The New York herald., 1922-03-12
OLDEST TROTTERS
RIVALS LONG AGO
William Penn and Pilot Boy,
Living at 32, Met in Race
at Columbus in 1897.


thirty-third year. and one OF the Oldest
living trotters In the 10 list, Is re-
ported to be hale and hearty at the
farm of his owner. w. ID. Althouse. near
Phoenixville. Pa, Mr.. Althouse bred him
and has owned him all his life.
Old time horsemen in and about New
York can still in memory see the sturdy
little brown stallion as he chased Cephas
and Judge Austin down the hill to the
half mile pole at Old Fleetwood park
one afternoon In June, 1895. and then.
as the speeding trotters turned for the
Point of Rocks. shot past them with
100 burst which thrilled every horse
man present to the marrow in his bones,
winning, pulled up. in 2:11%. 1t was
one of the most impressive rushes ever
seen on the old Morrisania course, and
there is not telling how fast the Ave-
year-old son of Santa Claus. 2:1S,
could have trotted that day. Twenty
seven animal volumes of Wallaces Year
Book of Trotting and Pacing have come
from the press since then, but the pic
ture of William Penn's meteoric flight
remains undimmed.
1t was only few weeks after this
race at Fleetwood that the Quaker colt
met the great Oregon trotter klamath
at Detroit and won a third heat from
Cookie" in 2. .07A at the Grand Cir
cult meeting there. The record had then
been equaled by only two other stall
lions-Directum. 2:05A. and Ralph
Wilkes. 2:06N. When fresh and young
Penn was perhaps as fast as either
of them. but he lacked a level head. and.
like most stations with bees in their
bonnets, he never made his mark as
sire.
Foaled in the same year as William
Penn, there Is still living. out at Comac.
Long Island. In the Lady Suffolk neigh
borhood, gray trotter. now white with
age. that fought out race with Mr..
Althouse's stallion twenty-five years ago
at Columbus, Ohio. He became noted as
Pilot Boy, and after earning a record of
2:09H was purchased by Frank Work
for $500 to drive on the Harlem River
Speedway.
When Mr.. Work died, eleven years
ago. 1t was found that he had made pro-
vision for the maintenance of the gray
trotter as long as he might live. CARL
S. Burr, who was at Fleetwood to see
William Penn trot in 1895. has taken as
good care of Pilot Boy as he did OF Mr..
Works other equine pensioner. Edward.
2:19, that died at Comac in 1908 in the
was one of famous pair Of trotters
for which Mr.. Work paid $4,000 about
thirty-five years ago and which set the
horse world ablaze in 1883 by trotting
mile to pole in 2:16A at Fleetwood
Park.
If either Pilot Boy or William Penn
lives five years longer, which Is nigniy
improbable, according to equine mortal
ity lists, he will be the Oldest registered
trotting horse on record. That distinc-
ton now belongs to Edward. Plenty OF
unregistered horses are heard Of from
time to time that have reached the
sge of forty or even fifty, II the
statements of their owners are accepted
at par. But in such cases 1t is always
a matter of memory--bad memory-on
rart Of some person like Jefferson Wells,
Of Lady Bess" fame Registered
horses, the date of whose birth is
matter Of record, somehow do often i've
to be thirty, while the number that
have reached the age of thirty-two is
very, very small.
In a list of noted trotting stations
published few years ago in the Horse
Reviews Harness Racing Guide, with
the ages at which they died. just seven
among nearly 600 lived to be as old as
William Penn and Pilot Boy now are,
and but three lived to a greater age
One Of these was Morgan Bulrush, a
son Of the original Morgan horse, Figure.
His age was given as So. but the stall
lions old stud bills show that he was, in
fact only 33 at the time Of his death in
1S4S Another of the three was Phil
Sheridan. 2:26a. the northern New
York horse that got Adelaide, 2 2:19A,
and Phyllis, 2:15h. He lived to be 81.
as did the third horse, Volunteer, sire OF
ct Julien o:11A.
This bloodlike old bay stallion was
brought down from Orange county when
80 years old and exhibited at the second
National Horse Show in 1884. Though
his back was then away down 1t wassthe
only thing about him which betrayed
his great age as he stood in his box
stall on the ground floor of the Twenty
sixth street side of the old Garden, with
head proudly aloft, eye full and bright.
coat glossy and legs as clean as when
Alden Goldsmith bought him in colthood
during the civil war and named him
Volunteer. David Bonner. Col. Law
renee Kip and Col. T.. b. Parsons gave
him first prize In the class for stall
lions shown with their offspring.
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