The Washington herald., 1912-10-27
CLIP 81 SECONDS
OFF NILE TROTTING
MARKIN 81 YEARS
Lady Suffolk Makes Fir.t Record
Of s:2s1 -Lou Dillon's
Figures, 1:5sil.
PAST IDOLS OF Hoasrxzs

Just sixty-seven years ago the first
mile was trotted In $50 or better. That
great event IN the history Of the light
harness turf occurred At the Old Bacon
course. Hoboken. N. J.. David Bryan
driving the gray mare Lady Suffolk. by
Engineer II. a mile in ?:2sh.
The turf and weekly papers OF the
period. American and English. printed
pictures Of this gray marvel. and COM
! mented on the supposed fact that the
limit Of equine speed on the trotter had
been reached. However. Pelham. High
land Maid and Tacony showed them that
a slight mistake had been made. for in
the eight years following this trio OF
trotters brought the mark down to 2:27.
The next one to clip OF the seconds
was the bay mare. Flora Temple. foaled
the year Of the performance Of Lady
Suffolk In 1856 she put the record At
2:2411. which she reduced four times, her
greatest effort being at the old National
course in Kalamazoo. when. on October
Is. 1859. she trotted in 2:fSH.
The civil war had its effect on race
ing and record-making, and 1t was not
until the plow had taken place Of the
musket that trainers again bent their
energies in that direction, Bud Doble.
who still is >driving< in California, being
the first to succeed when he went a mile
In 2:177s at Buffalo in 1861 with Dexter.
Doble seems to have had the habit, for
he became trainer for Goldsmith Maid.
and that mare. lowering the record of
2:17 in 1871. finally carried 1t down to 2:1i
In 1874. In 1872 she was tied by Occident
C2:16AD. but she regained her title the
year later.
Splan and Hickok were next to get into
the record hunt, Splan with Rarus, which
trotted in 2:13E in 1S7s. and Hickok with
St. Julian, who was champion in 1873 with
2:12A after his name. Maud s. then
flashed on the scene, and In 1850 the
strife was warm. the mare and gelding
first trotting in 2:l1s. on August Il. 1850,
St. Julien lowering 1t to 2:11X two weeks
later and Maud S. coming back on Sep
tember IS with 2:1oz.
In 1851 Maud s. took a half second OF
her mark and seemed to hang there for
a while. Jay Eye See made II 2:10 fiat at
Providence in 1884, but held the champion
ship for only one day. as Maud s., on
August :. stepped in 2:0s&. the first one
to beat 2:10. Maud S. was just getting
good and on July 30. 1885. she trotted
her memorable mile in 2:0S& at Cleve-
land. being eleven years old at the time.
For six years this stood until Sunol
shaved of half a second in 1891 at Stock
ton, but she was not long to hold the
championship. Nancy Hanks being on
the road to the throne. Good old Nancy
Hanks did all of her fast work In 1892.
when she lowered the record three times.
and on September Is. at Terre Haute. she
placed il at 2:o4. She was driven by Budd
Doble. making three champions he had
piloted In a quarter OF century.
Two years more. then came Alix. which
mare put the record down to 2.034 in
1894. and there It stayed until September
8. 1svs when Geers drove The Abbott in
2:0SI4.
Another year was to bring another
champion. and the great Cresceus was
down a full second on August 2. 1901.
driven by George H. Ketcham. an am
ateur.
These miles had been in the OPEN but
ip 1903 the wind or dirt shield became
the vogue. and Major Delmar trotted in
1:5ss4. while Lou Dillon did a mile in
1:5S1s.