The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-09-24
Performance Tainted by a Sus-
pici0n Of Being " DOsed."
PROGRESS OF THE HARNESS HORSE.

NEW sept. <AleIt, al
old horse now in his twelfth year and
his ninth annual campaign, yet COM
paratively unknown except to followers
of harness racing, has dethroned Dan
Patch, 1859, and is now king of PAGERS
with record of 1:57.
With hobbies on his legs to keep him
on his stride and with the pacemaker
drawing an out and out windshield close
in front of him, the hero of nearly a.
hundred races, started against time at
the Empire City park Wednesday after
noon IN an effort to beat his mark, 200,
and paced a mile in 1:57, looping two
seconds off the worlds record. The
middle half was covered in :56az, rate
of speed never approached by any other
horse.
1t was the first day of the autumn
meeting of the Empire City Trotting
club, and in addition to strong card
of four races Prince Alert was billed for
what looked like the imposa - Die feat of
beating the record. But tIince Alert
had recently won the half mile track
championship in 2:0315, which had been
won only the week before by Dan Patch
in 2:04, and good judges were sanguine.
The weather and the track were per-
feet and the wind, which was high early
in the day, kindly subsidized so that the
conditions were favorable. Mart Dem
Arrest, the trainer and driver of the
Prince, on account of overweight, decid
ed to get John Curry to drive and DEM
Arrest drove the thoroughbred speed
maker in front with the windshield
sulky.
At the third time the starter gave the
word and, pacing like perfect piece of
machinery. Prince Alert shot away to
the quarter pole in :2912. AS he got
into the back stretch he increased his
speed and was at the half in IS. Then
the crowd realized that they were wit
Messing the fastest mile of the century,
and cheers and shouts of Come on.'
came from grand stand and lawn:
Without break or a tremor he flashed
by the three-quarter pole in 1;z6A and,
without any urging, came on with a
superb burst of speed, crossing the wire
in 1857.
Prince Alert is known as a hoppe"
horse in other words, he does his best
when under the influence of stimulants
and while it is not known what he had
on board yesterday, horsemen are well
aware that some of his best miles-and
he has a lot of good ones to his credit
in the seven years he has been on the
turn-haVe been paced with a Jorum
of coffee and whisky, taken just before
the start.
The Prince was bred in Indiana He
is trotting bred so far as his blood
lines are known. being by Grown
Prince. n son of the Hambletonian
stallion ARENAS. while his dam was a
little mare of unknown ancestry. but
designated as a Texas pacing pony
She was known as Till.
Prince Alert. when a colt. was dis
posed of two or three times for a
trifing sum- He always needed the
straps" and until two seasons ago he
was one of the worst pullers on the
turf in addition to which fault he had
a trick of carrying his head so far to
one side that when pacing a. mile he
looked at the center of the field all the
tiTne.
1t was in 1900. while he still pulled
ton" that Ben Walker made the Prince
something of a, celebrity by giving him
a record of POP. In 1901 Mart Demarest
had the horse in hand. He broke
Prince Alert of his pulling Dropensities
and also Strengthened his head The
horse fell into Jack Curry's hands. and
under his management ended the sea-
son by taking a record of 2:00% at
Memphis. Last year he established a
record at half a mile in race at
Memphis with Sir Albert s., doing the
distance in :57M. Three weeks ago he
reduced the pacing record over a half
mile track to 2:03z. beating by a
quarter of a second the mark set by
Dan Patch.
What Prince Alert did probably will
stand on the book as the best for a
long time. but it in no way lessons the
championship of Dan Patch, as horse
men and breeders do not recognize the
records made by hoped PAGERS as
being of any value.