"The fastest trotting breed of all is the American, of course?" said Gay, eager to glean all she could about what interested her so keenly.
"Yes, the Russian Orloff used to be at least some twenty seconds slower, but now, with an admixture of American blood, they are getting much faster, and one or two of the longer distance records have been captured by Russian horses; very soon they will be quite the equals of Americans, and in Italy and Vienna the native trotter (which is really bred from imported American Russian crosses), is getting very fast. At the present time a trotter to be a first-class one must be able to trot in 2.8, a really extra good one in 2.3, a pacer in 2.2 or under, as the pacers going under two minutes are getting quite usual almost."
"And where do the English trotters—my trotters—come in?" inquired Gay, rather crestfallen.
Rensslaer smiled.
"As to the English trotter," he said, "there is no such thing. A horse is not a trotter unless he can trot a mile in 2 minutes 30 seconds, or faster, and no English horse can do that. All the horses racing in England are American horses, or of American parentage."
"Oh, come!" protested Carlton. "What about hackneys?"
"Of course there are legends of wonderful times made by hackneys in England early in the last century," said Rensslaer, "but when one considers the shady nature of trotting in those days, and the rough way of measuring distances—from such a milestone to such a milestone (and sometimes a milestone was shifted during the night before a match)—there is no way of being sure of any records."
"You won't leave us a leg to stand on," sighed Gay. "I suppose you'll end by trotting a mile a minute!"
"Well, the average speed of trotters in America increases year by year. Ages ago, a professor worked out how long it would be before a horse trotted in two minutes the mile, but it was trotted several years before the time he had prophesied, though this was accounted for by the improvement in sulkies. You see, the original high-wheeled sulky with iron tyres weighed sixty or more pounds, and some eight years ago the ball-bearing, pneumatic-tyred, bicycle-wheeled sulky was invented, weighing only twenty-three pounds or less, and this makes a difference of three or four seconds in the mile, so the two-minute trotter came before his time."
Carlton Mackrell nodded.