The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-12-14

 state in which turf affairs have been dur ing the past ten or fifteen years. Besides . the farm of the Messrs: MeCurdy m Lownles County, few miles below Mont xomery Mir. Jones, near Birmingham Tn Jefferson County the Garths near Hunts vile and other similar ones. Harness horses, of course, are bred excluslVeiy on the above mentioned farms, the thorough hred industry not touching the state at all, and some horses that are now tne talk of the harness world came rom them. The head of the stud on MT. Joness place Is the stallion Freq B. rom Calhoun Fred g. Wedgewood an< ~ther speedy ones, that made reputarcsB on the Grand Circuit during the past sum nler being his colts. On the Garth iarH the stallion Brandon has sired some speed that has spoken for itself more than once on the Grand Cirsc>. The stallion l.. II. is the head of the stud on the McCurdy place and the results of his get are some of the noted harness horses of the present day. Two of the r ost talked of horses on the Grand Circdit, and in fact two of the most famous harness horses in the world, were raised on the Lowndes Couf- ty farm, Direct Hal. the unbeaten pacei fruous half-b.othe- of The Abbott, with whom Ed Geers beat Lord Derby at Cleveland, O.. last July. For long time the Messrs. McCurdy owned an lnteres' in Direat Hal .1i ent am or not mot eeeoal poWn at the McCurdy farm now is 3,year-oio flly, the daughter of Direct Hal. She T. the property of MT. w ID. McCurdy anu gives promise of developing all kinGs 2. speed. During the past summer Ed Geers drove a 3-year-old colt an eighth or a mile in Is seconds fiat. He IS coal black, pureSgaited trotter, the only trotter ever aired by Direct Hal The yognsster was as Mr. Louis McCurdy He was Sired by Di- reef Hal out of Salle Evans one of the McCurdy brood mares, Mccurdy selling him to Geefs. These two youngsters- tine Ally a pure pacer and the colt pure erotter-wafs be heard from in the near future unless something happens, their sire being one of the famous stailions of America. o. Direct Hal was half sister to MT. Me Curdy's Ella May the mare that was over at Riverside last summer with the others in the McCurdy barn, Ella May was by McEwen out of Carrie MT Me Curdy's old brood mare that died up Tn Tennessee. A writer in a recent issue or ssThe Horse Review" of Chicago has the following in regard to Direct Hal, ms dam Bessie Hal and Ed GeerS Who IS SD closely interwoven in harness horse a1- fairs in Montgomery and this section The Horse Review man says: .,,,
 "Of course. all my readers are famila. with the two great pacers. Direct ana Hal Pointer, whose terrific battles ten wears ago brought the horse world to it's feet in admiration. l think l can sa1ely say that these two horses are the best representatives of the two greatest Iam- flies of pacers-the Hambletonians and the Hals. The Hambeltonians Of course are not a family of pacers, and only use the term in referring to tEose or that family that took to the pacing gait. Ana | use the head of it-Hambletonian 10 because l am not willing to admlt that the Dictator branch of his family, rom which came Direct, is any greater than the Wilkes branch, so far as producing paoers is concerned. MT. tseers, who bl ed Direct Hal. is an exceedingly prac- tical horseman, and the idea occurred 10 him to unite these two great families or nacers while he was battling for llfe With the great Pointer horse. MT. Geers e welded to no god, he does not ana mas hever cared red copper whether d norse Grots or paces. so he does IL faSt ana IS game enough to win. He knows no fash ionabIe blood lines except those that get to the wire first. Ii never occurred 10 him that there was any great difference between a trottinG-Dred horse and a pacing-bred horse. He simply figured II out that these two horses were the great est pacer3 of thei- day and by uniting the two families he fought to get still greater pacer.
 story of Direct Hal began with his dam, Bessie Hal q compactly built black mare with big blaze in her face and stock and bred by Hon. r. c. Buford of Bu- ford Station, Tenn, who, in 1885. had bought her sire, old Tom Hal Cor, as the trotting register assininely calls him, Tom Hal. Jr, as if there ever were one be- fore himD and whose property the old horse died a few years later. At his closing out sale this lilly was brought by Geers & Chaffin Bros. of Columbia, the first time any great pacer has come from uniting the two greatest families of trotting-b bred pacers and pacing-bred pacers I will state her pedigree very ,J of Brown Hal; first dam by Prince Pulaski (siTe of Hattie Hunter, PIP 1-2). Prince Pulasli's pedigree is unknown, he having been found in a government cor kal right after the war-but good horse bnen believe he was son of old Trayeler, Aaken by Wilson's raiders. Bessie Halls eeconG dam was by Almont. Jr. tBos- hick's), a son of Almont 35. Her third Ham was by Elliston's Rattlcr.
 Coupled with Direct, this is the blood ehat made Direct Hal The season to Direct was a gift from MT Salisbury to Ed Geers (when the former owner the little hoIse).
 The story of Direct Hal is a fine illus nration of the developed sire and dam sheory, for Mir. Geers took the black Tom Hal Ally early and put her to work. She kHas lightning fast-so fast that Mir. Geers @ever extended her the year be raced her, And the next year she paced heats for him in as low as POS, and she has been kimed separately in a race in PIP. An eccident happened and she was put to Breeding.
 Her first foal was chestnut mare by McEwen. This is very handsome mare owned by Geers and Chaffin Bros, and she has several Brown Hal colts to her credit. A few years ago MT. Geers said he wanted to make an experiment, so he bred this McEwen mare back to Direct Hal. her half brother, and the result is a black 2-year-old colt, almost a fac-simile Of Direct Hal, and which MT. Geers's faithful colored care-taker, Negley is now jogging at Columbia, Tenn, togeth- CT with the Spy. Chimes stallion and a son of Direct Hal. out of old Ella Brown, 2:11 1-4. Bessie's second foal was by Ered s. Wilkes, 2:11 3-4. It died. Her third foal was the wonderful Direct Hal; her fourth foal was High Pointer, son of Sky Pointer, the hobbled pacer which MT. Geers thinks so much of, and which has paced miles this year better than 2:10. Her fifth foal was by The Earl, son of Mambrino King. and she was bred a year ago by The Spy. son of Chimes"
 When Ketchum was in Montgomery a few weeks ago with Cresceus it was plain ly evident that the great son of Robert McGregor had seen his best days. While he went the mile at Riverside in a frac- tion over 2:07 1-2. still he looked stale and his chances of ever trotting in two minutes looked slim. While Lord Derby only has mark of POS 3-4 still he will be trained to try and lower the 2:02 1-4 made by Cresceus at Cleveland.
 In his wagon races last season with The Monk, Lord Derby showed that he has a burst of speed eQualed only by that of the champion himself.
 He has trotted quarters better than 30 seconds, and is credited with going a half mile better than one minute
 This was a. Memphis. in the race for MamnbiG lfhallenRp n y1sI,i