New-York tribune., 1907-11-20
ALLOTTING THE BLUES.
INTEREST IN HACKNEHS.
Mrs. Gerken's FOur-in-Hand Team
No Longer InUincibIe.

No Longer InUincibLe.
The morning session at the horse show, in Madi-
Square Garden. yesterday. was mainly devoted
10 various divisions of hackneys, and the classes
while small, were good. 1t is great pity thal tile
interested In hackneys do not take Lle IudlteI
of bringing them before the public more seriously.
When the breed was first introduced here II came
with flourish Of trumpets. and practically the an
nouncement that il 10 sweep the American
trotter into the discard, so far as heavy carTlag
types were concerned. This was not only wrong.
but Il foolish for II made many enemies ana
much antagonsm for a valuable oreed W'SH
properly handled Added to that, while the mack
ney craze was exhausting itself instead of import
ing number OF three four year olds from ing
land i'll the then strong demand. intending pur-
chasers were practically asked 10 wait four years
until some were bred This threw cold water on
the hackney. The importers and owners crept
back into their wealthy shells, and have posed as
disguised ever since This is grand hlsIahe'
especially when looks with an observant eye
through the long list OF harness horses winners
at the national show for several years past ana
finds about 60 per cent of those winners are mack
neys or crosses Take the great staple OF hpSh
d. Jordan before II disbanded as an example.
practically all hackneys so also are the great
Forest King and scores of others.
AS matter Of fact. the hackney was origlually
the great distance saddle horse. prior TO the rail-
road. In England during the last century half a
dozen went hundred miles within the ten houFs'
in several cases repeating this the following aay'
and never with less than l6S pounds In the saduie
The old Norfolk trotter, over one hundred years
In the United States, traces back along the SdIhe
line, but IS more racy than the somewhat
"beefy" English type. which may be said to have
more action. to move its legs faster. but not get
there" Hackneys are remarkable for their sus-
tanned high action, and especially the rearward
hook action. which is intended 10 drag the weight
of a carriage behind il. They are not suited to-
day for long distances: the average trotting bred
horse could take them out and kill them one by
enc. half dozen day. but for carriage use IN
city they are unexcelled. Hence the pity of the
action Of what is termed the hackney cult
Fred A Pabst the wealthy Milwaukeean, practi-
caIy swept the hackney classes yesterday morning.
gaining four blue ribbons and two reds for second,
in FIVE classes. Several of these horses werethose
bought at the Jordan dispersal sale. and the others
were imported from England, embracing the three
types OF the carriage. the COLBY and the saddle
type which needs a strong man TO handle, nut Is
a ma agnlicent variety under the right hands.
Ponies were quite feature also. and that grand
pony BerkIey Bantam, is probably the best we have
ever in this country if he is not one of the best
in the world. In 1SS5-96, and again this year. he
has won in dashng style. mainly by reason of his
wonderful high front action which is so high 1t Is
claimed his handlers have always been afraid 10
force the full for fear he should njure himself
lie steps right do his chin and has considerable
speed, setting everything else dizzy. Next TO him
IS the other imported horse, Doncaster Model, who
was king before the Bantam arrived, but has been
steadily beaten ever since. Both Of these are the
hackney pony in type, and stand high.
The Aldie Cup is for American bred or half bred
hackneys, shown TO tWo-wheeled vehicle for pace,
action, conformation. etc, and the cup has 10 be
won twice by the same owner to become his proper
~. Flashlght, when owned by Eben D. Jordan,
won in 1905, and the following year this stable did
not show, and the cup by Sporting Duchess.
Hence came much interest as to what the result
would be yesterday. Things fairly equal 10
action until the speed test was applied, and then
Flashlght easily won, exceedingly well handled by
Jack Donnelly. As he is now owned by the Avondale
Stable. of J. W. Hartman. this double victory did
not corral the cup under the lone owner" clause.
There considerable excitement the issue,
and it was the best contest of the day.
That we are likely 10 have some good polo ponies
with produce, when August Bemonts pony Fume
was shown with three good looking ones. Later
Fume carried away the coveted blue in the class for
stations suitable 70 get polo ponies. He is of the
clean thoroughbred type rather small and we'll
rounded, full of agility quick, well hammered and
eminentiy of the correct type. He was imported
from England couple of years ago with a number
of Others. As England gets the credit for having
the cream of the polo ponies of the world this will
be gratifying to all lovers of the time honored game
In the heavy harness class No. 100. came the
rrst suggestion of perverted judgment. and even
tbeI II is largely matter Of personal opinion to
two horses owned by William H Moore. Pride o.
Prices was placed over King of Kings, and it was
widely felt that the latter somewhat the better
horse. AS Mr.. Moore drove the winner the stable
may not have felJ in this particular class but 1t
Is thouSt the decision VIII be reversed IN
ccedinS meeting. King of Kings certainly showed
the best when in pairs. As the winner showed the
greater seed il is probable that this influenced the
decision, and moreover the groom was driving King
CT Kings.
Quite reversal came in the four-in-hand class.
when those two oldtime opponents the Fairmont
Staole and MIS- John Gerken, met IN the arena yes
terday afternoon. Mrs. John GerI5an was driving
Newsboy, Shopgirl, Brandon and a rev fourth
horse in Peter Pan With her good four eha Won
in this class in 1905 and again in 1906 and bare
again, undaunted. the familiar opponents
Ringing Bells, Norma. Kitty Grey and Chatterbox
II looked ike a walkover for Mrs. Gerken's four
but one IS never sure in horse show circles For a
long time il nip and tuck and then the Cierlxen
team failed somewhat. 1t was difficult say what
was the matter; they seemed TO lose speed 10 lack
bomOgeneousness and become slightly ragged and
little by little Frank Wnterbottom nursed the Fair
mont four 70 win the blue ribbon. A more dsan-
pointed woman tha;. Mrs. Cerken has seldom been
ss@n leaving show ring. The award was perfectly
esrect. but IL was one OF those things which can
rover be explained. and which come to the lot of
almost every exhibitor. sooner later. IT is the
Old story Of the pitcher going too often the well
ard of that long lane which has not turn
A good class for thoroughbred hunters or for
horses suitable 10 become hunters. brought out a
collection which showed some clever fencing albeit
two of the cracks Of other years do not seem
yet 70 have mastered the ney obstacles with their
lack OF horizon" line along the top. Still Crusher
would probably have won under any circumstances.
He is clean cut, self-possessed horse, eminently
able TO take Of himself in any type of country
He Is by imported Pirate of Penzance-Soueeze
and was wen ridden by his owner. S. Taber WILL
let's. Second came George Z. Cain by ST. Leonards
Hope On, ridden by Sidney Holloway. in his usual
rushing style. which is effective when it gets
there" Sapolio. winner here two years ago and
ridden by J. Swiger. and will probably be found
higher before the show closes. The highly COM
mended went 10 Geneseo, vino was also ridden by
s. Taber Wletts.
A class of polo ponies brought out some handy
quick ponies, and these were shown round the
standards Squadron with Little Joe which
was well shown by Leavitt J. Hunt, who also
showed the second pony. Eula. There is scarcely
the same amount of public interest I'm the class as
when the ball was in the ring and was driven
about By a mallet TO show the pony following
IL, almost on his voition.
The summary of the awards follows:
MORNING AWARDS
Class q tmares. four years or over Ia , and rnae-
Isl must be in foai producer oa in 1907 first
Ss,n,o5 PHYLLIS ISL sV thrd prize 30lFrst.