TROTTING

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XI, Issue 523, 27 December 1900, Page 12

TROTTING

A glance over the new list of standard trotters and pacers for 1900 will show that the mighty Allerton 2 - 09| leads all tbe great stallions of America in point of number of new ones that have taken standard records, states the •’ Breeder and Sportsman ” He was the leading fire of new performers in 1896, and stood at the top of the list in 1897. Again in 1898 it was Allerton that led all the sires, but in 1899 he fell a few behind the great stdlion Axtell. Th’’s year, however, he a-sumes his old place in the lead, with sixteen new ones. Leading the grand list four seasons out of five is something that has never before been to the credit of any horse, and is a dis tinction of which his clever owner is justly proud. At the close of the season of 1899 Allerton bed to his credit sixty-six standard performers, and the sixteen added this year gives him eighty-two, which is more than any other sire has at his age, and more than many sires can show that are much older and have had equally as good opportunity. Of the eighty-two to his credit, three have records better than 2’lo, six of 2T2 and better, eight of 2’15 and better, and twenty-four with records from 2 07 j to 2 20.

Harness racing is a national necessity; quality in horses can be kept up in no other way. Recent wars have again proved that the speed and efficiency of modern a-mies regulated by the pace of the transportation service; and any nation that becomes weakened on this ground-floor principle of offense and defense is extremely

liable to .find itself in a position like unto Spain’s predicament after the counterfeit of her naval strength had been so relentlessly shown up. Yet with the necessity for the encouragement of racing, what w uld become of the sport if it were not jealously watched and protected against fraud and deceit through the efforts of men who realize the dangers of lie in crookedness? The field of action, is wide, and time-suppressors, thieves and ringers still find some openings for their contemptible workings; but imagine what the condition of affairs would be if the controlling organizations and their boards oi review were wiped out. —“Chicago Horseman.”