for in 152 horses that have beaten
standard time, or that limit set by the
Register for recognized record, but single
PAGER is in the list.
The dam of Arion was by Nutwood, the
horse recognized as the greatest sire. Thus
Arion represented the combination that Mr..
Forbes had decided was the best possible
foundation for the advancement Of his
theory, being the fastest natural colt trotter
the world has ever seen-by the greatest sire
of phenomenal speed and out of mare by
wonderful speed producer. 1t was the
element of breeding on
The Best Speed Line.
To insure the proper chance to the pos
sible sire Of two-minute trotter Mr..
Forbes bought the best mares he could
find from almost every line that had pro-
duced phenomenal speed. The limits Of this
article are too confined to permit of the
portrayal of the treatment they receive, but
good judges feel confident that time will
show the Judgment of J. Malcolm Forbes
to be good.
Mr. Forbes believes in the advancement
of the trotter, and is not one Of the kind
who thinks there is any set limit to the at
tainments of the light harness brigade.
He thinks that while the improvements in
sulkies, tracks, harness and the like will be
pronounced In their help, the scientific ap-
plication Of the strict laws of heredity and
the best choice of the individuals will be as
fully answerable for that ability to carry