South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1915-09-23
FASTER TIME IS
PREDICTED FOR
HARNESS HORSES
Two Minute Goal Reached and
Passed in Last Few Years.
Fast Horses Poor
Money GetterS.
By Prank &. NIenke.

NEW YORK. Sept. 25.-What IS
the umu oI specu mat harness
horse can show?
Twenty years ago those who pre-
dicted that a two-minute trotter was
"A certainty of the future and that
PAGERS would travel well under that
mark were considered a bit feeble
minded Yet today there are many
minute trotters and number OF
trOtters who have covered mile IN
less than two minutes.
Directum l. the Whirlwind PAGER,
set the harness world aghast just
few days ago when he travelled a
mile in Syracuse in 1:56 3-4 without
a wind shield new world s record.
Twenty years ago such "a feat was
considered absolutely impossible
Each year brings newer and more
wonderful performances in the trot-
ting game. and il wouldn't be surpris
ing if there should be bred within
the next generation some PAGERS and
trotters that will negotiate a mile in
1870. Impossible, YOU say? Well.
that's what was said 20 years ago
when the tWo-minute trotter was pre-
dic;ed.
Irony OF Harness Racing.
one of the ironies of the harness
game is that the faster "A horse be-
! comes the more his earning power
decreases. It seems odd that il should
woriG out that way-but il does.
In the running department of horse
racing the result is entirely different.
/ The Speedier the horse the more
] money he can make for his owners
] because in the running game a whirl-
| wind can run in the same races with
| dub" horses provided that he car
| ries enough extra weight 10 supposed
| " overcome the advantage he has
| over the other entries
The trotting game, however. brings
| about the reverse condition. The
| faster the horse becomes the fewer
! classes ne can enter and if he speeds
up to somewhere near the two-minute
| mark there is nothing left for him
but an occasional match against one
or two of the other horses in his rec
ord smashing class.
The harness authorities place a
premium on the green" animals
and practically rule of OF the turf a
horse that is a record holder. The
| owner of a horse that never ran a
race in better than 2:15 or 2:20 can
campaign him. and. if he is success
full win from $4,000 TO SIS, GOO a year
in purses. Yet horses like Directum
, 1. Peter Nole. Lee Axworthy, William
and the other wonders. hardly earn
their keep.
/
. The wonderful Uhlan. owned by G..
X Billings, is striking example.
= As "A green" youngster Uhlan won
many purses and enriched his owners.
The older he got the speedier he be
> came-and the fewer the purses that
= he won. Soon he reached the point
. where he was the peer OF all the trot-
, tiers in the world
What happened2 Did Uhlan bring
e home to Billings some bulky purses
. No. Lou Dillon. as an Garner. was
T. through. There was no horse for him
3 TO run against. He was in a class hoy
j. himself And although Uhlan retired
D from the Sulky and became a saddle
horse.
Williams Wonderful Feat
Those who predicted that William
- the sterling PAGER. owned 10y Billings
: would some day be the greatest PAGER
| complishment in Syracuse, when h
travelled a mile, 20 wagon. i'm 1853 l..
with an amateur driver. IL was Bill
lings himself who handled the rein.
= and after the record smashing per
2 Torrance Billings said that ne wa,
y sure William hadn't reached hi.
e. greatest speed-that he would con
tinue to improve.
The old record was 2:01 - and 81
r. endured for many years. Many horse,
o and many drivers tried 10 smash n
e. vet William. in his first real attemp
lowered the mark two full seconds.