TROTTING IN AMERICA.

Globe, Volume XXI, Issue 1815, 15 December 1879, Page 2

TROTTING IN AMERICA.

Amongst the festivities got up in honor of General Grant, ou his return to the United States, was a trotting entertainment at San Francisco, in which the following remark, able performanoe’eame off : St. Julien was called, and when he made his appearance ho was greeted with a round of cheers. He was to trot for a purse of 500 dollars, the conditions being that he was to beat the time of Earns—2:l3J. It was oonsidered so hopeless a task that there was no one rash enough to take longest odds that he would accomplish it. Fifty to twenty, fifty to ten, fifty to five, was vociferated, without eliciting a response, and all the eloquence of the pool-seller was wasted to find a customer on even slower time. Earns attempted the same feat on the same track, and was forced to succumb, though he reached within three-quarters of a second of it, and many held it a superior performance to that made at Buffalo. In order that every oafeguard should surround old Father Tempos, and there might not be a shadow of doubt cast on the performances, additional timers were appointed. The timers were 0. W. Kellogg, H. A. Mayhew, C. G. Clinch, Eli Denison and J. R. Martin. la addition to these there were others in the stand and on the ground directly under the wire who were as careful in making the time as were the officials. A few times St. Julien came rushing past in the final limbering of the muscles, and steeling the nerves for a great task. Hickok decided to have him : trot this heat without a runner to accom- ■ pany him, confident his own high spirit: would be stimulus enough in the first trial, j and that he would reserve the companion for the next. At last Hickok nodded hia ; head to signify his readiness for the start, and away he swept at a rate which even the unpractised eye could see was very fast. A clear, clean stroke. No clambering, dwelling : or sprawling, the very perfection of trotting action, and with such a gallant bearing that old frequenters of the track, men who had seen trotting from the time antedating Lady Suffolk’s days, pronounced him the bean ideal of the American trotters. He reached the quarter pole in 33 seconds, and it was evident that this tremendous rate of speed was accelerated when going down the grade on the hack quarter, and he flew past the fence posts like the black horse through theforests of the Hartz Mountains. The halfm'le was made in 1:05J, the regular stride still being retained, no attempt to change his feet, or a wabble which would suggest a break. It is difficult to tell exactly the time of the three-quarters from the judges’stand, though 1:40 was given, which was probably nearly right. Down the homestretch he kept up the uniform stride, until he reached the grand stand, when the cheers exhilarated him to still greater exertions, and from the distance post in no one ever witnessed a greater flight of trotting speed. General Grant clapped hia hands and hurrahed, the imperturbable Sharon joined in the ovation, and the thousands present took up the refrain, and hurled cheer upon cheer as the driver came back to dismount. Those were anxious moments as Hickok dismounted, from the sulky and came to the weighing, stand, for all of this glory would be worthless if he lacked one pound of the one hundred and fifty which the rules require. Upwent the beam, one and a half pounds overweight ; the presiding judge announces thegreat feat accomplished—St. Julien has won. When the blackboard was hung out with the magical figures blazoned on it, the cheers were redoubled, and it was minutes before the welcoming shouts came to an end. Here was a fitting testimonial to the chieftain who had received the plaudits of a world, and those who believe in the doctrine of metempsychosis—if such were there—must have recognised some grand old-time spirit animating St. Julien on this occasion. The gallant horse stood quietly in front of the judges’ stand, as though he was fully aware of the distinction he had gained. The emperor of the tracks was dethroned, and the sceptre held on the shores of the Pacific, California is presenting a grand array of equine talent this year of our Lord, and the 2:18 of Santa Claus, the 1:15k of Connor, is appropriately crowned by the fastest time ever made by a trotting horse. St. Julien is owned by Robert F. Morrow and O. A. Hickok. He was purchased in the East nearly three years ago, the price paid being 18,000 dollars. He had then a record of 2:22, which was his time until he trotted in 2:17 at the San Joaquin Valley Fair. He is a fine looking bay gelding, about sixteen hands high, with nearly as much quality as a thoroughbred. He is by Volunteer, hia dam a Clay mare. Two challenges were announced from the stand, that of Mr Morrow, offering to trot Julien again»t any horse in the world for 10,000 or 20,000 dollars, and Mr Finigan proposing to match Santa Claus against any stallion from 5000 to 50,000 dollars.