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MR. BELMONTS SUCCESSFUL EXPERIMENT. Hy C. J. Fitz Gerald. Saratoga Springs, N. Y.. August 22. While August Belmont, the Jockey Clubs chairman. Is an ardent admirer of the thoroughbred, he is willing to give credit to other families and to none more so than the standard-bred, lie has on more than one occasion in public praised the trotter and in his opinion the blending of these types will produce the ideal general purpose horse. The best results have been obtained by using the thoroughbred sire as a top cross, but Mr. P.elniont has demonstrated that the thoroughbred dam will produce a trotter of good class when mated with a standard-bred sire that has the trotting, instinct highly developed. Only three three-year-olds by trotting sires and out of thoroughbred dams have as yet appeared and it is significant that Mr. Belmont should have bred one of them in the colt Proof of the Pudding, 2:28, by Peter the Great, 2:071i. "It was something 1 said in praise of the trotter at the Soptrsmens Dinner in New York some years ago," said the Jockey Clubs head. "that, is responsible for Proof of the Pudding. I like the trotting horse for his many excellent qualities and said so on this occasion, speaking of what had been done by using the thoroughbred sire on mares of the trotting type. I told them that most or our best hunters and saddlers were bred that way and ventured the opinion that the trotter owed much of his excellence to the presence of .more or less warm blood in all of the successful families, "especially those from the Palo Altii Stud of the late Senator Stanford of California, where champions have come from mating Electioneer with thoroughbred mares, notably in the case of Dame Winnie, by Planet, which produced Palo Alto, 2:OSa4, and Ether, by Express, through the great three-year-old Expressive, 2:12 the greatest campaigner of her age the trotting turf has ever known. "After the dinner," continued Mr. Remont, "Mr. W. E. D. Stokes offered me a service for one of my thoroughbred mares to his great trotting stallion Peter the Great, 2:07 14 . I selected Souveraine, by Rnyon dOr, out of Sultana, by Lexington, as a fitting mate for the son of Happy Medium. She has thrown a good race horse, Gallant, and is the dam of the Tilly Serenest, now racing here. The produce of tliis union was a bay colt which 1 named Proof of the Pudding. Yon see, I was confident that he could make good my contention. When he was old enough to be trained he was sent to Tommy Murphy at Poughkeepsie, who gave hiui a record of 2:28 before going on the Grand Circuit a few weeks ago. Muriiv says he could have driven him much faster. It is "my intention to breed this colt to an Electioneer mare I own. and 1 have already selected a name for the produce, whether it be colt or filly Proof Positive." "If the federal government wants to achieve dclinite success in its breeding experiments," went on Mr. P.elniont. "they cant go wrong if they breed the thoroughbred horse to good trotting mares. The army horse must have stamina. This the trotter already possesses in a superlitivc degree, and it wouldnt, have to be bred into Iiim. as would be the case in using almost any other type of man". Generations of racing has developed great lung power in the trotter and the muscular fibre has been improved iu proportion." John E. Madden, who is a breeder of both thoroughbred and trotters, thinks Mr. Relmont owns the best yearling trotter in the country in the youngster by Siliko, 2:0S record made in Europe out of a mare by Cresceus, 2:02. the one-tinie American champion and an Electioneer dam. In talking about Mr. Belmonts trotting ventures. Mr. Madden, who is a great student of pedigrees, said: "When you think that Senator Stanford bred many thoroughbred mares to trotting sires and Mr. Belmont bred only one, you must hand it to the Jockey Club chairman. He has done what he said he would accomplish at the first time of trying. I find that only three three-year-olds out of thoroughbred dams have beaten 2:30. These are Expressive, 2:12. whose dam was Esther by Express; Annabel, 2:27, by Dawn, out of Pacliecho, by Hubbard, a son of Plannet. and Proof of the Pudding, 2:2S. by Peter the Great. 2:07i. How many persons know that live trotters by thoroughbred sires have beaten 2:30V They are Colonel Lane, Gypsy Girl. Lucille, Rigolette and Scotland, while Venture, an absolutely thoroughbred horse, has a record of ,2:27. made in California as long ago as 1877. He was by Williamsons P.elniont. dam Miss Mostyn, by American Boy Jr., and the next dam Fanny Mostyn. by Medoc." Mr. Madden lias, after two years at hard work, compiled a valuable book, copies of which will be presented a few friends. It is called "Pedigrees of Horses Not Well Known that Appear in the Pedigree of Present Day Trotters," and it shows a world of painstaking research on the part of the author.
