The New York herald., 1922-11-05
Genesis of Peter Manning
Traced to 'Hart-Draper'
and Old English TrOtter
Factors Which Contributed to Formation of Breed in
America That Has Lowered the Limit OF Speed
More Than Minute to the Mile in
Century of Harness Racing.
ny GuRNEY G. CUE.

Whether these trotters of the fifteenth
and sixteenth centuries possessed speed
worthy of the name is perhaps uncer-
tain, but that the gait was priced, ana
cultivated and recognized as being trans
mtted from one generation to another
IN certain families would seem TO be
clearly established by these and other
fragments of horse history.
One of the earliest illusions to real
speed in the English trotting horse is
found in the advertisement of stallion
called Smiling Ball in the Norwich Mer-
curB in 1764 The owners chief boast
about mis- horse was that he will trot
fourteen miles an hour with ease" This
is not quite 100 gait for a mile, and
yet when maintained for on hour be-
comes a respectable rate OF speed for
period when good roads, let alone fast
tracks, were unknown.
1t is worthy of note that this first
English trotting stallion of which any
definite record has come to light was
kept in the county of Norfolk, where
Bishop Hall lived. where the Pastor.
letter of 1476 was written and where the
breed of British horses long known as
Norfolk trotters but now called hack
neys flourished, and probably originated.
Unfortunately for our knowledge of
the capacity of the early English trot-
ting horses their performances were not
chroniced in any racing calendar and
they had but one historian. Thomas
Blundeville, Gervase Markham. William
Cavendish, better known as the Duke of
Newcastle, Thomas De Gray. Sir Will
lam Hope and all the other early au-
thors of books about horses were singu-
larly silent on the subject of trotting.
1t was not until John Lawrence, in
1895. published his Philosophical and
Practical Treatise on Horses that any
writer more than barely mentioned the
English trotter, and Lawrence intro
duced the subject with an apology for
mounting his hobby" as he put it, and
dilating on his favorite theme. Daw-
renee had owned and ridden the noted
racing trotter Betty Bloss had known
nearly all the cracks of his time was
an enthusiast on the subject of breeding
as well as training and racing, and in
his voluminous contributions to the his
tory of the English horse, covering a
period of thirty-five years, he put on
record practically everything that IS
known about the early Norfolk trotters.
That they were both stout and speedy Is
made plain by his accounts of their per-
formances.
The Peter Manning of 17SG.
Archer. he says, was the fastest of
them all This horse trotted sixteen
miles in 80 with 154 pounds in the
saddle as early as 1885.
THE rapidity Of his burst In the
course of a miles trotting. which I have
witnessed" Lawrence said. was truly
astonishing. and / cannot conceive the
rate of it could be less than twenty five
miles an hour
"As Archer was the speediest. the we'll
known brown mare that died. the prop
erty of Bishop. proved herself the stout
est: that Is to say. the most lasting
trotter in the world. In the year 1888.
or thereabouts, she trotted over the Ep-
som road sixteen miles In 5S 80, carry
ing twelve stone (16S pounds). rode by
Mr.. Aldridce, who at present keeps the
repository In St. Martins lane. This
saw. and Il was said to be the first time
that sixteen miles in one hour. with
twelve stone had been trotted. In Octo-
Der. 1871. being then 1S years old. she
trotted on the Rumford road sixteen
miles in So minutes and some odd sec
onds. with twelve stone or therea bouts.
beating Green's horse for $50. 1t was
probably within her powers TO have
trotted thirty miles in two hours, which
distance was actually trotted in 2 hours
and 10 minutes BY Ogden's chestnut
mare"
Numerous other performances of
about equal merit for speed and stamina
are mentioned by Lawrence, and i'm the
I Sporting MdDdsine, established in 1872.
occasional items Of news concerning
notable .rotting matches are TO be found.
In the issue for August. 1898, there is an
account OF "a match against time In
which Mr.. Crockett's unnamed gray
mare on July % trotted 100 miles In IL
hours and 40 minutes on a wager OF 100
guineas to 20.
Though Lawrence expressed the opin-
ion that Archer and other horses were
capable of a much higher rate OF speed.
the best time actually recorded for a
single mile al this period was 2 40. The
following account of the performance
appeared in the Sporting Md1dSire for
October. 1896:
"On Friday. 22d October instant, a
brown geldinE belonging 20 Mr.. Jex OF
Alcthorpe. Norfolk. trotted a single mile
on the road between Dereham and Nor
witch for wager OF ten guneas. The
horse was allowed three minutes but
performed the match with great ease
in two minutes and forty-nine seconds. %
Here we have Boston Blues ccle-
brated performance on the Jamaica
turnpike eclipsed by an English trotter
twelve years before the American horse
appeared.
a uyoI,rt.t. a.. e..t.sI-