THE BLIND TROTTER.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XI, Issue 604, 14 August 1902, Page 16

THE BLIND TROTTER.

There is much speculation among trainers as to just what will be th e outcome of Scott Hudson’s experiment of taking a blind trotter down the Grand Circuit (writes “ The Breeder”). It is the bay horse, Rythma, a son of Oakland Baron out of a mare by Strathmore. The horse was bred by Douglass Thomas, in Bourbon county, and worked a mile last season over the farm track at the Thomas place close to 2:10. That the son of Oakland Baron is a speed sensation no one doubts. What he will do when he gets bumped in a big field is the question that trainers are thinking of. Hudson has entered Rythma extensively down the circuit in the green classes to which he is eligible. Rythma is taking his work daily over the Lexington track and goes as nicely as if there was no such thing as blindness. Many of the Lexington, Ky., .trainers are of the opinion that Hudson is taking a long chance with a blind horse. They argue that some fellow with a grudge will bump hythma going around the turn in a big field, and that the blind horse will lose his head instantly and develop a tendency to run away. “ Hudson ought to get him in a race that he knows the horse can win,” said one trainer, “and then get him out in front of the field and bring him back and let him out ahead of them until he gets used to the company. A race or two like that ought to do the trick. Give the horse a little schooling of this kind, which will inspire his confidence in the man with the reins, and Rythma ought to be bringing back some of the money next fall.”