The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1908-01-05
NEWS OF HORSES
AND HORSE|MEN.
Trial :oa sd Credited to Mal,n1a
During State Fair Seems
Mythical.
IDA II[' GRAY AND HUFFMAN
Boil, Virginia-Bred and Were
IDA GRAY AND HUFFMAN
Boil, Virginia-Bred and Were
Crack Matinee Performers
in 1907.
BY w. y. cARrE1. mnoAD nOcl<.)

BY w. y. CARTER BROAD ROCl<.)
Among the prominent matinee per-
formers during the past season We're
the Virginia-bied trotters Huffman,
2:13 Ia. and Ida Gray, 2:tS IA. the
B bay mare, by Bursar, 2:17 Ia, dam
Maud, by Walker Morrill,, the sire Of
Lamp Girl, zoo. Ida Gray was bred
by Smith walters. of onancock. and
foaled in 1887. A good race mare. she
trotted toNIieri record of '2:13 81 at
Brooklyn N. V. In 1903. while later on
the same qualities that rendered the
daughter OF Bursar valuable as n rae
Ing tool made her even more desirable
as matinee performer, hence he"
carer as "fun horse has been dis
tinctly successful and brought great
popularity to the handsome bay mare.
especially in New Jersey, where she
is owned by j. l.. Meyer. of Waverly.
Ida Gray held the track record at
1Veequachic Park until displaced in
October last by the great race-horse
and grand circuit winner Of 1907,
Wilkesheart, 2:06 Ia.
While Ida Gray. has really been in
the lime light, however, since she be-
gan to perform In public. the career
of HUMAN has been of the, checkered
sort and few trotters out have seen
more ups and downs than this little
brown Eelding. who was bred by the
late Charles p. Stokes, of Richmond.
Va, and sired by Quartermastcr,
2:21 Ii. from Winnie D.. dam of five
In the list. and full sister 10 Whitby,
2:1S IL by Hannis, 2:l7 "a. the star
of General Turner's stable a generation
back.
For Richard Curtis, who did SO we'll
with Miss Nelson. 2:11 "a. the dead
daughter of Norfolk. that in her day
ranked as the fastest OF Virginia-bred
trotters, Huffman showed sensational
speed in his three-year-old form back
in 1895. but went wrong and did not
appear in public until q couple of sea-
sons later, when a mark of EGO was
made in winning race of seven heats
at Norfolk, Va. Then again he Ian
gulshed from public gaze until almost
lost sight of, when, in 1895, he rounded
INTO form and trotted to his present
record of 2:13 IA at Providence, r. ].
Huffman was then owned by James c.
Smith, of Richmond, Va, former owner
rf Nutboy, 2:07 Ii; Mosul, 200 Ia,
md others, from whom the small son
IF Quartermaster passed in 1906 to
Boston banker. Later Huffman became
the property of T. c. Carmen, for whom
this gelding scored a remarkable series
If races during the season of 1907 at
the matinees of the Metropolitan Driv-
Ing Club of Boston, not only posing
ns n "cup winner" but standing first
IN average race speed. AT the closing
matinee of the club Human defeated
the chestnut mare Leona, driven by
NJ. Carmen, in Class f. trotting. half
mile heats, in 1907 and LOS L., over a
slippery track, coupled with weather
that was raw and cold and chilled one
to the bone-certainly class per-
Torrance for this hfteen-year-old Vir-
ginia- bred gelding. who seems really
to have come to his own at an age
when most trotters are either done for
leaf"
Mythical indeed seems to be the
widely circulated report that Mailman,
the bay mare. by Peter the Great, dam
Caracas. by Bingen, worked mile in
2:02 3-4 at Richmond during the Nir-
ginia State Fair meeting in October, e.s
diligent inquiry fails to elicit the
slightest knowledge of any such sem
sational trial being credited to any
8trotter or PAGER on the grounds that
week. True the track here is mile
course. but being comparatively new
and wavy, too. especially coming down
the long home stretch, a trial as fast
as that reported as emanatins from
Burgess. who had the mare here, would
have probably taxed the capacity OF
most OF. the. fastest PAGERS of the sea-
son even. / was in the stand during
the entire week and timed every heat
that was trotted or paced, and also
stopped my watch on some of the
horses out for work. which at least
afforded fair opportunity for obser-
yation. but the fastest trial that I saw
or heard Of was the mile in 2:1O L.,
trotted on the closing day by The Dr.
eector-General mare, Florence g. She
was driven by Robert Brawley, and
rame the last half in 1905 as caught
by different timers. among them be-
Ing "A. B. Gwathmey the owner of
TWerton, 2:04 1-2. This mare had pre-
viously trlaled in faster time quite
nandily, so BrawleY Informed me, but
he had to team her in pretty good
fashion through the home stretch here.
4 It was the same with Major Delma,
! when he trotted an exhibition mile in
e:0G S-4 on the third day of the meeting,
which was about as fast as the bay
geldinS cared to go, as Mcdonald
reefed him pretty coming home, while
sSon the following day l timed George
G, when he trotted the second heat of
the free for-all in 2:06 L., and he
made a tired break near the wire. with
Nahmah some lengths in the rear and
distance waved, which was soon fol-
lowed up BY Aileen Wilson'S mile In
2:06 in the E2:10 pace, and seemingly
that daughter of Arrowood finished
b none too strong. On the closing day
of the meeting Burgess won the 2lb
trot with Nahmah, when she trotted Ia
a3A