The New York herald., 1921-10-16
Peter Manning's Performance
Completes This Advance In
Speed Since Beginning,
CHAMPION UNDER SADDLE
Columbus, Not Lady Suffolk,
the First Trotting Horse to
Make Record Of $3.50.
ny GURNrY o. CUE.

~ :57& In Lexington few days ago
ais performance completed an advance
~ more tiran minute in the record OF
the trotting horse for one mile since the
beginning OF authenticated harness rae
ing on measured tracks built for the pur-
pose nearly a hundred years ago. The
first OF these tracks in the United States,
and probably the first one in the world.
was that OF the New York Trotting Club.
near the junction of the old Rockaway
road and Trotting Course lane, now
known as Woodhaven avenue. within
stone's throw Of the present racetrack
az Aqueduct, on Long Island. The neigh
borhood was then or little later known
as Centreville, and the historic trotting
track is best known in the records OF
harness racing as the Centrevilie Course.
II was opened on May Is. 1925. with
a race at two mile heats under saddle
FOR a purse Of 5000. Three horses
started, and one called Screwdriver de-
feated Betsy Baker and Screws In :S6,
or at the rate of :4s to the mile. This
was the frst public performance by a
trotting horse under conditions consti-
tuting a record. There had been earlier
ones and perhaps faster ones. but they
were either made on the road or lacked
VtlltI titiHtIlS VI dutIcHtiSlty WHASA
surrounded the public contest at Centre
Vile In the presence of duly appointed
Judges and timers and governed by asso-
citation rules
winner OF Pioneer Race.
The horse that won this pioneer race
was a little sorrel gelding owned by
Wash Coster, a wealthy young man
about town who was one Of the earliest
patrons Of trotting and doubtless one OF
the organizers of the New York Trotting
Club. Curiously enough, Screwdriver
also won the first race decided over the
Hunting Park track In Philadelphia,
which was the second trotting course in
the country, opened In 1873. In defeat
ing Betsy Baker and Topgallant he set
the record at :40%, but in the mean
time his Centreville mark had been
beaten \by Trouble and then by Rattler.
the latter a real champion that was
afterward taken to England by ''Mocca-
SIN Jackson, and there driven to death
by the famous George Osbaldeston in a
long distance race against an English
trotter.
Topgallant was the first horse TO trot
mile below 2 40. This he did when
20 years old at the Hunting Park course
in 1880 In a match race at mile heats,
each OF which he won In 2:39 "OId
Top as he was affectionately known to
the sporting fraternity, was perhaps the
most DISTINGUISHED of all the old time
trotters When lad Of 10 years Hiram
Woodruff rode him at exercise, and
afterward rode and drove him in many
races Woodruff once said he was in
some respects the most extraordinary
trotter that ever came under his OBJ
servation.
In a race on the Eagle Course at Tren-
l. - L. =
Forrest lowered the trotting record to
o:37. and in MAY Of the following year
cut 1t down to 81 y at the Centreville
Course, beating the noted mare Sally
Miller Sally was the first three-year-
old trotter Of note that appeared. At
mature age she twice equalled the best
time on record. but never beat il. When
Edwin Forrest defeated her in record
time at CentreviIia Isaac l.. Anderson
OF New York. owner of the horse, Of
-fered, TO wager $1,000 to $500 that he
could turn the track that afternoon in
$3.50. There were no takers. Mr. An
derson kept standing challenge in the
Spirit of the Times to match him against
any trotter in the world for $4,000 or
$4,000, but his supremacy was not dis
puted.
A Forgotten Record.
A%dQy ouIIOlk HdS diWayS Decn CTettl1e0
with the first record Of 2: 80 or better
under saddle as we'll as In harness, but
the old files of the Spirit Of the Times
show that the distinction OF starting the
2 80 list rightfully belongs to the bay
gelding Columbus that Peter whelan
campaigned before Lady Suffolk had
started in her first race The perform
ance OF Columbus was not reported IN
any Of the daily newspapers In New
NIL 60 "a r a n ho hAxx Il. a. n
cover. but in the SPIRIT OF May .16, 1895
there is this interesting editorial para
graph:
''Errata--A grievous error crept into
our account OF the races last week.
The time of the one mile heat trotted by
Columbus TO decide a match against
time was enormously stated; It was done
in 1928"
This important correction of Colum.
bus's great performance. made five years
in advance of Lady Suffolk. seems to
have remained undiscovered or forgotten
IN the very rare early files Of the Spt,i
from 1895 until the present day. The
horsr that made IL was bobtailed bay
15 hands high. that trotted some races
IN his younger days as the Acker colt.
George Spicer brought him out but
Gsorge Woodruff and Peter whelan rode
Rim in his best races. He was owned
~ Vbt ttiilc ny iS<bstt hIfucFsOif utl0 s~keI
by James Black Of Philadelphia Wal.
iace's American Trotttn0 Rectster sayt
mis- breeding Is unknown, but II. T. Kis-
sam, a prominent Long Island horse.
man OF the Columbus period, stated ir
wdtlooc's Monthly in May. 1876, that h,
vas bred in New Jersey. foaled In 1925
-nd got by horse called Superior thai
rtood at Newton, in Sussex county.
Lady SUFFOLK Equals Record.
Lady Suffolk and the Morgan trottel
Boppo equalled the record of Coiumbu,
IN dead heat at the Beacon on tn
Fot rth of July. 1Si3. The gray mar
low,red II few days later TO 2:26i!
on TIE same track. and six years after
ward at Riverside Park, near Boston
sho RI Hched her limit by trotting a mil,
in 2:2y when she was sixteen years old
Flora Temple and Tacony, the latter I
converted PAGER from Canada, were th'
rising stars of the trotting turf whei
Lady Suffolk passed the zenith OF he
powers, and each lowered the record
Tacony setting II at 2:25h in a mattel
race with Mac In 1853. and the little bob
tailed bay mare from Oneida county. too
small to carry a man weighing IA
rounds on her back. pulling q sulls,
IN 2:24h over the Union Course in 1856
when she took her revenge on Tacon.
cor the beating he had given her owe