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Her last race was won at the age of 20 against a much younger horse named Rarus. She was inducted into the Harness Racing Hall of Fame in 1953. Goldsmith Maid was originally named Maid and was foaled in the spring of 1857 at the Deckertown, New Jersey farm of John B. Decker. Decker had purchased Maid's dam Old Ab (sired by Abdallah, the sire of Hambletonian 10) in 1853 from a hat peddler and, taken with the mare's even temperament, had bred her to Alexander's Abdallah (formerly known as Edsell's Hambeletonian) in the hopes of producing a fine farm colt.  Alexander's Abdallah was also a grandson of Abdallah, which meant that Maid was very inbred in her male lineage. While Old Ab may have been gentle and even tempered, her first foal was a wild, fiery tempered filly that was quite taken with jumping and crashing through Decker's fences and running through the corn fields of his neighbors. Maid was not able to be trained as a harness horse or for any other occupation that would be of use on a farm due to her refusal to be hitched to a cart or pull a plow. Yet Decker, taken with the horse's lively spirit, kept Maid on his farm for seven years. Though she was untamed, one of Decker's hired hands secretly rode Maid in several local horse races and she gradually become known as a fast, albeit ill-tempered, runner. In November 1864, Mrs. Decker, tired of the horse's infamous reputation as "Decker's worthless mare", persuaded her reluctant husband to sell Maid to his nephew John H. Decker for $260. Decker in turn sold Maid to William Tompkins, a harness racer, a few days later for $400 while en route to his home in Newburgh, New York. Tompkins was also unable to race Maid successfully, with the horse refusing to adopt an even gait that would not endanger both sulky and driver. He sold the horse in the early months of 1865 to Alden Goldsmith for $650 and a second-hand buggy. Goldsmith changed the horse's name to Goldsmith Maid and put her under the training of William Bodine. In the spring of 1865, Maid was 8 years old, unbroken and had a persistent upper respiratory infection that would last throughout her maiden season. Bodine and Goldsmith, learning from their predecessors mistakes, decided not to use check reins, a martingale, blinders or a whip with Maid, instead treating her with kindness and allowing her to set her own pace.  Goldsmith Maid beating Judge Fullerton on July 16, 1874 in East Saginaw, Michigan where she trotted one mile in 2 minutes 16 seconds. Goldsmith Maid trotted her first race in August 1865 and won several local races. She set track records in Goshen, New Jersey (with a best time of running a mile in 2 minutes, 26 seconds in three heats) in 1865 and Mystic Park racetrack in Boston in 1868 at a time of 2:21 1/2. Goldsmith, sensing that the 11 year old Maid was nearing the end of her career, sold her to Budd Doble, a popular harness racer and trainer, in 1868 for $20,000. Maid continued to race for another 6 years for Doble, notably winning races in Buffalo, Sacramento and East Saginaw, Michigan against male contenders half her age. From 1869 to 1874, Goldsmith Maid became immensely popular with the American public, attracting thousands of spectators to special match races that pitted her against the nation's top harness racers. Doble earned so much from these matches, and the horse had become so popular that "The Maid" traveled to these engagements in her own private railroad car. In 1874, Doble set a harness racing world record (one mile in 2:14) in Boston with Maid, who was by then 17 years old. Goldsmith Maid was sold to Henry N. Smith, who owned Fashion Farm in Trenton, New Jersey, for $35,000 in 1874. The last four years of her career were spent defending her title, which she continued to match on several occasions. Her last race was in Toledo, Ohio on September 27, 1877 against Rarus, who tried to break her record of trotting a mile in 2 minutes and 14 seconds. Rarus failed on that attempt, but did later succeed in breaking the record. Goldsmith Maid won over 350 heats and won 92 out of 121 races. She earned a total of $364,200 in her career, a record that would not be broken until the 1950s. Goldsmith Maid was retired at age 20 after a 13 year racing career to Smith's farm in Trenton. She produced three colts, but none of them inherited her speed on the track. In her retirement, she became a local celebrity and major tourist attraction for Trenton, attracting many visitors to Smith's farm in the summer. Goldsmith Maid died suddenly on September 23, 1885 at the age of 28 after developing pneumonia, and when her body was examined after death was found to have an enlarged heart. Her death was widely covered by the press and The New York Times reported that there was a period of national mourning after her death. BELOW: From the August 16, 1954 Edition of Sports Illustrated America's first sports hero was a horse, a graceful bay mare with blinding speed and a bewitching personality named Goldsmith Maid. Her popularity as a campaigner and a favorite of the crowds has never been excelled even to this day. During her career (1865-77) she trotted 426 heats, appearing on every great track in the country from New England to California, and drew huge crowds everywhere. So great was her popularity that she was paid $5,000 for mere exhibitions against time. Men scrambled for her castoff shoes whenever she was shod. In 1876 all the employes of a large shoe factory in North Brook-field, Mass. walked out and journeyed to Springfield, 35 miles away, to see her perform. Whole villages used to gather at the depot for a glimpse of her as she passed through. No stall on a jolting boxcar was for The Maid. She had her own private car. It was always hooked on to passenger trains and in one end was a drawing room for her driver, Budd Doble. Born on a New Jersey farm in 1857, The Maid was no equine aristocrat. Her sire was a son of Rysdyk's Hambletonian but her ma was a worn-out cart horse of questionable lineage. Nellie was The Maid's first name and she was so high-spirited and unruly in her youth that she kicked several buggies to bits before she could be broken to harness. Her first owner, John B. Decker, gave up on her and sold her for a trifling sum. One of her owners (she had five in all) was Alden Goldsmith, who bought her in 1865 for $650 and a second-hand buggy, and furnished her with a new name. Goldsmith taught her to trot and entered her in her first race when she was an eight-year-old, much too old for a beginner, everyone thought. She won the race easily against an experienced field. It was the start of an amazing 13-year career during which she won over 350 heats and 97 out of 123 races, many of which were best-three-out-of-five heat races. She had 16 seconds, seven thirds, ran fourth once, went unplaced twice. Three times The Maid crossed the continent, racing on both coasts and throughout the Midwest, and never once did she miss a performance. An iron campaigner, she traveled some 130,000 miles by rail and made countless short jumps between towns under her own steam in her early days. The Maid was ageless and her speed increased as she grew older. At the advanced age of 14, when most horses are finished, she stepped the fastest mile in trotting history: two minutes, 17 seconds. Unbelievably, she lowered her own mark six more times until she reached 2:14, the fastest of her career. That was in 1874 when she was 16, the equine equivalent of almost 50 years in a human. As a middle-aged girl she went undefeated from 1871 through 1874 against younger horses of both sexes. Not until she was 21 did she call it quits, when she ran an exhibition mile for Governor Leland Stanford of California. Her time was only two seconds off her own world record. At that age she was still as fine and unblemished as a three-year-old. Four years ago when Proximity, a harness racer, stretched his earnings to $252,929.67 the sports pages noted that he had broken the all-time record of $206,462.50 which was set by The Maid in 1877. It had taken 73 years as well as inflated purses to do it. These figures, however, are based on race winnings only. With exhibition money added, The Maid earned $264,573.50, perhaps more than any other harness horse in history. Whether or not, the belle of the '70s still stands as America's most remarkable horse. Goldsmith Maid Timeline & related links From THE TURF.; Trolling Match Between Goldsmith Maid and George Palmer … select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res ... From … JUDGE FULLERTON AND GOLDSMITH MAID THE LATTER THE … - select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res ... From … .; FAST TROTTING AT BUFFALO. GOLDSMITH MAID WINS THE THREE … select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res ... From GOLDSMITH MAID DISGRACED.; THE FAMOUS OLD MARE IN THE … select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res ... From TROTTERS GETTING READY; ORRIN HICKOK IS TRAINING THE BAY … |
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