The Rum Addict
by Lisa Harkema
It’s a story full improbable twists, cruel treatment and bizarre facts. What ended up as Hambletonian’s possibly greatest son at stud was in fact an alcoholic and named for the shadiest of writers who “reviewed” brothels in the name of journalism… It is said that cream always rises to the top. George Wilkes, the stallion who changed how trotters moved their hind legs and the paternal great-grandsire of Axworthy, started at the bottom but rose to the top.
As suggested by his diet of cow’s milk, Jamaica rum and sugar, the story of George Wilkes is a fascinating one. The story of the 1856 foal most likely starts 5 years prior, though. According to Ken McCarr, both in articles in The Harness Horse and his book The Kentucky Harness Horse, James Gilbert of Phelps, NY, noticed a mare being ridden by a cattleman on the road between Erie and Meadville, PA and after a little haggling bought the mare on the spot, saddle and bridle included, for $75. The mare, said to be roughly six year sold and whose name was Dolly, was a while later sold to circus owner William Delevan for $250 and he subsequently amended her name to Dolly Spanker. This had nothing to do with Spanker the thoroughbred – according to McCarr the name Dolly Spanker was a character in the stage play London Assurance, despite that character being male. Delevan then sold the mare to Harry Felter, a New York grocer and wine merchant.