XXI. HAMBLETONIAN AND HIS FAMILY

The greatest progenitor in Horse History—Mr. Kellogg’s description, and comments thereon—An analysis of Hambletonian, structurally considered—His carriage and action—As a three-year-old trotter—Details of his stud service—Statistics of the Hambletonian family—History and ancestry of his dam, the Charles Kent Mare—Her grandson, Green’s Bashaw and his dam.

HAMBLETONIAN, 10.—It has been a matter of constant regret that in the compilation of the first volume of the Register I attached the name “Rysdyk’s” to this horse, and this misstep has served as a kind of apparent justification for very many men to seize upon the name “Hambletonian,” with their own name as a prefix. This has led to great confusion and annoyance to all that body of men who have anything to do with records and correct pedigrees. Fortunately, however, the evil has become so apparent that many writers are beginning to use the numbers, and we now very frequently hear men speak of “Hambletonian, 10,” as the true designation of this horse.

As no horse of any blood or period in this or any other country has excited an interest so universal, or represented such a vast sum of money in his offspring and descendants, I must try to give an account of him and his family—ancestors and descendants—as full and accurate as the materials at hand will enable me. He was a beautiful bay color, bred by Jonas Seely, of Sugar Loaf, Orange County, New York, foaled 1849, got by Abdallah; dam the Kent Mare, by imported Bellfounder; grandam One Eye, by Hambletonian, son of Messenger; great-grandam Silvertail, by imported Messenger; great-great-grandam Black Jin, breeding unknown. He was sold with his dam, when a suckling, to Mr. William M. Rysdyk, of Chester, in the same county, and he remained his till he died in March, 1876. He has been described by a great many writers, but the most minute and accurate description I have ever seen is from the pen of “Hark Comstock” (Peter C. Kellogg), which I will here present, and after it note any point upon which my own judgment differs from his. It should be remembered that this description was made when the horse was breaking down with the weight of years:

Hambletonian, now twenty-six years old, is a rich deep mahogany bay, with black legs, the black extending very high up on the arms and stifles. His mane was originally black, and in his younger days very ornamental; rather light, like that of the blood-horse, and of medium length, never reaching below the lower line of the neck, but uniform throughout. His foretop was always light. At the present time not a vestige of either remains, they having gradually disappeared until crest and crown are bald. His tail is long and full. When we first knew him it was very full, but is also thinning with his advancing years. The hair of both was black as a raven’s wing, and entirely devoid of wave or curl. His marks are a very small star and two white ankles behind, but the coronets being dotted with black spots, the hoofs are mainly dark. Muzzle dark. Head large and bony, with profile inclining to the Roman order; jowl deep; jaws not as wide apart as in some of his descendants, yet not deficient. Eye very large and prominent, and countenance generally animated and expressive of good temper. We found him to measure 10½ inches across the face. Ear large, well set, and lively. Neck rather short and a little heavy at the throatlatch, but thin and clean at the crest. His shoulders are very oblique, deep and strong; withers low and broad; sway very short, and coupling smooth. The great fillets of muscle running back along the spine give extraordinary width and strength to the loin, which threatens to lose the closely-set hip in the wealth of its embrace. But it is back of here that we find lodged the immense and powerful machinery that, imparted to his sons and daughters, has ever placed them in the foremost ranks of trotters. His hip is long and croup high, with great length from hip-point to hock. Thighs and stifles swelling with the sinewy muscle, which extends well down into his large, clean, bony hocks, hung near the ground. Below these the leg is broad, flat, and clean, with the tendons well detached from the bone, and drops at a considerable angle with the upper part of the limb, giving the well-bent rather than the straight hock. Pasterns long, but strong and elastic, and let into hoofs that are perfection. In front his limbs in strength and muscular development comport with the rear formation. His chest is broad and prominent; his forelegs stand wide apart (perhaps in part the result of much covering), and he is deep through the heart; yet notwithstanding this, and the fact of his roundness of barrel, there is no appearance of heaviness or hampered action.

Taken at a glance, the impressive features of the horse are his immense substance, without a particle of coarseness or grossness. No horse we can recall has so great a volume of bone, with the same apparent firmness of texture and true blood-like quality. Though short-backed, he is very long underneath. Indeed, he is a horse of greater than apparent length. We found his measurement from breast to breeching, in a straight line, greater by four inches than his height at the withers—a very unusual excess. We also found him two inches higher over the rump than at the withers, and the whole rear, or propelling portion of the machinery, would upon measurement seem to have been molded for an animal two sizes larger than the one to which it is attached; yet so beautifully is its connection effected with the whole that there is no disproportion apparent, either in the symmetry or the action of the horse. As an evidence of the immense reach which this admirable rear construction enables him to obtain, it is often noticed by visitors that in his favorite attitude, as he stands in his box, his off hind foot is thrown forward so far under him as to nearly touch the one in front of it—an attitude which few horses of his proportionate length could take without an apparent strain, yet which he assumes at perfect repose. When led out upon the ground his walk strikes one as being different from that of any other horse. It cannot be described further than to say that it shows a true and admirable adjustment of parts, and a perfect pliability and elasticity of mechanism that shows out through every movement. Many have noticed and endeavored to account in different ways for the peculiarity, some crediting it to the pliable pastern, others to surplus of knee and hock action, etc., but the fact is, there seems to be a suppleness of the whole conformation that delights to express itself in every movement and action of the horse. “In his box,” said a Kentucky horseman, who recently looked him over, “I thought him too massive to be active, but the moment he stepped out I saw that he was all action.”

There is so much in the foregoing description that is intelligent and just that I hardly feel like reviewing a single phrase. In judging of the conformation of a horse and determining whether it is good or bad, at different points, we must have in our mind some ideal standard, by which we mentally compare one thing with another. The popular conception of the perfect horse is the picture of the “Arabian,” painted by artists who never saw an Arabian horse. The next approach to perfection is the English race horse, but others may insist that the Clydesdale comes nearer perfection and that he should be the ideal with which the standard of comparison should be made. It is unfortunate that Mr. Kellogg should have described Hambletonian as possessing “immense substance, without a particle of coarseness, or grossness.” He had a remarkably coarse head in its size and outline, but this is greatly softened by saying “with a profile inclining to the Roman order.” The ideal muzzle of the English race horse is so fine that, figuratively speaking, he can drink out of a tin cup, but Hambletonian could not get his muzzle into a vessel of much smaller dimensions than a half-bushel measure. “Ear large, well set and lively.” This is true as to the size of the ears, but not correct, in my judgment, as to the setting on. As they habitually lopped backward when in repose, giving a sour and ill-tempered expression, I could not concede that they were “well set.” The hocks were good and clean, but the abrupt angle at that point was certainly a coarse feature. The round meaty withers and the round meaty buttocks were both “coarse and gross” when looked at from the point of good breeding. His two great, meaty ends, connected with a long and perfect barrel, two or three sizes too small for the ends, showed such a marked disproportion that I often wondered at it. Not one of these criticisms is made in the sense of a criticism of Mr. Kellogg’s description, but merely as the expression of a different view on some points, and on those points not mentioned I most heartily agree with him. He has omitted to give the height of the horse for the reason that he had shrunken from his normal height just one inch. When at his best he measured fifteen hands one inch and a quarter. This shrinkage, in addition to the ordinary results of great age, is thus explained by Mr. Guy Miller, who knew him better than any other man except his owner. “His splendid fore hoofs had been ruined by an operation whereby the arch was lost and the horse during the remainder of his days stood on his frogs.” He was two inches higher on the hips than on the withers.

When the horse was led out his movements were so frictionless and faultless that he impressed me as the most wonderful horse that I had ever seen. He seemed as supple as a cat with the power of an elephant. As he walked he kept pushing those crooked hind legs away under him in a manner that gave him a motion peculiarly his own, and suggested the immense possibilities of his stride when opened out on a trot. Plain and indeed homely as he was he was a most interesting and instructive study whether in his box or taking his daily walks. The question has been asked a thousand times whether the speed of Hambletonian had been developed and how fast he could go. This question I considered very important, in a philosophical and breeding sense, and in starting in to investigate it I found two statements, one that the time made at the Union Course was honest and true, and the other that it was a “put up job” to make Mr. Rysdyk feel good, and that the time in fact was much slower than that announced. Each side had its advocates, and it did not take long to discover that the enemies of Mr. Rysdyk were all on one side and the more bitter their enmity the more blatant they were in denying the truth of the time given out for the performance. This party was headed by one “J. M.,” long distinguished, and will be long remembered in Orange County, for the virulence of his dislike to Mr. Rysdyk, and as the most unreliable of all unreliable horsemen.

In the autumn of 1852 Mr. Rysdyk and Mr. Seely C. Roe, the owner of Roe’s Abdallah Chief, then four years old, concluded to exhibit their sons of Abdallah at the fair of the American Institute, in New York, and after the fair to take their colts, three and four years old respectively, for a light training for a few weeks. The programme was carried out, and after reaching the course they started the two colts together, and much to Mr. Roe’s surprise Hambletonian beat his colt in 3:03. In a short time Mr. Roe gave his colt another trial in 2:55½. A few days later Mr. Rysdyk drove his colt in 2:48. Believing then he had the making of the best trotter in the world and being thoroughly homesick, he packed up his traps and started for Orange County, and this was the first and the last training that Hambletonian ever had. When we consider the age of the colt and how few of that age had then ever reached that mark, the little then known by amateurs of the arts of training and driving, and the very limited preparation, we must conclude that this was a remarkably good performance.

Was it honestly made? Mr. Roe has been dead a good many years, but the next day after he returned from Long Island with Mr. Rysdyk he called at the house of his brother-in-law, David R. Feagles, a very responsible man, and in the course of the conversation he asked Mr. Feagles if he had heard the news? “No,” said Mr. Feagles, “what is it?” “Rysdyk’s colt trotted the Union Course in 2:48. I held my watch and I know it is true.” Mr. Roe was always steadfast and immovable in this declaration while he lived. Mr. W. H. Wood, the breeder of Abdallah Chief, says he told him the time was 2:48, and he had several times heard it disputed in Mr. Roe’s presence and he had always settled the dispute by giving the same fact. Mr. David R. Seely said he could not remember the time made, but he had heard the matter disputed, and Mr. Roe settled it by saying it was true, that he saw it and held the watch on him when he did it. These men were as reliable as any in Orange County and their statement of Mr. Roe’s assertions cannot be doubted. Considering the circumstances, it will occur to any mind that Mr. Roe was the very best witness to the truth of this performance that could be produced. He was not only disinterested, but in building up the reputation of a rival stallion he was testifying to his own hurt.

There are other evidences of Hambletonian’s development and speed, but nothing so definite as the foregoing. He was driven in double team sometimes with the great trotter Sir Walter. Mr. Kinner, at one time owner of Sir Walter and other good ones, a horseman of experience and knowledge of trotting affairs, assured me that Sir Walter had shown a trial at Centerville track to wagon in 2:32, and this was before he was driven double, occasionally, with Hambletonian; and that Hambletonian could out-foot Sir Walter for the first half-mile, but as the young horse was green and unseasoned, he could not keep up the clip to the finish. He did not hesitate to express the belief that the team could have trotted the mile in considerably less than 2:40. There is one fact in connection with the trial at Union Course that I have omitted in its proper place. Mr. Rysdyk was a remarkably careful man and always aimed to be inside of the truth rather than beyond it. He advertised his horse as having made the trial in 2:48½, as it is probable some of the watches gave that as the time, instead of 2:48 flat.

Like all the Abdallah family, Hambletonian matured early, and at three years was as well advanced as many colts a year older. His stud services commenced early. When two years old he was allowed to cover four mares without fee and he got three colts, one of which was afterward known as the famous Alexander’s Abdallah. When three years old he was offered for public patronage at twenty-five dollars to insure, and he covered seventeen mares and got thirteen colts. The next season, at the same price, he covered one hundred and one mares and got seventy-eight colts. The next season (1854), being then five years old, the price was advanced to thirty-five dollars, and he covered eighty-eight mares, getting sixty-three foals. The price remained at thirty-five dollars till 1863, when it was advanced to seventy-five dollars. At which price he covered one hundred and fifty mares. The next season the price was advanced to one hundred dollars, and he covered two hundred and seventeen mares, getting one hundred and forty-eight foals. In 1865 the price was advanced to three hundred dollars and one hundred and ninety-three mares were covered. In 1866 the price was put at five hundred dollars and one hundred and five mares were covered. At this price his services remained ever afterward—one hundred dollars down and the remainder when the mare proved in foal. In 1867 he covered seventy-seven mares and got only forty-one foals. This large percentage of failure indicated beyond question that his procreative powers had been overtaxed and that there was a general letting down of his vital energies. In 1868 he was not allowed to cover any mares. In 1869 he again manifested his usual vigor and he covered twenty-one mares, getting fourteen foals. In 1870 he covered twenty-two mares and got thirteen foals. From this time forward his procreative powers dwindled, and in 1875, I think, he got but two foals, and died the following March.

It has been estimated that he got about one thousand three hundred foals, and for several years it was one of the amusing features of horse literature to see how many writers were able to demonstrate that as a progenitor of speed he was a failure. This item of one thousand three hundred foals was taken as the basis of computation, and then with the small number of forty trotters out of the one thousand three hundred, the percentage of trotters was very small. The next step was to find some unknown horse, generally a pacer, that had only two or three foals to his credit and one of them had made a record of 2:30, thus showing a much larger percentage than Hambletonian, and by that much he was a greater sire than Hambletonian. All this foolishness has now subsided in the face of the fact that the great mass of the trotters of today have more or less of his blood in their veins, and in a very short time that blood will abound in greater or less strength in every American trotter. The tables which here follows will make this fact evident to all who will study them.

[Prefatory to these tables and to the other statistics concerning the present rank of the trotting families given in the pages following, an explanatory paragraph is in order so that they may not be misunderstood. (1) They are based on the tables given in the Year Book for 1896, and I regret to say that these tables are so emasculated, incomplete, unsatisfactory and in many cases contradictory one of the other that it is literally impossible to compile from them statistics that may be accepted as absolutely correct and letter perfect. However, as this work is not intended as one for statistical reference, the tables being approximately correct serve my purpose, which is merely to show relatively and with substantial accuracy the standing of the sires and families embraced to the close of 1896. (2) By the term “standard performers” is meant horses that have acquired trotting records of 2:30 or better, or pacing records of 2:25 or better. The Year Book no longer gives a 2:30 pacing list, and it should be noted that pacers with records between 2:30 and 2:25 are not credited in these tables. (3) The tables are designed to show (a) the number of standard performers got by each sire named. (b) The number of his sons that are sires of standard performers. (c) The number of his daughters that are dams of standard performers. (d) The number of standard performers produced by these sons and daughters, and finally, in the last column, the total number of standard performers produced in the two generations—i. e., by the sire himself, and by his sons and daughters. The dates of foaling and death are important in considering the opportunities of the families embraced.]

The first table following gives some idea of the supremacy of the Hambletonian family over all others. When we seek a rival to Hambletonian as a trotting progenitor we must do so among his sons; and by turning to the second table it will be noted that many of these outrank the founders of any and all the other great trotting families.

FOUNDERS OF THE GREAT TROTTING FAMILIES.

In this table Ethan Allen is given as the representative of his family in preference to his sire, Black Hawk, the real founder, for the reasons that he was a far greater horse, and makes a better showing than his sire, and further because he was a contemporary of Hambletonian. For exactly the same reasons George M. Patchen is given as the representative progenitor of the Clay line.

The next table demonstrates what the Hambletonian family has done in the second and third generations, and the relative standing of the leading sub-families of the greatest trotting line. It embraces separately every sire that has to his own credit and to the credit of his sons and daughters an aggregate of fifty or more standard performers, twenty-three in all, while the totals to the credit of all the other sons of Hambletonian are grouped in the last line:

FAMILIES OF HAMBLETONIAN’S SONS.

------------------------------------------------------------------------ Total No. Standard performers in two generations. ------------------------------------------------------------------+ Standard performers produced by sons and daughters. | -----------------------------------------------------------+ | Producing daughters. | | -----------------------------------------------------+ | | Producing sons. | | | -----------------------------------------------+ | | | Standard performers. | | | | -----------------------------------------+ | | | | Year died. | | | | | ----------------------------------+ | | | | | Year foaled. | | | | | | ---------------------------+ | | | | | | Name. | | | | | | | ---------------------------+------+------+-----+-----+-----+------+----- George Wilkes | 1856 | 1882 | 83 | 94 | 81 | 1801 | 1884 Electioneer | 1868 | 1890 | 154 | 65 | 43 | 493 | 647 Happy Medium | 1863 | 1888 | 92 | 51 | 47 | 272 | 364 Harold | 1864 | 1893 | 44 | 43 | 45 | 248 | 292 Dictator | 1863 | 1893 | 52 | 44 | 42 | 234 | 286 Volunteer | 1854 | 1888 | 34 | 40 | 48 | 221 | 255 Strathmore | 1866 | 1895 | 71 | 26 | 54 | 158 | 229 Abdallah (15) | 1852 | 1865 | 5 | 14 | 29 | 199 | 204 Aberdeen | 1866 | 1892 | 45 | 25 | 19 | 110 | 155 Egbert | 1875 | —— | 75 | 25 | 18 | 74 | 149 Messenger Duroc. | 1865 | 189- | 23 | 24 | 41 | 125 | 148 Edward Everett | 1855 | 1878 | 13 | 12 | 16 | 112 | 125 Administrator | 1863 | 1892 | 14 | 20 | 44 | 93 | 107 Jay Gould | 1864 | 1894 | 29 | 14 | 28 | 76 | 105 Victor Bismarck | 1867 | 189- | 31 | 13 | 13 | 64 | 95 Cuyler | 1868 | 1894 | 15 | 15 | 36 | 74 | 89 Masterlode | 1868 | 189- | 28 | 17 | 16 | 57 | 85 Sweepstakes | 1867 | 189- | 35 | 4 | 20 | 39 | 74 Sentinel | 1863 | 1873 | 8 | 9 | 14 | 57 | 65 Middletown | 1860 | 1891 | 14 | 9 | 11 | 49 | 63 Squire Talmage | 1866 | 1891 | 23 | 9 | 14 | 35 | 58 Dauntless | 1867 | 189- | 31 | 6 | 9 | 20 | 51 Echo | 1866 | 189- | 16 | 9 | 15 | 34 | 50 Other sons (125) | —— | —— | 618 | 229 | 412 | 980 | 1600 ---------------------------+------+------+-----+-----+-----+------+-----

This table shows what each horse himself produced, and how his blood is breeding on through his sons and daughters; and above all it demonstrates the stupendous fact that in three generations the Hambletonian family has produced upward of seven thousand standard performers, and all facts and all experience now beyond cavil justify what I ventured to declare in Wallace’s Monthly many years ago: “The Hambletonian line stands above all other lines and must survive because it is the fittest.”

THE CHARLES KENT MARE, dam of Hambletonian, was a bay, fifteen and three-quarter hands high, with a star, left forward ankle roan, and left hind foot white. Her son was long and round, just the opposite of her sire. Hips rather coarse, and might be considered a little ragged. Stifles very powerful and well-developed. Her hocks and legs were exactly represented in her son Hambletonian. Her neck was fine and bloodlike, but not long. Her head was good, and her eyes remarkably full and bright, showing considerable white. Her mane was long, but thin, and her tail was light. Her shoulders were well-sloped, her withers ran up high, and were thin. Jonas Seely, Sr., having given the old mare One Eye to his son Charles, she was sold to Josiah S. Jackson, of Oxford, Orange County. Mr. Jackson bred her to Bellfounder and the produce was the Kent mare. Although the Seely family owned the stock, originally and afterward, Mr. Jackson was really the breeder of this mare. Mr. Jonas Seely says she was got the year Bellfounder stood at Poughkeepsie (1831), but Mr. Rysdyk says she was got in 1832, when Bellfounder stood at Washingtonville. Mr. Jackson sold her at three years old to Peter Seely for three hundred dollars; Mr. Seely sold her soon after to Mr. Pray, of New York, for four hundred dollars; Mr. Pray sold her to William Chivis for five hundred dollars; and Mr. Chivis sold her to a gentleman, who was a banker in New York—name not remembered—to match another as a fast road team. This team ran away after a time, and she was injured, and became lame. Charles Kent, a butcher in New York, then bought her and bred her to Webber’s Tom Thumb, before he came to Orange County. At this juncture, on the earnest recommendation of Mr. Pray, who had tested the quality of three or four of the family, Mr. Jonas Seely—Jonas, second—bought the mare of Kent for one hundred and thirty-five dollars, and took her back to the old place, where she was bred and produced as follows:

1843. Brown filly Belle, by Webber’s Tom Thumb. 1845. Black gelding, by Webber’s Tom Thumb. 1846. Chestnut filly (died at 4 years old), by Abdallah. 1848. Brown filly (died at 4 years old), by Abdallah. 1849. Bay colt Hambletonian, by Abdallah (mare and colt sold to William M. Rysdyk, for $125). 1850. Brown filly (went to Maryland), by Young Patriot. 1851. Lost foal, by L. I. Black Hawk. 1852. Brown colt Tippoo Saib, by Brook’s Black Hawk. 1853. Chestnut colt (died young), by Fiddler. 1856. Brown gelding, by Plato. 1859. Bay colt, by Almack, son of Hambletonian.

In the preceding list there are but two fillies that lived to produce anything, and one of them is lost from sight. The produce of the first will be given below. The Patriot filly that went to Maryland was a brown, and of good size, but nothing further is known of her.

The Tom Thumb gelding of 1845 was in 1869 a good road horse, and was owned by George S. Conklin. He was showy and stylish without very much speed. Her fifth foal, Hambletonian, is known wherever the trotting horse is known.

This mare was a trotter of no ordinary merit. She was never in any races, so far as known, except they might have been of a private nature, but after she passed into the hands of Peter Seely her speed was pretty well developed. This is not only shown by the advance in her price from owner to owner, but it appears to be a well-established fact that when four years old Peter Seely had her at the Union Course, and he there gave her two trials to saddle, the first in 2:43 and the second in 2:41. For a time I was skeptical about these trials, but they seem to be beyond question. This is considerably faster than any other of the get of imported Bellfounder ever trotted in this country, and from this we may conclude that her inheritance from her dam was the great factor in her speed.

ONE EYE, the dam of the Kent mare, was a brown, about fifteen hands and an inch high, with two white feet and perhaps a little white in her face. With the taste Mr. Seely had of the Messenger blood in Silvertail he wanted more of it; and when Townsend Cock sent the famous Bishop’s Hambletonian to Goshen in 1814, Mr. Seely bred his daughter of Messenger to this son of Messenger and the produce was One Eye. I do not learn that this mare was handsome, but she was an animal of most remarkable courage and endurance. The load was never too heavy nor the road too long. Withal, she had a will of her own and was a little hard to manage unless she was worked constantly. One day when on her mettle she got an eye knocked out by accident, and, hence, her name; but the great quality of this mare was her remarkable trotting action. Those familiar with her gait, and entirely competent to judge, are enthusiastic in the opinion that no trotter of the present day ever surpassed, her in a grand open trotting step. If the patience and skill brought into use in developing the modern trotter had been expended on her, she doubtless would have surpassed all of her day, not even excepting her near relation, old Topgallant. This mare illustrates a point of very great importance. She was got by a son of Messenger that was a running horse of merit and able to beat some of the best of his day, and her dam was a daughter of Messenger. The trotting action of neither sire nor dam had ever been developed, but when these two Messengers came together, the clean, open, unmistakable trotting gait was the result. Right at this point and in this mare, One Eye, we have the incipient cause of all Hambletonian’s greatness. This mare was bred by Jonas Seely, Sr.; given to his son Charles, who sold her to his brother-in-law, Josiah Jackson, of Oxford in Orange County. According the recollection of Mr. Rysdyk, who was entirely familiar with the Seely family and their affairs, she produced as follows:

1829. Bay gelding Crabstick, by Seagull. 1830. Bay gelding Pray Colt, by Seagull. 1831. Bay filly Young One Eye, by Edmund Seely’s horse Orphan Boy. 1833. Bay filly Kent Mare, by imp. Bellfounder. Sold to Mr. Pray. 1834. Bay filly; sold also to Mr. Pray, by imp. Bellfounder. Perhaps there was another foal that died.

The first of her foals, Crabstick, appears to have been well-named. His temper was anything but smooth and pleasant. He was sold early to Mr. Ebenezer Pray, of New York, and he soon evinced two traits of character that did not elevate him in the estimation of his owner. He would throw every one off that dared to mount him, and when they did get him under motion he was determined to pace and not trot. On a certain occasion Mr. Rysdyk visited Mr. Pray, and he was urged to try his skill in riding Crabstick and see if he could make him trot. The attempt was long-continued, and embraced up hill, down hill, and level work, but all to no purpose, as pace he would. At last Mr. Pray proposed to put him over rails and stakes, placed on the road at intervals of a good trotting stride, and see if that would make him quit moving one side at a time. Mr. Rysdyk went up the road and got under good headway, but just before he reached the rails the horse threw him. He was not much hurt, mounted again, and then commenced in earnest the fight for the mastery between the horse and his rider. The value of a neck was nothing when compared with the great question of who should conquer. The next attempt was successful, and he went over the rails flying. The intervals between them were then extended, and he was kept at that most dangerous exercise till he would trot without rails, and until both horse and rider were completely exhausted. The horse was conquered, and although always willful and hard to manage, ever after, when called on to trot, he would do it. Mr. Pray sold him to Mr. Vanderbilt, and, although kept as a private driving horse, he was fast for his day, and could go in less than three minutes at any time.

Her next foal was sold also to Mr. Pray when five years old, and was known as the Pray Colt. He was marked just as his brother Crabstick, and, like him, was somewhat vicious and hard to manage.

The third foal, Young One Eye, was by Edmund Seely’s horse Orphan Boy, whose pedigree is not now known. One of her eyes was knocked out by Peter Seely, accidentally, when breaking her, just as her dam had lost an eye. She passed out of the hands of the Seely family and her subsequent history is unknown. If this mare ever produced anything, her history and that of her descendants would be of great interest and value.

The question at once suggests itself, Where did Crabstick get his pacing action? It could not have been from his sire, as he was a son of Duroc, so said, but it may have come from Seagull’s dam, as we know nothing of her breeding; or it may have come from old Black Jin, the dam of Silvertail. If from neither of these we must then conclude it came from Messenger himself, or rather, through him from some of his pacing ancestors. It is altogether probable that the strong infusion of pacing blood in Messenger’s veins was the real element that made him a trotting progenitor when every other imported English horse failed in that respect.

Silvertail, the great-grandam of Hambletonian, was a dark brown mare with white hind feet and a white face. She had a great many white hairs in her tail and hence she was called Silvertail. She was foaled in 1802 and was bred by Mr. Jonas Seely, Sr., of Sugar Loaf, Orange County, New York. She was got by imported Messenger in 1801, the year he stood at Goshen, New York. Her dam was a great, slashing black mare called “Jin” that Mr. Seely had used in his business many years, but her origin and breeding cannot now be found. She must have been a real good one or Mr. Seely would not have taken her to Messenger. In the summer of 1806, as was his custom, he was down at New York with a drove of cattle, and his son Jonas, then a lad of eight or ten years old, went along to help drive the cattle and to see the city. He was detained two or three days longer than he expected and it was very important that he should reach home at a certain time. On the morning of that day he found himself in Hoboken, with his son, and no means of getting home except on Silvertail. So he took the boy up behind him and went home that day, seventy-five miles, by sundown. She was fully sixteen hands high and of very fine style. Her head, neck and ear were bloodlike, and her resolution and will were remarkable even in old age. Her step, at the trot, is not known to have been much developed, but she could gallop all day long. On several occasions she carried her master to Albany in a day. Besides the famous One Eye she produced several superior foals that brought high prices, in those days, but we have only the one line tracing to her as a producer. She died the property of Ebenezer Seely.

In searching for the particulars of this pedigree of Hambletonian and in tracing it back to old “Black Jin,” I was necessarily brought into contact with a great many people, some of whom were helpful and some were not. As a matter of course I met with the usual number who professed to “know it all,” but really knew nothing that was reliable. As the whole tracing was in the Seely family, the public may wish to know what kind of people they were. Jonas Seely, first, of Oxford in Orange County, was a large farmer in the last century and an extensive cattle feeder and drover. As there were no railroads or steam boats in those days, much of his time was given to driving cattle, either in collecting them from the interior or in taking them to market in New York. He had use for good horses and he had a fancy for the best. His business brought him into contact with the butchers of New York, and we find he sold many of his horses as well as his cattle to them. These same business relations were continued under his successor. He left a large family of sons who seemed to take to the horse as a duck takes to water. Jonas, second, was one of his younger sons and succeeded to his father’s business as well as to the homestead. He was born 1797 at Oxford, and his father removed to the farm at Sugar Loaf when he was a child. He was a thrifty and successful farmer. For a number of years he was engaged with his partner and lifelong friend, Ebenezer Pray, in buying and driving cattle from the West to the New York market. In June, 1882, he passed away and there ended an acquaintance and a friendship of nearly thirty years. He was a strictly conscientious and truthful man, and died in the glorious hope of a devoted Christian. His first visit to New York, in 1806, the wonders he saw there, and especially the total eclipse that occurred while he was there, and how he watched it from the Bull’s Head tavern, through a piece of smoked glass, and the ride home the next day behind his father on Silvertail, and how he ran down many a hill to rest himself, and how tired he was when they reached home, are incidents that were all detailed to me with the interest and vigor of yesterday.

When One Eye was about fifteen years old the elder Jonas gave her or sold her to his son-in-law, Josiah Jackson, and in due time he bred her to imported Bellfounder and she produced the Charles Kent mare. Mr. Rysdyk thought the elder Jonas gave this mare to his son Charles and that Charles sold her to Mr. Jackson, which is not material. After the Kent mare had been battered about in New York for some years and finally crippled, Charles Kent, a butcher, bought her and bred her to Webber’s Tom Thumb, a Canadian horse that was quite a trotter. On one occasion when Jonas II. and Mr. Pray were down in the city, Kent wanted to sell the mare, and Mr. Pray urged Jonas very strongly to buy her and take her home for a brood mare. He concluded to do so if she were not too badly crippled, and they together went over on to the island to see her, when she came again into the Seely family. In 1848 he bred her to Abdallah, in 1849 she produced a bay colt, and in the autumn of that year he sold her with her colt to William M. Rysdyk, who had been employed on his farm for the year, for one hundred and twenty-five dollars, and this colt proved to be the great Hambletonian.

As it is now conceded, not only in this country, but throughout the world, that Hambletonian, as a trotting progenitor, is far and away the greatest horse that has ever been produced, a careful and true analysis of the blood elements entering into his inheritance is a most interesting and instructive lesson for all breeders. First we have the direct cross from Messenger himself in Silvertail; second, we have the cross from a son of Messenger on a daughter of Messenger in One Eye, making her equal to a daughter of Messenger in blood; third, we have the out-cross from Bellfounder, that was a total failure as a trotting progenitor, on this double granddaughter of Messenger, and the result is a trotter in the Kent mare and practically the only trotter that Bellfounder ever got; fourth, we have the cross of a grandson and probably a double grandson of Messenger on this trotter, and the produce is Hambletonian himself. These crosses show a stronger concentration of Messenger blood than can be found in any horse of his generation.

BASHAW (GREEN’S).—This was a black horse, fifteen and a half hands high, bred by Jonas Seely, the breeder of Hambletonian; foaled 1855, and given when following his dam to his son-in-law, Colonel F. M. Cummins, of Muscatine, Iowa. He was got by Vernol’s Black Hawk, then known as the Drake colt, son of Long Island Black Hawk, and his dam was Belle, the first foal of the Charles Kent mare, that was out of One Eye. In the spring of 1857 he was sold to Joseph A. Green, of Muscatine, and he remained his till 1864. He had one white hind foot and a large, full star in his forehead. He was a smooth, handsome horse in every respect. His head, neck, ear and eye were all good, and free from coarseness. His back and loin had very few equals even among those that are called most perfect at these points. His hip was of great length, and in his buttock there was quite a resemblance on a reduced scale to his kinsman, Hambletonian. His limbs and feet both in shape and quality were admirable, and his disposition docile and kindly. In walking his gait was slinging, but loose jointed and slovenly, and he was therefore not a pleasant driving horse. But at the trot, whether going slow or fast, his style was very taking and his action remarkably perfect. While owned by Mr. Green he was handled by good, careful men, but they had no experience in developing and driving a trotter, and knew nothing about that kind of horsemanship. Under these circumstances many a horse would have been spoiled, but his gait was always perfect and his popularity as a trotter never waned. He never was started in what might be called regular races, but at State fairs and the principal county fairs he was always in demand and always won. He was, perhaps, the best natural trotter that I have ever seen. He was able to show about 2:28, but I think he never won a heat on a half-mile track in better than 2:31, and when sixteen years old he was able to win in 2:35. In 1864 Mr. Green sold him to some parties in St. Louis, Missouri, and they to Mr. Beckwith of Hartford, Connecticut, and while in his hands he was matched against Young Morrill, but went amiss and paid forfeit. He made the season of 1865 at Hartford. The following winter Mr. Green repurchased him and he was returned to Muscatine, where he remained till January, 1877, when he was sold to George A. Young, of Leland, Illinois, and died January, 1880.

He left seventeen trotters in the 2:30 list; twenty-four sons that were the sires of fifty-nine standard performers, and thirty-four daughters that produced forty-four standard performers. As his sire never amounted to anything either as a trotter or a getter of trotters, it is fair to conclude that whatever merit he possessed was inherited from the same source that made Hambletonian greater than all others.

BELLE, the dam of Bashaw, 50, was a brown mare about fifteen and three-quarter hands high, with tan muzzle and flanks and some white feet. She was rather short in the body and neck, but she was very stoutly built and had been a fine road mare. She was bred by Charles Kent, the butcher, and I think was following her dam when Mr. Jonas Seely bought her. She was foaled 1843 and was got by Tom Thumb, a Canadian horse, and a trotter that was brought into Orange County by William Webber and left excellent stock. Her dam was the Charles Kent mare, the dam of Hambletonian. She produced as follows:

1848. Bay gelding, by Abdallah. 1849. Bay filly Seely Abdallah, by Abdallah. 1851. Black colt Seely’s Black Hawk, by Long Island Black Hawk. 1853. Bay filly, (taken West) by Hambletonian. 1855. Black colt Green’s Bashaw, by Vernol’s Black Hawk. 1857. Bay filly by Black Hawk Prophet, son of Vermont Black Hawk, in Iowa. This filly was ringboned, and given away.

Nothing is now known of the gelding by Abdallah. The filly of 1849 by Abdallah, called Seely Abdallah, was owned by Mr. Charles Backman, and he had her produce for two or three generations.

The black colt by Long Island Black Hawk of 1851 was sold to Ebenezer Seely, and kept as a stallion. This Mr. Seely died in Chemung County, and the horse died there in the spring of 1859. The filly of 1853 by Hambletonian was one of a pair of Hambletonian fillies bought and taken to Iowa by Mr. Green in 1855. They developed a very fine rate of speed.

Spotted a typo or a problem in this chapter? Tell us

XXII. HAMBLETONIAN’S SONS AND GRANDSONS

Different opinions as to relative merits of Hambletonian’s greater sons—George Wilkes, his history and pedigree—His performing descendants—History and description of Electioneer—His family—Alexander’s Abdallah and his two greatest sons, Almont and Belmont—Dictator—Harold—Happy Medium and his dam—Jay Gould—Strathmore—Egbert—Aberdeen—Masterlode—Sweepstakes—Governor Sprague, grandson of Hambletonian.

There is hardly a prominent sire by Hambletonian that has not been claimed by his admirers to have been the “greatest son” of the most renowned of trotting progenitors, and if a poll of the horsemen of the country could be taken to-day as to what horse was the greatest son of Hambletonian, probably a dozen names would be found to have thousands of supporters each. As with all questions that are largely matters of opinion, and that cannot be decided absolutely by figures, the relative rank of horses as progenitors must always remain open to disputation according as thinkers approach the subject from different points of view and of interest. I shall not enter into any discussion as to the relative merits of the great sons of Hambletonian with a purpose to reach any deduction as to which was or is the greatest; but shall refer the reader to the table given in the preceding chapter, and content myself with briefly giving the history of the more renowned sires of the Hambletonian line, with such statistics as may be necessary to gauge their rank as progenitors.

GEORGE WILKES was one of the first of Hambletonian’s sons to attract attention, by his performances on the turf, to the value of his sire; and as a progenitor he must be accorded a place in the first rank of all trotting sires. This horse was bred by Colonel Harry Felter, Newburgh, New York, was foaled 1856, and was got by Hambletonian out of the fast road mare Dolly Spanker. (This mare was afterward registered on what seemed excellent evidence as by Henry Clay, out of a daughter of Baker’s Highlander, but more recent investigation has thrown serious doubt upon this pedigree, the subject being fully discussed in the chapters in this work on “The Investigation of Pedigrees.”) After the travail that brought the little brown colt into the world, Dolly Spanker died, and the orphaned youngster, like Andrew Jackson, owed his life to woman’s kindly care. He was fed by the women of the farm on Jamaica rum and milk sweetened with sugar, and soon grew lusty, though he was always an undersized horse, never much, if any, exceeding fifteen hands in height, though he was so stoutly and compactly made that he gave the impression of being larger than he really was. He was of that order that has been paradoxically described as “a big little horse.” In color he was a very dark brown, and his flanks and muzzle shaded into a deep tan, or wine color. From a detailed description of him published in the Spirit of the Times in 1862, I extract the following:

“He is about 15.1, but all horse.... His traveling gear is just what it should be—muscular shoulders long strong arms, flat legs, splendid quarters, great length from hip to hock, and very fine back sinews. He stands higher behind than he does forward, a formation we like.... He is very wide between the jaws.... His coat is fine and glows like the rich dark tints of polished rosewood.... His temper is kind. We had the pleasure of seeing him at his work, and unless we are greatly mistaken he will make an amazingly good one. He has a long and easy way of going, striking well out behind and tucking his haunches well under him.”

Though from the fact that this writer stated that Wilkes “was as handsome as Ethan Allen,” we might suspect him of a tendency to “paint the lily,” it will be noted that this was written before the horse had any great reputation to speak of, and it may be accepted as a substantially correct description as far as it goes. In describing his action Charles J. Foster wrote that “his hind leg when straightened out in action as he went at his best pace reminded me of that of a duck swimming.” He was then the property of Z. E. Simmons, who had purchased him as a three-year-old for $3,000, and another horse.

George Wilkes, or Robert Fillingham, as he was first named, was a trotter from colthood. At four years old he was matched against Guy Miller, but his party paid forfeit, the reason therefor being afterward alleged that they found Fillingham possessed of so much speed that they decided to “lay for bigger game.” The late Alden Goldsmith, a most competent judge, saw the colt trot at this time and then thought he was the fastest horse he had ever seen. He won a race in August of his five-year-old year, taking a record of 2:33, and the next year sprang into wide fame by defeating the then popular idol, Ethan Allen, in straight heats, over the Union Course, the fastest heat being in 2:24¾. In October of that year he started in harness against General Butler, under saddle. Though Butler was no match for George Wilkes in harness, with a saddle on his back, and Dan Mace in the saddle, he was almost unbeatable in his day, but it took him four heats to beat Wilkes, who forced him out in the first heat in 2:21½, a record he never after surpassed. Then William L. Simmons and John Morrissey matched Wilkes against Butler, two-mile heats to wagon, the latter having previously beaten the great George M. Patchen a heat in record-breaking time under similar conditions. In preparation for that match George Wilkes was sent a trial over the Centerville Course, concerning which there has been much discussion and probably much romance. Charles J. Foster wrote thus:

“It was a close, sultry day and the stallion was short of work.... He went the two-mile trial and I have no doubt it was faster than trotter ever had before, or has since, in any rig. But it ‘cooked his mutton,’ as the saying is, and for a long time he was George Wilkes no more.”

It is said that ever after this trial, whatever it may have been, George Wilkes was inclined to sulk in his races. He raced with fair success in 1863 and 1864, and at the beginning of 1865 was classed among the very best out. He was sent against Dexter and Lady Thorn, being beaten by both; but in 1866 he twice defeated Lady Thorn, the last time in a notable wagon race over Union Course in 2:27, 2:25, 2:26¾. Afterward in the same year Lady Thorn defeated Wilkes in four successive races, and she beat him again in their only meeting the following year, but in 1868 he defeated the mare in a hard-fought race, she winning the first and second heats and making the fourth heat dead. George Wilkes made his record of 2:22, October 13, 1868, over the Narragansett Course at Providence in a winning race with Rhode Island and Draco. He was kept on the turf with indifferent success until 1872, racing frequently against Lucy, Lady Thorn, and American Girl, all of whom outclassed him, at least in the afternoon of his racing career. Just how fast a trotter George Wilkes was it is impossible definitely to determine, so many and varying have been the representations on that point. It has been claimed that he went a quarter in twenty-nine seconds to an eighty-five pound wagon. William L. Simmons some years ago stated that of his own knowledge George Wilkes trotted a mile and repeat as a six-year-old at the Centerville Course in 2:19¼, 2:18½, and that Sam McLaughlin drove him a half-mile to wagon over Union Course in 1:04½. These statements I give for what may be deemed their worth, contenting myself with the remark that it is safe to conclude that George Wilkes would have trotted well within the 2:20 mark, if he had been managed with a view to bringing out his highest racing capacity, instead of being handled solely for the purpose of smart betting and match-making manipulations.

George Wilkes was taken to Lexington, Kentucky, by William L. Simmons, his owner, in 1873, and in his declining years made a reputation so great in the stud that his brilliant turf career is almost forgotten. After having trotted against the best in the country for twelve successive years, proving his fitness in the fiery ordeal of turf contest, he, in the nine remaining years of his life, fulfilled the purpose of his being, and demonstrated the truth of heredity by getting trotters in plenty able to do and outdo what he had in his day done.

George Wilkes got a few foals before going to Kentucky, of which the most notable was May Bird, 2:21, the first trotter to bring him reputation as a sire. Of the others got in the North, Young Wilkes, 2:28¼, a sire of some reputation, and Wilkes Spirit, who also figures in the table of sires, are the only ones to earn places in the records. Early in the eighties George Wilkes began to assume high rank as a sire, May Bird, Kentucky Wilkes, Prospect Maid, So So, Joe Bunker and others bringing him into prominence. Every year added to his roll of honor and soon he was among the leaders. Blue Bull had surpassed Hambletonian in the number of trotters to his credit in the 2:30 list, but at the close of 1886 George Wilkes was even with the Indiana sire, in 1887 he passed him, and for some seasons led all sires of 2:30 performers. George Wilkes got seventy-two trotters and eleven pacers to acquire standard records, of which the most noted were Harry Wilkes, 2:13½, Guy Wilkes, 2:15¼, and Wilson, 2:16¼; and ninety-four of his sons and eighty-one of his daughters have produced, as shown in the table of Hambletonian’s sons, 1801 standard performers. The following table embraces the sons of George Wilkes that have twenty or more standard performers to their credit:

LEADING SONS OF GEORGE WILKES.

------------------------------------------------------------------ Total No. produced in two generations. -----------------------------------------------------------+ Standard performers produced by sons and daughters. | ----------------------------------------------------+ | Producing daughters. | | ----------------------------------------------+ | | Producing sons. | | | ----------------------------------------+ | | | Standard performers. | | | | ----------------------------------+ | | | | Year foaled. | | | | | ---------------------------+ | | | | | Name. | | | | | | ---------------------------+------+-----+-----+-----+------+------ Red Wilkes, 2:40 | 1874 | 127 | 62 | 41 | 267 | 394 Onward, 2:25¼ | 1875 | 120 | 64 | 32 | 275 | 395 Alcantara, 2:23 | 1876 | 98 | 29 | 15 | 115 | 213 Bourbon Wilkes | 1875 | 67 | 14 | 12 | 45 | 112 Simmons, 2:28 | 1879 | 64 | 13 | 6 | 35 | 99 Wilton, 2:19¼ | 1880 | 61 | 3 | 4 | 8 | 69 Jay Bird, 2:31¾ | 1878 | 57 | 10 | 10 | 68 | 125 Alcyone, 2:27 | 1877 | 55 | 27 | 9 | 117 | 172 Guy Wilkes, 2:15¼ | 1879 | 52 | 10 | 5 | 49 | 101 Ambassador, 2:21¼ | 1875 | 48 | 8 | 3 | 33 | 81 Gambetta Wilkes, 2:26 | 1881 | 48 | 11 | 6 | 32 | 80 Baron Wilkes, 2:18 | 1882 | 47 | 6 | 7 | 18 | 65 Adrian Wilkes | 1878 | 38 | 6 | 7 | 25 | 63 Wilkes Boy, 2:24½ | 1880 | 37 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 45 Young Jim | 1874 | 37 | 11 | 19 | 43 | 80 Brown Wilkes, 2:21¾ | 1876 | 32 | 5 | 1 | 39 | 71 Young Wilkes, 2:28¼ | 1868 | 29 | 6 | 3 | 12 | 41 Favorite Wilkes, 2:24½ | 1877 | 23 | 7 | 6 | 21 | 44 Woodford Wilkes | 1882 | 23 | 1 | 4 | 12 | 35 Wilkie Collins | 1876 | 21 | 5 | 1 | 10 | 31 Lumps, 2:21 | 1875 | 20 | 3 | 10 | 16 | 36 The King, 2:29¼ | 1874 | 20 | —— | —— | —— | 20 Jersey Wilkes | 1881 | 20 | —— | 2 | 2 | 22 ---------------------------+------+-----+-----+-----+------+------

Among the other seventy-one producing sons of George Wilkes: that do not come within the scope of this table are many most promising sires of rapidly growing prominence, and indeed this family is branching out wonderfully in every direction. This family is an emphatically improving one. In extreme speed, in racing capacity, and in form the third Wilkes generation is better than either the second or first. Of trotters, such as Beuzetta, 2:06¾, Ralph Wilkes, 2:06¾, Hulda, 2:08½, Allerton, 2:09¼, the once sensational Axtell, 2:12, and many others of the first rank by sons of George Wilkes sustain this judgment. The pacing instinct is rampant in the Wilkes blood, as is attested by the fact that twenty-five per cent. of the performing get of George Wilkes’ sons are pacers, and frequently pacers of extreme speed, including such as Joe Patchen, 2:03, and Rubenstein, 2:05, while John R. Gentry, 2:00½, Online, 2:04, and Frank Agan, 2:03, are by grandsons of Wilkes. Like his sire, George Wilkes got many sons greater than himself—and after all that is the true test of greatness in a progenitor.

ELECTIONEER has for some years led, far and away, all sires of trotters in the numbers of performers to his credit in both the 2:20 list and 2:30 list, and is generally conceded to have had no equal as a producer of early speed—that is, of colts and fillies that trotted fast at tender ages. In many respects this was the most remarkable horse of any age, for besides being phenomenally prolific in transmitting speed at the trot, and in getting early trotters, he possessed in a higher degree than any sire that has yet lived the ability to control running blood in the dam, and to impress his own instinct and action upon his progeny out of any and all kinds of mares. In speaking on his pet hobby of producing trotters from thoroughbred running mares, Governor Stanford once said to me: “None of my stallions but Electioneer can do it;” and of all the hundreds of stallions that have been mated with thoroughbred mares in the hope of getting a trotter of extreme speed, Electioneer alone was able to do it. Palo Alto, 2:08¼, is so far faster than any other trotting horse out of a thoroughbred dam—the one solitary instance on record of a half-bred trotter of extreme speed—that he is significant in one way, and one only, and that is as an evidence of the phenomenal prepotency of the blood of his sire in controlling instinct and action.

Electioneer was a dark bay horse, foaled May 2, 1868, bred by Charles Backman, at his Stonyford Stud, Orange County, New York. He was got by Hambletonian, out of Green Mountain Maid, by Harry Clay, 2:29, grandam the fast trotting mare Shanghai Mary, pedigree not established, but in all probability a daughter of Iron’s Cadmus, the sire of the famous old pacer and brood mare Pocahontas, 2:17½. (In Chapter XXIX., on the investigation of pedigrees, the history of Shanghai Mary is fully given.) Green Mountain Maid, the dam of Electioneer, has been called by Mr. Backman, and with justice, “the great mother of trotters.” In all she bore sixteen foals, fourteen of which were by the not remarkable horse Messenger Duroc. Electioneer was her second foal and the only one by Hambletonian. Of the other fifteen, nine have records of 2:30 and better, another has a record of 2:31, another, Paul, was a very fast road horse, and two died young. Of her four sons kept entire, Electioneer, Mansfield, Antonio, and Lancelot, all are sires of trotters, and her daughters already figure as producers. The figures would seem to point to the daughter of Shanghai Mary and Harry Clay, 2:29, as perhaps the most wonderful of all great trotting brood mares. She was a brown mare, barely fifteen hands high, with a star and white hind ankles, and was finely formed, with an exceptionally beautifully outlined and expressive head. She had very superior trotting action, the trot being her fastest natural gait. A writer who made a very close study of her history said, on this point, in Wallace’s Monthly:

“Her education was limited to a single lesson when three years old; but previously she had been regularly developed on somewhat the same plan since adopted for early training at Palo Alto, and was probably one of the fastest trotters out of harness that ever lived.”

As a matter of fact Green Mountain Maid, while in no sense vicious, was so highly strung, wild and uncontrollable, that her training was abandoned with the “one lesson” referred to, and she never wore harness again.

Green Mountain Maid was a money producer as well as a speed producer. Mr. Backman paid four hundred and fifty dollars for her when she was carrying her first foal, and the writer above quoted states that up to that date (1889) Mr. Backman had received sixty-eight thousand eight hundred and thirty dollars for such of her progeny as he had then sold. This remarkable mare died June 6, 1888, and a fitting monument marks her grave by the banks of the Walkill.

At maturity Electioneer was of that shade of bay that many might call brown, and stood precisely fifteen and one-half hands at the wither and an inch higher measured at the quarter. Many of his get, notably Sunol, are pronouncedly higher behind than at the wither. In general conformation, Electioneer was a stout and muscular horse, standing on fairly short legs. His head was well proportioned, of fair size, and a model of intelligent beauty. The forehead was broad and brainy, the eyes large and softly expressive, and the profile regular, with just the faintest suggestion of concavity beneath the line of the eyes. Electioneer’s neck was a trifle too short for elegance of proportion, but not gross. His shoulder was good, the barrel round, of good depth and proportionate in length and well ribbed, and the coupling simply faultless. The quarters were marvelous, and Mr. Marvin did not overstate the case when he said they were the best he had ever seen on any stallion. They were the very incarnation of driving power, and recalled Herbert Kittredge’s portrait of Hambletonian, except that there was nothing gross or meaty about the buttocks of Electioneer. They were the perfection of muscular endowment and development. The arms and gaskins, like the quarters, were full with muscle laid on muscle, and the legs and feet were naturally excellent. In the last years of his life he went over on his knees a bit, but that was not strange considering his age, and the fact that he had seen considerable track work. Indeed as long as he was at all vigorous he was daily exercised on the track, and in view of his great success in the stud, this fact has a special significance.

As a three-year-old Electioneer was worked some on the Stonyford farm track to wagon, and Mr. Backman, whose word is good enough authority for all who know him, stated that he showed a quarter to wagon in thirty-nine seconds in that year. Little else is known of his history at Stonyford. He was bred to a few, very few mares, and was evidently not greatly esteemed by Mr. Backman. In the autumn of 1876, ex-Governor Stanford, who was just establishing his great breeding farm, Palo Alto, in the Santa Clara Valley, California, visited Stonyford to purchase stock—principally brood mares. The governor was a great believer in what I may call horse-physiognomy, or to be more exact, he believed in the importance of the right psychical organization, what we commonly call brain force, in horses, and was attracted by the physical evidences thereof as indicated in the head. Electioneer pleased him in this regard, and in his general make-up, and when the governor’s purchase was completed Electioneer went along, being put in at twelve thousand five hundred dollars. He with the other Stonyford purchases arrived at Palo Alto Christmas Eve, 1876.

Though Electioneer never took a record, he was emphatically a developed horse. I do not know whether he was ever driven a full mile or not—Mr. Marvin never drove him one—but it has been stated that one of the other trainers drove him a mile in time somewhere between 2:20 and 2:25. However they may be, Mr. Marvin in his book settles the question as to his having been a fast, trained trotter. He says:

“Electioneer is the most natural trotter I have ever seen. He has free, abundant action; it is a perfect rolling action both in front and behind, and he has not the usual fault of the Hambletonians of going too wide behind. Certain writers have said that Electioneer could not trot, and have cited him as a stallion that was not a trotter yet got trotters.... I have driven, beside Electioneer, a quarter in thirty-five seconds.... He did this, too, hitched to a one hundred and twenty-five-pound wagon, with a two hundred and twenty-pound man, and not a professional driver, either, in the seat. In this rig he could carry Occident right up to his clip, and could always keep right with him; and it was no trick for the famous St. Clair gelding to go a quarter in thirty-four seconds. Without preparation you could take Electioneer out any day and drive him an eighth of a mile at a 2:20 gait. He always had his speed with him.... That Electioneer could have beaten 2:20 if given a regular preparation is with me a conviction about which no doubt exists.”

Mr. Marvin is a conservative and reliable man; he knew whereof he wrote, and his testimony must be accepted as conclusive both as to Electioneer’s having been a naturally fast trotter, and as to his having had his speed developed. Undeveloped horses do not trot quarters in thirty-five seconds.

When in 1880 Fred Crocker, one of the seven foals got by Electioneer in his first year’s service in California, astonished the world by trotting to a two-year-old record of 2:25¾, his sire became instantly famous, and that fame has increased rapidly and steadily from that day to this. It was not allowed for a moment to wane or lag. After Fred Crocker came an ever-surprising procession of young record breakers. In 1881 Hinda Rose made a yearling record of 2:36½, and Wildflower a two-year-old record of 2:21. In 1883 Hinda Rose lowered the three-year-old record to 2:19½, and Bonita the four-year-old record to 2:18¾. In 1886 Manzanita lowered the four-year-old record to 2:16; in 1887 Norlaine, granddaughter of Electioneer, lowered the yearling record to 2:31½; and in 1888 Sunol put the two-year-old record at 2:18, and the year following took a three-year-old record of 2:10½, the fastest to that date. Sunol captured the four-year-old record in 1889, and the world’s record, 2:08¼, in 1891, but what made this the brightest year in all the history of Palo Alto was that Arion lowered the two-year-old record to 2:10¾—the most remarkable of all trotting performances—Bell Bird the yearling record to 2:26¼, and Palo Alto the stallion record to 2:08¾. Electioneer has now to his credit one hundred and fifty-four standard performers, and in this and in the 2:20 list he has a long lead over all other sires. He died at Palo Alto, December 3, 1890, and I am informed that his skeleton has been articulated and mounted for the museum of the Stanford University. The following table gives the sons of Electioneer that up to the close of 1896 had ten or more standard performers to their credit:

LEADING SONS OF ELECTIONEER.

------------------------------------------------------------------ Total No. produced in two generations. -----------------------------------------------------------+ Standard performers produced by sons and daughters. | ----------------------------------------------------+ | Producing daughters. | | ----------------------------------------------+ | | Producing sons. | | | ----------------------------------------+ | | | Standard performers. | | | | ----------------------------------+ | | | | Year foaled. | | | | | ---------------------------+ | | | | | Name. | | | | | | ---------------------------+------+-----+-----+-----+------+------ Saint Bell, 2:24½ | 1882 | 47 | 1 | —— | 1 | 48 Sphinx, 2:20½ | 1883 | 43 | —— | —— | —— | 43 Chimes, 2:30¾ | 1884 | 32 | 3 | —— | 3 | 35 Anteeo, 2:16¼ | 1879 | 28 | 5 | 3 | 12 | 40 Norval, 2:14¾ | 1882 | 24 | 1 | —— | 1 | 25 Egotist, 2:22½ | 1885 | 18 | 1 | —— | 1 | 19 Anteros | 1882 | 16 | —— | 2 | 2 | 18 Elector (2170), 2:31 | 1879 | 16 | —— | —— | —— | 16 Albert W., 2:20 | 1878 | 15 | 1 | —— | 1 | 16 Eros, 2:29¼ | 1879 | 14 | 3 | —— | 4 | 18 Antevolo, 2:19½ | 1881 | 13 | —— | 1 | 11 | 14 *Bell Boy, 2:19¼ | 1885 | 11 | 1 | —— | 1 | 12 Fallis, 2:23 | 1878 | 10 | 1 | —— | 3 | 13 Palo Alto, 2:08¾ | 1882 | 10 | —— | —— | —— | 10 ---------------------------+------+-----+-----+-----+------+------

* Died at 5 years old.

In considering this table it is necessary to remember that the Electioneer family dates from 1878, and that no family of anything approaching so late a date makes a showing that will bear comparison with this. In considering the rank of families this question of age is always vital. Electioneer’s first crop of foals at Palo Alto—1878—numbered seven, and of these two are represented above, while another was the famous gelding Fred Crocker. The next numbered but twenty-one, and of these Eros, Elector, and Anteeo are in the table, and ten are in the 2:20 list. His third and fourth crops (1880 and 1881) numbered sixteen and twenty-three respectively, and the forty of 1882 was the greatest number he ever got in one year. I am informed that in all Electioneer got less than four hundred foals at Palo Alto; and that, since the first one saw light in 1878 this family should in eighteen years make the showing it has with nearly fifty per cent. of its members in the 2:30 list, and four hundred and ninety-three of the second generation also there, is certainly remarkable. Electioneer has to his credit in the 2:15 list the following trotters: Arion, 2:07¾, Sunol, 2:08¼, Palo Alto, 2:08¾, Helena, 2:12½, Belleflower, 2:12¾, Utility, 2:13, Quality, 2:13¼, Conductor, 2:14¼, and Norval, 2:14¾, an “extreme speed list” greater than to the credit of any other sire, while among the get of his sons are such trotters as Azote, 2:04¾, Fantasy, 2:06, Little Albert, 2:10, Lynne Bel, 2:10½, Copeland, 2:11½, Athanio, 2:11¾, Cobwebs, 2:12, etc., etc. Sixty-five of his sons have sired four hundred and thirty-seven performers, and forty-three of his daughters have produced fifty-six performers. With all these facts kept in view the study of the above table will prove interesting and instructive in forming an estimate of the merit of Electioneer as a trotting progenitor.

ALEXANDER’S ABDALLAH was the founder of one of the very greatest of the Hambletonian sub-families, and he stands in the records as a progenitor of the first rank. This was a stout bay horse, about fifteen and one-half hands high. Excepting a right white ankle he was a rich solid bay. The only reliable portrait in existence of this horse was a drawing by Herbert Kittredge, made from a photograph taken of Abdallah after he went to Kentucky. The picture of Abdallah published in this work is a faithful reproduction of the Kittredge portrait published in Wallace’s Monthly for March, 1881, and in the absence of any reliable detailed description of the horse this portrait must be taken as the best reflection we now have of his individuality. He was bred by Lewis J. Sutton, of Warwick, Orange County, New York, and was foaled 1852. Mr. Sutton had in 1851 a good road mare that he had got at Carl Young’s roadhouse in Third Avenue, New York. This mare, Katy Darling, had been quite a trotter, and had, it was said, won a match race on Union Course. Her reputation as a trotter and her fine form caused Mr. Sutton to buy her when, as he describes it, “she was standing on three legs,” in the hope of getting a foal from her. He took her home in March, 1851, and in August bred her to Rysdyk’s Hambletonian, then a two-year-old colt, and September 22, 1852, she produced the subject of this sketch. Two years later Mr. Sutton sold Katy Darling to James W. Benedict, of Warwick, from whom she was purchased by Hezekiah Hoyt, who took her to Muscatine, Iowa, where she produced a chestnut colt that was gelded, by Hector, son of La Tourrett’s Bellfounder. This gelding was her only foal other than Alexander’s Abdallah, and Katy Darling died at Muscatine, the property of a Mr. Stewart. A search was long kept up for the pedigree of this mare, and for the full details of what is known of her history the reader is referred to the different volumes of Wallace’s Monthly. The conclusion from all the evidence found is that she was probably by a son of Andrew Jackson.

As a foal by his dam’s side Alexander’s Abdallah attracted much favorable attention by his fine trotting action, and his persistency in cavorting around at that gait. Among those who took great delight in watching the little fellow trot was Mr. Hezekiah Hoyt, and when the youngster was seventeen months old Mr. Hoyt, acting for, or in partnership with, Major Edsall, bought the colt for five hundred dollars, a fine price at that time. Major Edsall kept him until he was seven years old, and I am under the impression that he won some local races during that time, when he was known as Edsall’s Hambletonian. He was accorded a fairly liberal patronage in Orange County, and his progeny showed so well that Major Edsall sold him for three thousand dollars in 1859 to Joel F. Love and James Miller, of Cynthiana, Kentucky. The Hambletonian family was just then becoming popular, and the price paid indicates that this horse was already regarded by good judges as one of Hambletonian’s best sons. That he was regarded, moreover, as quite a trotter is indicated by the fact that at the close of his second season in Kentucky—1860—Mr. Miller matched him against Albion, a competing stallion, for two hundred and fifty dollars a side. The affair caused quite a sensation at the time, the Cynthiana horsemen going in crowds to Lexington to back Abdallah. The latter was driven by “Jim” Monroe, and Albion by Warren Peabody, and Abdallah won in the hollowest fashion, distancing Albion in 2:46. As youngsters Abdallah’s first progeny in Kentucky showed very well, and in the spring of 1863 he was purchased by R. A. Alexander, and made the seasons of 1863 and 1864 at Woodburn. On the evening of February 2, 1865, Marion’s band of Confederate guerrillas raided Woodburn and took away a number of horses, among them Alexander’s Abdallah and the then famous young trotter, Bay Chief, by Mambrino Chief. Marion mounted Bay Chief and, crossing the Kentucky River, the band encamped on the farm of a Mr. Bush, in a rough, hilly region, twelve miles from Woodburn. Here the next morning the Federal cavalry, that were sent in pursuit after the raid, came up with the raiders, and after a sharp fight routed them. Marion, on Bay Chief, was a conspicuous mark for Federal bullets during the skirmish. Early in the fray Bay Chief was shot through the muzzle, through both thighs, and one hock. In this condition he carried his rider two miles in the retreat, when the horse was so weakened by loss of blood that a Federal cavalryman overtook them. His piece being empty, the soldier aimed a blow at Marion, but missing him, lost his balance, and fell from his horse. The guerrilla leader quickly saw his opportunity, jumped from Bay Chief, mounted the soldier’s horse, and escaped. Bay Chief died about ten days later, despite all efforts made to save him. Meanwhile, Alexander’s Abdallah had been found, safe and sound, by a Federal soldier in Mr. Bush’s stable. The soldier refused to give him up to Mr. Alexander’s men, and declared he would send him North and keep him until he got a large reward for his return. The horse was barefooted and in no condition for hard usage. And so they rode him off, and after going some forty or fifty miles he gave out, and they turned him loose on the road. He was found next day in a pitiable condition by the roadside, and brought back as far as Lawrenceburg on his way home, where he was taken with pneumonia and died a few days later.

Just how great a loss this was to the trotting breed was not realized until long after—until in fact Goldsmith Maid had conquered all before her, and made a record as a campaigner never equaled, and until his two great sons, Almont and Belmont, rose to pre-eminent places in the list of great sires. Other sons of this remarkable progenitor have taken rank as sires, and his daughters proved of the highest excellence as brood mares; but Almont and Belmont have each established such large, important, and popular sub-families that this work would be incomplete without some brief sketch of each.

Alexander’s Abdallah got Goldsmith Maid, 2:14, Rosalind, 2:21⅔, Thorndale, 2:22¼, Major Edsall, 2:29, and St. Elmo, 2:30. Fourteen of his sons have produced one hundred and fifty-five standard performers, and twenty-nine of his daughters have produced forty-four standard performers, among them being the noted campaigners, Favonia, 2:15, and Jerome Eddy, 2:16⅔, the latter also a successful sire. The following table gives the families of his most prominent sons:

LEADING SONS OF ALEXANDER’S ABDALLAH.

------------------------------------------------------------------------ Total No. produced in two generations. ------------------------------------------------------------------+ Standard performers produced by sons and daughters. | -----------------------------------------------------------+ | Producing daughters. | | -----------------------------------------------------+ | | Producing sons. | | | -----------------------------------------------+ | | | Standard performers. | | | | -----------------------------------------+ | | | | Year died. | | | | | ----------------------------------+ | | | | | Year foaled. | | | | | | ---------------------------+ | | | | | | Name. | | | | | | | ---------------------------+------+------+-----+-----+-----+------+----- Almont, 2:39¾ | 1864 | 1884 | 37 | 95 | 72 | 609 | 646 Belmont | 1864 | 1889 | 58 | 63 | 48 | 560 | 618 Hambletonian (Wood’s) | 1858 | 1885 | 24 | 12 | 13 | 49 | 73 Major Edsall, 2:29 | 1859 | 1886 | 3 | 6 | 3 | 87 | 90 Thorndale, 2:22¼ | 1865 | 1894 | 10 | 8 | 14 | 47 | 57 Jim Munro | 1861 | 1882 | 8 | 5 | 17 | 38 | 46 Abdallah Pilot | 1865 | 1881 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 17 | 20 ---------------------------+------+------+-----+-----+-----+------+-----

ALMONT was bred at Woodburn Farm, was foaled 1864, and was by Alexander’s Abdallah out of Sally Anderson, by Mambrino Chief; grandam Kate, a wonderfully fast pacer by Pilot Jr. Colonel R. P. Pepper informed me that he knew Kate as well as any of his own horses, and that her speed at the pace was “simply terrific.” Kate, whose dam was called the Pope mare, pedigree unknown, had several foals, among them the “catch filly” that was the dam of Clay Pilot, sire of The Moor, that got the great brood mare Beautiful Bells, 2:29½, and Sultan, 2:24, the sire of the world-famous Stamboul, 2:07½. Thus the blood of this pacing Pilot Jr. mare figures in three great sub-families, the Almont family, the Beautiful Bells family, and the Sultan family. Almont was a beautiful cherry bay, very rich in shade, and without any white whatever. He was fifteen hands two and one-quarter inches high at the wither, somewhat higher behind, and stoutly and symmetrically made all over. He could not be called a handsome or highly finished horse, but he was emphatically a well-made one. He had very excellent feet and legs, and these he reproduced with great uniformity, as well as his very intelligent and even disposition. He was trained early at Woodburn, and, like his sire, started but once and distanced his competitor in 2:39¾, this being in his four-year-old form. He soon after showed 2:32 over the slow Woodburn track, and was sold to the late Colonel Richard West for eight thousand dollars and put in the stud. In 1874 the late General W. T. Withers, Lexington, Kentucky, bought him for fifteen thousand dollars, and a half dozen of years later he was very generally regarded as the greatest of living sires, and his prestige made the name of Fairlawn Farm of world-wide renown, and made his owner rich. The fact that ninety-five of his sons have sired standard performers, a greater number of producing sons than is to the credit of any other horse, Hambletonian alone excepted, indicates the high rank Almont must be accorded as a progenitor. In considering his success it is well for breeders particularly to note that good judges considered Almont capable of showing a 2:20 gait any day, and that, like Electioneer, he always was daily given regular and ample track exercise. His gait has been described as bold and open, without an excess of knee action, but with immense display of power behind. Almont died of spasmodic colic, July 4, 1884, in the fullness of his fame, and at an age when, had he been more discreetly used in the stud, he should have been at his prime as a stock horse.

Almont was hardly a sensational horse in his day, the performance of Westmont at Chicago in 1884, when he paced a mile with running mate in 2:01¾, being the one sensational performance to the credit of his progeny. This lightning streak of pacing speed that so often crops out in the Almont family can be readily accounted for by the student of breeding. As has been noted, his grandam Kate, by Pilot Jr., was a phenomenally fast pacer, and, as we have indicated, her blood proved potent in more than one line. In addition to this there was a strong tendency to pace among the progeny of Alexander’s Abdallah. St. Elmo was first shown at fairs in Kentucky under saddle and as a pacer, and many others of Abdallah’s get were known to naturally pace. When we reflect that in Almont this Alexander’s Abdallah blood with its pacing predilection was united with the blood of the old lightning pacer, Kate, we need not be surprised at the great number of fast pacers that came from Almont and his sons. Belmont, too, has shown a tendency to get the pacing gait with great frequency, but not in such frequency or at such high rates as his son Nutwood. As there could not be traced any known pacing blood in Belmont’s dam, and as the fact that Alexander’s Abdallah transmitted an inclination to pace has been generally not known or ignored, some writers have been unable to understand why the Belmonts paced. He got pacers because he inherited that capacity from his sire, and Nutwood got more and faster pacers than Belmont, because in him the pacing inclination inherited from Alexander’s Abdallah was reinforced by the strong pacing inheritance of his dam, Miss Russell, the granddaughter of Old Pacing Pilot.

As shown in the table of Alexander’s Abdallah’s sons, Almont got thirty-seven standard performers, ninety-five of his sons sired five hundred and three standard performers, and seventy-two of his daughters produced one hundred and six standard performers. His most successful sons are embraced in the following table:

LEADING SONS OF ALMONT.

------------------------------------------------------------------ Performers produced in two generations. -----------------------------------------------------------+ Standard performers produced by sons and daughters. | ----------------------------------------------------+ | Producing daughters. | | ----------------------------------------------+ | | Producing sons. | | | ----------------------------------------+ | | | Standard performers. | | | | ----------------------------------+ | | | | Year foaled. | | | | | ---------------------------+ | | | | | Name. | | | | | | ---------------------------+------+-----+-----+-----+------+------ Almont Jr. (1829), 2:26 | 1872 | 44 | 7 | 20 | 39 | 83 Altamont, 2:26¾ | 1875 | 39 | 7 | 1 | 10 | 49 Atlantic, 2:21 | 1878 | 24 | 6 | 12 | 22 | 46 Piedmont, 2:17¼ | 1871 | 19 | 3 | 8 | 18 | 37 Almont Jr. (1764), 2:29 | 1871 | 19 | 11 | 11 | 51 | 70 King Almont, 2:21¼ | 1874 | 14 | —— | 1 | 1 | 15 Pasacas, 2:43 | 1870 | 14 | 4 | 6 | 13 | 27 Almonarch, 2:24¾ | 1875 | 13 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 20 Allie Gaines | 1875 | 12 | 5 | 8 | 17 | 29 Harbinger | 1879 | 10 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 13 *Allie West, 2:25 | 1870 | 7 | 4 | 10 | 24 | 31 Abdallah Mambrino | 1870 | 13 | 1 | 11 | 24 | 37 ---------------------------+------+-----+-----+-----+------+------

* Died at 6 years old.

This line is justly regarded with growing favor as one of our very best and most productive sub-families, and one that is breeding on excellently, generation after generation.

BELMONT was a bay horse of very superior form and finish, bred at Woodburn Farm, and foaled there in 1864. He was by Alexander’s Abdallah, out of Belle (that also produced McCurdy’s Hambletonian, 2:26½, and Bicara, the dam of Pancoast, 2:21¾) by Mambrino Chief; grandam Belle Lupe, by Brown’s Bellfounder. Belmont and Almont were of the same age, and, perhaps because of his finer appearance, Belmont seems to have been the preferred one at Woodburn, and was retained while Almont was sold. Though Belmont was a successful horse and established a great family, no thinking man can contend that he was the equal of Almont as a sire, when all the circumstances are considered. Almont spent almost his entire stud career at Fairlawn, where there never were five mares worthy in blood to be in a great trotting stud, where there were scores of mares of all kinds of poor and freakish pedigrees, even to “Arabs,” and where none of the stock was ever trained. Belmont, on the other hand, was all his life at the head of the most famous, and, in his younger years, unquestionably the best collection of trotting brood mares in the world, and where a training department was always maintained. Remembering these conditions, and contemplating the statistics of the two families, it is interesting to speculate as to how the records would stand had Belmont been at Fairlawn, and Almont at Woodburn.

LEADING SONS OF BELMONT.

------------------------------------------------------------------ Performers produced in two generations. -----------------------------------------------------------+ Standard performers produced by sons and daughters. | ----------------------------------------------------+ | Producing daughters. | | ----------------------------------------------+ | | Producing sons. | | | ----------------------------------------+ | | | Standard performers. | | | | ----------------------------------+ | | | | Year foaled. | | | | | ---------------------------+ | | | | | Name. | | | | | | ---------------------------+------+-----+-----+-----+------+------ Nutwood, 2:18¾ | 1870 | 136 | 90 | 69 | 432 | 568 King Rene, 2:30½ | 1875 | 35 | 17 | 16 | 55 | 90 Egmont | 1873 | 34 | 13 | 11 | 38 | 72 Wedgewood, 2:19 | 1871 | 31 | 12 | 9 | 60 | 91 Vatican, 2:29¼ | 1879 | 14 | —— | —— | —— | 14 Warlock | 1880 | 12 | —— | —— | —— | 12 Monaco | 1878 | 11 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 18 Waterloo, 2:19¼ | 1882 | 10 | —— | 1 | 1 | 11 Meander, 2:26½ | 1879 | 10 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 17 Mambritonian, 2:20½ | 1883 | 10 | —— | —— | —— | 10 Herschell | 1883 | 10 | —— | —— | —— | 10 ---------------------------+------+-----+-----+-----+------+------

Belmont, besides having the advantage of excellent individuality was also a trotter of no mean speed. He was driven a mile over the working track at Woodburn in 2:28½, and was, therefore, a quite well-developed trotter. He never appeared in public, and has, therefore, no public history. The most successful of his sons has been Nutwood, whose dam was Miss Russell, the dam of Maud S. This horse was himself a fast trotter in his day, taking a record of 2:18¾, and rose to great popularity and success in the stud. Daughters of Belmont, being nearly all out of producing mares, are greatly and justly esteemed as brood mares. Belmont died at Woodburn November 15, 1889. Belmont got fifty-eight standard performers, sixty-three of his sons sired four hundred and eighty-nine standard performers, and forty-eight of his daughters produced seventy-one standard performers. The rank of his best sons is shown on the preceding page; all having ten or more in the list of standard performers being included in the table.

VOLUNTEER stands pre-eminent among trotting sires as the one horse against not one of whose get the epithet “quitter” was, as far as I am aware, ever hurled. He did not get speed with remarkable uniformity, nor did his progeny develop speed early or rapidly. They required persistent training, but when speed was developed in a Volunteer you had with it every other quality of a resolute, enduring race horse. They were hardy, rugged, good-limbed horses, and uniformly possessed stamina and resolution in the highest degree. Volunteer had the advantage of being owned by Alden Goldsmith, an ambitious and experienced horseman, and the father of two of the most successful trainers of our day. The Volunteers had, therefore, every advantage that training could give, and his rise to fame was largely due to Mr. Goldsmith’s constantly developing and racing his progeny.

In 1853 Mr. Joseph Hetzel, Florida, Orange County, New York, bred the bay mare Lady Patriot to Hambletonian, 10, and Volunteer was foaled May 1, 1854. This mare, Lady Patriot, was by a horse called Young Patriot, and out of Mr. Lewis Hulse’s trotting mare, and that is all that is known of her pedigree. Her sire’s pedigree is wholly unknown. She produced a numerous family, among them being Sentinel, 2:29¾, and Green’s Hambletonian, brothers of Volunteer, and of some rank as sires, and Marksman, by Thorndale, that is also in the table of sires, while her daughter Heroine, sister to Volunteer, produced Shawmut, 2:26.

Volunteer was a bay horse, with a little white around the left hind coronet, fifteen hands three inches at the wither, and sixteen hands measured at the coupling. He has been considered by many good judges to have been the handsomest of all the sons of Hambletonian. He was a horse of superb form and of great elegance of carriage. With sufficient of muscle and substance, he was built on graceful, finished lines, with a beautiful head loftily carried, a long and graceful neck, a body stout but finely molded, and all set off by a handsome mane and tail. His feet and legs were of superb quality, and despite his great age they were, it is said, without fault or blemish to the last. His temper and disposition were good, though he was very high-spirited, and in harness he was especially attractive. As a four-year-old Volunteer was sold to Mr. R. C. Underhill, of Brooklyn, after he had won a premium at the Orange County fair. In April, 1861, Mr. Underhill sent him to Tim T. Jackson, of Jamaica, Long Island, and in Wallace’s Monthly for December, 1880, Mr. Jackson gave his experiences with Volunteer, making among others this specific statement:

“I had him at Union Course one day, and met Mr. Alfred M. Tredwell there, and I got him to hold that watch on him. Had him in quite a heavy single-seated wagon, weighing probably one hundred and twenty-five or one hundred and thirty pounds. On the first trial he trotted in 2:33. I said to Mr. Tredwell that he could beat that, and he trotted the next mile in 2:31¼.”

He had previously been trained by William Whelan, at Union Course. It was June 26, 1862, while he was in Jackson’s hands, that Alden Goldsmith, in partnership with Edwin Thorne, purchased this horse, then called Hambletonian Jr., and he soon afterward became the sole property of Mr. Goldsmith. Mr. Rysdyk greatly resented his having been called Hambletonian Jr., and early regarded him as a possible rival of Hambletonian, and there was war from the start between the adherents of sire and son. The Civil War was just then at its height, and the patriotic and military spirit rampant, and Mr. Goldsmith aptly named his horse Volunteer. Mr. H. T. Helm, who wrote a very detailed history of Volunteer twenty years ago, credits him with having trotted in 2:36 to wagon at the Goshen Fair in the fall of 1862, beating Winfield, Grey Confidence and others. At Hartford, Connecticut, in August, 1867, he beat George M. Patchen Jr., in a single dash in 2:37. He was, like nearly all the other great sires, a developed trotter.

It is said that his early stud opportunities were so limited that at ten years old he had but eighteen living foals. The first of his get entered the 2:30 list in 1871, but from that time on his list rapidly grew, and the great campaigners Gloster, Alley, Driver, Bodine, Huntress, the great three-miler, and finally St. Julien, 2:11¼, then the fastest trotter in the world, so spread the fame of Volunteer that when his sire died in 1876 he was regarded as the greatest living sire of trotters. In 1882 Mr. R. S. Veech, probably the most intelligent breeder in all Kentucky, while on a visit to New York, telegraphed Mr. Goldsmith to know whether it was worth while for him to visit Walnut Grove, with a view to buying Volunteer, and Mr. Goldsmith’s answer reveals the regard in which he held his horse. The pith of his admirably written letter was in this paragraph:

“While there is no person that would be more welcome at the farm than yourself, if the only object of your visit would be the purchase of Volunteer, then your trip would not be a profitable or successful one, as no breeder in Kentucky has money enough to buy him.... I have as high a regard for money as the most of men for the uses it may subserve, but there are certain things which money cannot buy, as the Teacher of old taught Simon the Samaritan.”

And so Volunteer remained at Walnut Grove, and “lagged superfluous on the stage” long after his owner had passed away, and died December 13, 1888, at the extraordinary age of thirty-four years, seven months and twelve days.

Volunteer sired thirty-four standard performers, and forty of his sons and forty-eight of his daughters produced an aggregate of two hundred and twenty-one standard performers. The most successful of his sons is the Michigan sire, Louis Napoleon, that was out of the Harry Clay mare, Hattie Wood, dam also of Victor Bismarck and Gazelle, 2:21. Louis Napoleon has twenty-seven in the standard list, and fourteen of his sons and twenty-two of his daughters are producers, his best son being Jerome Eddy, 2:16½, sire of Fanny Wilcox, 2:10¼, and twenty-seven other standard performers.

DICTATOR very early in his career attracted attention as the full brother to the famous Dexter, who was his senior by five years, and who was king of the trotting turf, and the most famous trotter in all the world just at the time when Dictator was merging from colthood to maturity. Dictator had thus from the very start the advantage of splendid stud opportunities. He was bred by Jonathan Hawkins, of Walden, Orange County, New York, and was foaled in 1863. He was got by Hambletonian out of the famous Clara, the dam of Dexter, 2:17¼, Alma, 2:28¾, Astoria, 2:29½, etc., by Seely’s American Star; grandam the McKinstry mare, breeding unknown, but that produced Shark with a saddle record of 2:27¾. Dictator was a seal-brown horse with a white rear ankle, and stood scant fifteen hands and one inch. He was made on a small but a fine model, and was, all in all, a handsome little horse, and most of his get partook of his fine quality of structure, though many were unsound. Shortly after Dexter made his début on the turf, Dictator was bought by Mr. Harrison Durkee, a wealthy New York gentleman who had an extensive stock farm at Flushing, Long Island. The colt was then but eleven months old and was left at the Hawkins farm until two years old. Then he was sent to Mr. Alden Goldsmith’s place, at Washingtonville, to be broken, after which he was taken to Mr. Durkee’s farm. The colt was very fast, but the fame of Dexter was already wide, and, no great importance being attached to development of stallions in that day, he was considered of more value for breeding than for racing. He was worked considerably at Mr. Durkee’s farm, and Colonel John W. Conley and H. C. Woodnut, who at different times had charge of him, have both declared that they knew him to be one of the fastest trotters of his day. In 1874 Colonel Richard West sold Almont to General Withers, and to fill his place leased Dictator in the autumn of 1875, and he made the seasons of 1876 and 1877 at Colonel West’s Edgehill farm, Georgetown, Kentucky. Standing at a higher fee than Almont or George Wilkes, he attracted little outside patronage, and he was returned to Long Island. It has been stated that when at Colonel West’s, George Brasfield drove Dictator quarters as fast as thirty-four and one-half seconds. After his return to Flushing he sank from public notice until the appearance of Director as a great three-year-old in 1880. Then a couple of years later came the phenomenal Jay-Eye-See, and close after him Phallas, and with these three great trotters on the turf at once “the sire of Jay-Eye-See, 2:10, Phallas, 2:13¾, and Director, 2:17,” came again prominently before the public. In 1883 he was purchased by Major H. C. McDowell, and Messrs. David Bonner and A. A. Bonner, for a price that was said to have been twenty-five thousand dollars, and taken to Ashland farm at Lexington. Eventually he became the sole property of Major McDowell, and died May 25, 1893.

Dictator did not get speed uniformly. He was what might be called a sporadic sire, but those of his get that raced at all raced well. By far his best son as a producer is Director, 2:17, that was out of Dolly by Mambrino Chief, and is the sire of sixteen trotters and pacers with records in the 2:20 list, including the champion trotting stallion Directum, 2:05¼, and the one-time champion pacing stallion, Direct, who after being practically crippled in trotting to a four-year-old record of 2:18¼, carrying great weights to keep him at that gait, was allowed to go at his natural gait and paced in 2:05½, and is already a very successful sire. Phallas, 2:13¾, of whom high hopes were entertained, and who had great opportunities, proved practically a failure in the stud, though his son Phallamont, out of an Almont mare, ranks with Direct as the best of Dictator’s grandsons. Dictator got fifty standard performers, forty-four of his sons have produced one hundred and seventy-three standard performers, and forty-two of his daughters have produced sixty-one standard performers.

HAROLD became very famous when Maud S. became queen of the turf with the then marvelous record of 2:08¾, a record that stood unequaled from 1885 till 1891. This horse was bred by Charles S. Dole, Crystal Lake, Illinois, by whom he was sold, in an exchange of horses, to Woodburn Farm, when he was a yearling. He was foaled in 1864, and his dam was Enchantress (the dam also of Black Maria and of Lakeland Abdallah), by Abdallah. It was long claimed that this mare’s dam was a daughter of imported Bellfounder, but investigation exploded this claim. Harold was a bay horse, without marks, just fifteen hands high, stoutly made but very homely of form. He had a finely made head, but otherwise he was exceedingly plain, and when Maud S. came out the late Benjamin Bruce, in the Kentucky Live Stock Record, expressed wonder that “that little bench-legged stud” could have gotten such a mare. Harold’s full brother, Lakeland Abdallah, was far superior to him individually, but ranks with Hetzel’s Hambletonian, the brother to Volunteer, and Kearsarge, by Volunteer out of Dexter’s dams, in the fore front of the well-bred failures in trotting history. Largely from his individuality Harold was never, even when Maud S. was in the heyday of her renown, a popular horse, and the figures given by the Woodburn management say that in his entire career he was bred to but five hundred and ninety-four mares, or an average of about twenty-five for each of his twenty-three seasons. With the exception of Maud S., Harold got nothing of the first class, but in the second generation the family holds better rank in respect to extreme speed production. Beuzetta, 2:06¾, Early Bird, 2:10, The Conqueror, 2:13, and the great three-year-old Impetuous, 2:13, are out of daughters of Harold, while Kremlin, 2:07¾, Io, 2:13½, Rizpah, 2:13½, Russellmont, 2:12¾, and the great pacer Robert J., 2:01½, are among the produce of his sons, and the present queen of the trotting turf, Alix, 2:03¾, is out of a daughter of Attorney, by Harold. Harold died at Woodburn, October 6, 1893. This horse never trotted in public, but he was worked some for speed at Woodburn. As a six-year-old he is said to have trotted the farm track in 2:40½, in which mile it is stated he “grabbed a quarter” and was not worked again. He is the sire of forty-four standard performers, forty-three of his sons have produced one hundred and eighty-one standard performers, and forty-five of his daughters have produced sixty-seven standard performers.

HAPPY MEDIUM was bred by R. P. Galloway, of Sufferen, New York, and was foaled 1863. He was by Hambletonian, out of the famous old campaigner Princess, 2:30, that trotted ten miles in 29:10¾ and two miles in 5:02, and was the great rival of Flora Temple, 2:19¾. Princess was a bay mare, foaled 1846, by Andrus’ Hambletonian, son of Judson’s Hambletonian, that was by Bishop’s Hambletonian, son of imported Messenger; and her dam was the Wilcox mare, by Burdick’s Engineer, son of Engineer, by imported Messenger. She campaigned from ocean to ocean, and her career is perhaps the most remarkable of the earlier trotting days. When young she was mixed gaited, alternately pacing and trotting, and was put to work hauling logs. Then her owner traded her for a second-hand wagon, and finally she reached the hands of D. M. Gage, of Chicago. He put her into training, and she trotted some indifferent races as Topsy, was sold, and taken across the plains to California. Here in 1858 she beat New York, taking her record of 2:30. Then she fell into the hands of the notorious “Jim” Eoff, and the next year was matched against the then crack trotter of California, Glencoe Chief, at ten miles to wagon. These were golden days on the coast, and this race was for the enormous stake of thirty-six thousand five hundred dollars. Princess won easily in 29:10¾, but the Glencoe Chief party being dissatisfied, another race was trotted the next day at the same distance for five thousand dollars, Princess again winning. There was after this nothing on the coast to race with Princess, and Eoff brought her to New York to try conclusions with Flora Temple. Her first race with Flora was at three-mile heats at Eclipse Course, Long Island, Flora winning, but at two-mile heats a week later Princess won in 5:02, 5:05. In their subsequent races Flora turned the tables, though in a stubborn contest at two-mile heats Princess forced the then queen of the turf to make the long unbeaten record of 4:50½. She was then retired from the turf, and after passing through several hands became the property of R. F. Galloway, who in 1862 bred her to Hambletonian.

Happy Medium was a bay horse, with star, snip, and two white rear ankles, fifteen hands two inches in height, and was a shapely, attractive horse, with excellent legs and feet. Some critics have found fault that he was light barreled, and perhaps with some degree of reason, but as a whole he was structurally much above the average of his time. As a four-year-old he started at the Goshen Fair and won, taking a record of 2:54, which he lowered to 2:51 in 1868. The next year, 1869, at Paterson, New Jersey, he distanced Guy Miller and Honesty in 2:34½, 2:32½, and these three performances, all winning ones, comprise his entire turf career. He was in 1871 purchased at a very large price—said to have been twenty-five thousand dollars—by Mr. Robert Steel, who placed him at the head of his Cedar Park Farm, at Philadelphia. In 1879 he was purchased by the late General W. T. Withers, and taken to his Fairlawn Farm, Lexington, Kentucky, where he remained until he died, January 25, 1888, at which time he had more 2:30 performers to his credit than any horse then living. The Happy Mediums developed speed easily and quickly, and were remarkable for the purity of their gait. The most famous of his get is the mare Nancy Hanks, that lowered the world’s record to 2:04 in 1892. The mares bred to Happy Medium never were as a whole of good breeding, and in his early stud career they were largely of inferior blood and quality. His fame has steadily grown, and with ninety-two standard performers to his credit, and his sons and daughters breeding on, the blood of Happy Medium is justly held in very high esteem as a positive speed-producing element. Fifty-one of his sons have produced two hundred and thirteen, and forty-seven of his daughters have produced fifty-nine standard performers.

JAY GOULD was one of the most famous of all the sons of Hambletonian on the turf and the sensational trotting stallion of his day, and he now, in turn, takes a high place among producing sons of the great father of trotters. This horse was bred by the late Richard Sears, of Orange County, New York, was foaled 1864, and was got by Hambletonian, out of Lady Sanford, by Seely’s American Star; grandam Old Sorrel, by Exton Eclipse; third dam by Lawrence’s Messenger Duroc, etc. At maturity Jay Gould was a handsome, blood-like horse, fifteen and one-half hands high, and a rich bay in color, with white hind ankles. With his dam he was sold while at her side to Charles H. Kerner, of New York, who soon after traded them to John Minchin, of Goshen, for the then well-known trotter Drift, Mr. Kerner also paying a fair sum in cash. Later the colt came into the hands of A. C. Green, of Fall River, and was by him named Judge Brigham. It is said that Mr. Green first learned that Judge Brigham was a fast trotter through his taking fright at a train one day in 1870 and running away with him at a trot. Whatever the facts as to this are, it was soon known that Mr. Green had a very fast trotter, and the next season (1871) he started for a five-thousand-dollar purse at Buffalo, among the other starters being the already famous Judge Fullerton. To the general astonishment, Judge Brigham “cut loose” in the second heat, winning it in 2:22, thus equaling the stallion record then held by George Wilkes, and placing to his credit the fastest heat ever up to that time trotted by a horse in his maiden race. He won the race handily, and was the sensation of the time. He was at once purchased for, I believe, the great price of thirty-five thousand dollars by the late world-famous financier, Jay Gould, H. N. Smith, and George C. Hall. Later Mr. Smith acquired Mr. Hall’s interest, and Mr. Kerner bought Mr. Gould’s, and finally, some years after, Mr. Smith, who had established Fashion Stud Farm, at Trenton, New Jersey, and owned the noted mares Goldsmith Maid, 2:14, Lady Thorn, 2:18¼, and Lucy, 2:18¼, became sole owner of Jay Gould, as Judge Brigham was renamed.

The week following his Buffalo race Jay Gould defeated another strong field at Kalamazoo, Michigan; and in 1872 started four times, winning in all his races, lowering his record to 2:21¼, the then champion stallion record. He was kept in the stud in 1873, but being challenged on behalf of Bashaw Jr., the following year, was given a hurried fall preparation, and met his challenger at Baltimore. Bashaw Jr., broke down in the first heat, and Gould of course won an empty victory, but to satisfy the audience was driven a public trial in 2:19½. Meanwhile Smuggler had lowered the stallion record to 2:20, and Jay Gould was sent against it at Boston, trotting under unfavorable circumstances in 2:20½ and 2:21½. This practically closed his turf career. He made a number of seasons at Fashion Farm, and in his later years at Walnut Hill Farm, near Lexington, Kentucky, and died of old age June 10, 1894. Jay Gould’s opportunities were never of the best. In his earlier years in the stud General Knox was more used at Fashion Farm than Jay Gould, and there was no training done at Fashion until 1886. Jay Gould is the sire of twenty-nine standard performers, the most noted of which is the great mare Pixley, 2:08¼. Fourteen of his sons have produced thirty standard performers, and twenty-eight of his daughters have produced forty-six performers, among the latter being the great pacer, Robert J., 2:01½, and such trotters as Poem, 2:11½, Colonel Kuser, 2:11¼, Mahogany, 2:12¼, Edgardo, 2:13¾, etc. His most noted producing daughter is Lucia, whose dam was the famous old trotting mare Lucy, 2:18¼, by George M. Patchen, 2:23½. Lucia is the dam of Edgardo, 2:13¾, Hurly Burly, 2:16¼, and several others in the 2:30 list, and her blood is breeding on through both her sons and daughters.

STRATHMORE, taking all things into consideration, must be rated among the very greatest sons of Hambletonian. He was a solid bay horse, of the substantial Hambletonian type, foaled 1866, bred by Aristides Welch at his Chestnut Hill farm, near Philadelphia, and was got by Hambletonian out of the quite famous trotting mare Lady Waltermire, by North American, and Lady Waltermire’s dam was said to have been by Harris’ Hambletonian. This North American sired Whitehall, that got the famous trotter Rhode Island, sire of the still more celebrated Governor Sprague, and in the section treating of the latter the reader will find particulars concerning North American. Lady Waltermire was a noted trotting mare in her day, and it has been claimed that she performed faster than 2:30, but I have never been able to substantiate this claim. When Strathmore was a three-year-old, in 1869, I visited Chestnut Hill. Mr. Welch then had three sons of Hambletonian, viz., William Welch, Rysdyk, and Strathmore, who was then called Goodwin Watson. The two former were led out to be shown, but when I inquired for Goodwin Watson, Mr. Welch’s reply was “Oh, he’s a pacer”—except that he used an adjective in connection with “pacer” that added emphasis, and betrayed some degree of regret, or indeed disgust. The fact that several of Strathmore’s sons have gotten many fast pacers need not be marveled at. I am not aware that Strathmore was ever trained, and probably his pacing inclination furnishes the reason. When he was seven years old he was purchased by Colonel R. G. Stoner, of Paris, Kentucky, and named Strathmore, and up to this time, Colonel Stoner states, he had but three foals, one of which was afterward known as Chestnut Hill, 2:22½, the first of his get to earn a reputation. His first two seasons were made in Montgomery County, after which he was taken to Paris, in Bourbon County. Colonel Stoner states in one of his catalogues that Strathmore’s early opportunities in Kentucky were very inferior; that in 1877 and 1878 the service fees earned would not pay for his keep; that up to 1879 he never served a mare with a record or the dam of an animal with a record, and that it was not until Steinway trotted in 1878 as a two-year old in 2:31¾, and Santa Claus as a five-year-old in 2:18 in 1879 that any good mares came to Strathmore. At Colonel Stoner’s sale, February 9, 1886, Strathmore was sold for two thousand one hundred and fifty dollars to Rockhill & Bro., of Fort Wayne, Indiana, and they owned him until his death, March 11, 1895. Strathmore has seventy-one in the standard list; twenty-six of his sons and fifty-four of his daughters have produced one hundred and fifty-eight standard performers.

EGBERT is one of the youngest sons of Hambletonian, and has achieved very fair success in the stud. He is closely inbred to the Hambletonian, or rather the Abdallah blood, and is possibly the most notable instance of a successful sire being very closely inbred. Egbert was bred by Hon. J. H. Walker, Worcester, Massachusetts, and was foaled in 1875. He was sold at the sale of Mr. Walker’s horses at Worcester in the autumn of 1877, when he was purchased for the then great price for a two-year-old of three thousand four hundred and twenty-five dollars by H. J. Hendryx, of Michigan, a representative of Mr. Veech, of Kentucky, being a contending bidder. After the sale Mr. Hendryx sold the colt for four thousand dollars to George W. Raudenbush, of Reading, Pennsylvania, who I believe still owns him. In the spring of 1880 Egbert was taken by Colonel Richard West to his farm at Georgetown, Kentucky, and kept there a number of years, and indeed the greater part of his stud career has been in Kentucky. I am not aware that Egbert was ever trained. He is individually a superior horse, but is alleged to have an unkind disposition.

Egbert was got by Hambletonian out of Campdown, by Messenger Duroc (son of Hambletonian); grandam Miss McLeod (dam of Lord Nelson, 2:26¼, and Polonius), by the Holbert Colt (son of Hambletonian); great-grandam May Fly, by Utter Horse, son of Hoyt’s Comet; great-great-grandam Virgo, sister to the dam of Messenger Duroc, by Roe’s Abdallah Chief, son of Abdallah, the sire of Hambletonian. The Holbert Colt, son of Hambletonian, was a pacer, and others in Egbert’s ancestry paced; and in commenting on his pedigree, from this point of view, at the time Colonel West took him to Kentucky, I remarked in Wallace’s Monthly, March, 1880: “Colonel West need not be surprised if he finds quite a number of Egbert’s offspring starting off at a pace.” The facts have borne out the prediction, as a glance at Egbert’s long list of fast pacers will show. Egbert is the sire of seventy-five standard performers, while twenty-five of his sons, and eighteen of his daughters have produced seventy-four standard performers.

MASTERLODE, that left a family of some merit in Michigan, was a mammoth bay, foaled 1868, got by Hambletonian out of Lady Irwin by Seeley’s American Star. He was a gigantic, coarse horse, and was certainly the largest horse that ever earned a reputation as a sire of trotters. It is said he was quite seventeen hands high and was built on a heavy mold even for his height. He was bred by James M. Mills, Orange County, New York, and passed to A. C. Fisk, Coldwater, Michigan, who owned him until his death in 1892. The most noted of his get was Belle F., 2:15¼, that was one of the very best campaigners out in 1886. He has twenty-eight to his credit in the list, and seventeen of his sons and sixteen of his daughters have produced in all fifty-seven standard performers.

ABERDEEN shares with Dictator such honors as attach to the highest success of the “Hambletonian-Star cross” in the stud. This horse was bred by the notorious Captain Isaiah Rynders, at Passaic, New Jersey, and a full account of the investigation of the pedigree of his dam, the noted Widow Machree, 2:29, will be found in Chapter XXIX., on the investigation of pedigrees. Widow Machree was altogether the best trotter of the American Star family, and was especially noted for her gameness. Bred to Hambletonian, it was natural that she should produce a trotter, and Aberdeen was quite a trotter in his day. As a three-year-old he won a stake at Prospect Park, distancing his field in 2:46, and the statement has been published that he later in his career trotted a slow New Jersey track in 2:24¼. This horse was foaled in 1866, and was a bay fifteen hands three inches high, and very stoutly, indeed coarsely made, and was of a dangerously vicious disposition. The good race mare Hattie Woodward, that made a record of 2:15½, first attracted attention to Aberdeen as a sire, and in 1881 he was purchased by General Withers and taken to Fairlawn, and before this his stud opportunities had been very limited. He died in 1892. By far the best of his get is the great mare Kentucky Union, that made a record of 2:07¼ in 1896. Aberdeen has forty in the standard list, fourteen of his sons have produced fifty-seven, and seventeen of his daughters have produced nineteen standard performers.

SWEEPSTAKES must be classed among the successful sons of Hambletonian as a sire of trotters, though in the second generation his family have yet failed of great distinction, nor did Sweepstakes himself get extreme speed. This was a bay horse, foaled 1867, by Hambletonian out of Emma Mills, that also produced Mott’s Independent, by Seely’s American Star. He was bred by the late Harrison Mills, near Goshen, in Orange County, New York, and was never, I believe, trained. Indeed it has been stated that he never wore harness, and is perhaps the most remarkable example of a strictly undeveloped sire of trotters. The most noted of his get is the bay horse Captain Lyons, 2:17¼. Sweepstakes sired thirty-three trotters and two pacers that are standard performers, four sons have produced eight trotters and two pacers, and twenty of his daughters have produced twenty-five trotters and four pacers.

GOVERNOR SPRAGUE is one of the few horses not descended in the male line from one of the great foundation progenitors, and that yet was a trotter of merit and the founder of a trotting family. His dam, however, was a producing daughter of Hambletonian, and this must be regarded as the probable source of his power, though his sire was a fine trotter for his day.

Back in the thirties a Frenchman living at Rouse’s Point, New York, near the Canadian boundary line, bred a pacing mare to a horse that was kept in the same stable with Sir Walter, thoroughbred son of Hickory, and the result was the horse known as North American, or the Bullock Horse. It was long claimed that North American was by Sir Walter, but the best authenticated version is given in Wallace’s Monthly, for 1880. This was the statement of a Mr. Ladd, said to be a reliable man, who knew the Frenchman who bred North American. Ladd had formerly lived at Rouse’s Point, and kept a little hotel at Benson’s Landing on Lake Champlain. Ladd’s statement was that the Frenchman had a little pacing mare, from which he wanted to raise a foal, but would not pay more than three dollars for any horse’s service. Sir Walter’s fee was fifteen dollars, but in the same stable was a large stallion that was used to haul water from the lake to the hotel, and the Frenchman was permitted to have the service of this horse for three dollars, and this is the only reliable version I could ever obtain as to the pedigree of North American. Besides the line we are now considering, this horse got Lady Waltermire, the dam of the great Strathmore, and one of his daughters is the dam of two in the 2:30 list, and Vergennes Black Hawk came from another. North America was said to have been a natural trotter, and quite fast for a short distance. A son of his, named Whitehall, from the name of the place where he was bred, was taken to Ohio from New York about 1854 and there got the noted Rhode Island, 2:23½, the sire of Governor Sprague. Rhode Island was a brown horse, foaled about 1857, and his dam was by a black horse called Davy Crockett that was brought from Pennsylvania, and her dam was called Bald Hornet. This mare, Mag Taylor, was bred to Whitehall twice, one of her foals being Belle Rice, the dam of the stallion Harry Wilkes, sire of Rosalind Wilkes, 2:14¼, and the other was Rhode Island. This horse trotted many races, and at Fashion Course, New York, October 27, 1868, earned his record of 2:23½. He about this time passed into the hands of Sprague & Akers, and he died in 1875. At this time Governor Amasa Sprague had among his brood mares Belle Brandon, by Rysdyk’s Hambletonian out of a daughter of Young Bacchus. This was a bay mare, foaled in 1854 in Orange County, and was a fast trotter and a mare of great general excellence. She was driven as a mate to Sprague’s Hambletonian, and Mr. Sprague claimed that he had once driven her a mile in 2:29. Bred to Volunteer she produced Amy, 2:20¼, and to Rhode Island, produced in 1872, Governor Sprague, 2:20½.

Governor Sprague was a black horse, approximating fifteen hands two inches in height, and very substantially built. He is described as having been an exceedingly handsome horse, especially in action, his gait having been pure and beautiful. In 1873 he was sent to Kansas and trained, and so promising was he that he was that year sold to Higbee Brothers and Mr. Babcock, of Canton, Illinois, for one thousand five hundred dollars. He was shown and known as a very fast four-year-old, trotting public exhibitions in about 2:22. With the exception of a three-year-old race at Earlville, Illinois, he did not start in a public race until July 20, 1876, when at Chicago he easily defeated a good field, and so promising and attractive did he seem that the late Jerome I. Case, of Racine, paid the great price of twenty-seven thousand five hundred dollars for him. At Poughkeepsie, New York, that season he lowered his record to 2:20½, and a few more races ended his short but brilliant turf career. He died at Lexington, Kentucky, May 23, 1883, at the early age of eleven years. His stud career was therefore short, and this fact we must remember in estimating his rank as a sire. Kate Sprague, 2:18, and Linda Sprague, 2:19, were about the best of his immediate progeny, and Rounds’ Sprague, that has twenty trotters and pacers in the 2:30 list, some of them in better than 2:20, seems to be his most successful son. Governor Sprague has to his credit thirty-six trotters and two pacers with standard records, twenty-two of his sons have sired fifty-four trotters and fifteen pacers, and his daughters have produced twenty-three trotters and six pacers. There was nothing in the inheritance of Rhode Island to justify a supposition that he would transmit speed uniformly, and, like Smuggler, the speed-getting power with him was sporadic. But from his dam, Belle Brandon, Governor Sprague received the blood of Hambletonian through an individual that had speed herself and naturally produced speed; and this strain, combined with the blood of a horse that was good enough in his day to beat Lucy, American Girl and George Wilkes, gave Governor Sprague a right to be all that he was.

Spotted a typo or a problem in this chapter? Tell us

XXIII. MAMBRINO CHIEF AND HIS FAMILY

Description and history of Mambrino Chief—The pioneer trotting stallion of Kentucky—Matched against Pilot Jr.—His best sons—Mambrino Patchen, his opportunities and family—Woodford Mambrino, a notable trotter and sire—Princess—Mambrino Pilot—Other sons of Mambrino Chief.

Mambrino Chief was a dark bay or brown horse, got by Mambrino Paymaster, grandson of imported Messenger, and his dam was a large, coarse mare that was brought from the West in a drove, and absolutely nothing was known of her blood. The theory was once advanced in print that she must have been by Stevens’ Messenger Duroc, but I think it was never repeated. The basis of this theory was, that the horse referred to was large and coarse, with a long thigh bone, and as the mare was large and coarse, with a long thigh bone, she must have been a daughter of his. There are some obvious difficulties about accepting this “thigh-bone” pedigree. In the first place, the inventor of it never saw either the horse or the mare, and how could he have put his tapeline on their “thigh-bones” and thus ascertained they were of the same length? In the second place, it is not known, nor was it known to the inventor, that the horse ever had been within three hundred miles of the dam of this “daughter” of his. It is not much wonder that the “horse business” is hardly considered reputable when an educated man will advance such senseless gabble as the basis of a pedigree. This mare produced another colt called Goliah that developed some speed, but this was not the Goliah that was on the trotting turf.

Mambrino Chief was bred by Richard Eldridge, of Dutchess County, New York, and was owned by Warren Williams; in the spring of 1851 he passed into the hands of James M. Cockroft and G. T. Williams; was kept two or three seasons in Ulster County; trotted, under the saddle a trial in 2:36; sold to James B. Clay of Kentucky, in the winter of 1854, and then to Gray & Jones, 1857, for five thousand and twenty dollars, and died 1861. Soon after his arrival in Kentucky he was matched to trot against Pilot Jr., and the match stirred up a great deal of interest among the breeders. He was so big and coarse and so far removed from the type of the running horse that very few believed he could show any speed at any gait, for the distance of a mile and repeat. He was placed in the hands of Dr. Herr, who had had some experience in handling trotters, for preparation. When the day came there was quite an assemblage to witness the race but the Pilot Jr. party came forward and paid forfeit. This was a sore disappointment to those who thought the big horse could not trot, and to satisfy them that he could trot and trot fast, Dr. Herr drove him to show his gait, and notwithstanding his quarter cracks he satisfied all that he really was a trotter. This was an auspicious opening of a successful career extending through the remaining six years of his life.

In the sense of success, Mambrino Chief was really the pioneer trotting stallion of Kentucky. True, “Old” Abdallah had been there fourteen years earlier, but he was in bad shape and breeders did not like him. He was very plain in his appearance and only left some half-dozen of foals behind him when he was brought back to Long Island. The breeders all turned to his stable companion, Commodore, that was more after the pattern of the running horse, and would not look at Abdallah. This Commodore filled the blue-grass fields with his foals, but none of them could trot. He was a son of Mambrino, by imported Messenger, and was an inbred Messenger, if his pedigree was right, but he was a failure as a trotting sire. Mr. Marcus Downing took his horse, Bay Messenger, there about the same time and he was a failure also, notwithstanding he was a grandson of imported Messenger. Both Commodore and Bay Messenger should have been trotting sires, but either one of two reasons was sufficient to prevent that consummation. First their blood and physical structure were all right, but the mental structure—the instinct to trot—was lacking; they inherited from some ancestor that could not and was not inclined to trot. Second, Kentuckians of that period knew nothing about trotters and they may have lacked in the requisite knowledge, skill and patience to develop them. It is true that old Pacing Pilot and some other pacing tribes were there that would occasionally throw a pacer with the diagonal motion, like Pilot Jr., but there was no other blood there that trotted before the arrival of Mambrino Chief. This pacing element was a very valuable element upon which to build up the trotter, but unfortunately and wherever it was possible, a running pedigree was tacked on to the pacer, and thus, in the estimation of Kentuckians it was the running blood that did it.

The six years of his services in Kentucky gave sufficient time to establish his value as a trotting sire, but not sufficient to build up a large family. This limited period must be further restricted, in estimating his value, by the fact that the war broke out in 1861, at the very time when the larger part of his offspring were just at the right age for development. This important fact has been very generally overlooked when estimating the true value of this horse. The question has often been asked why this horse succeeded in Kentucky when he had not succeeded in the North? This is too broad a question to be considered in this historical sketch, but will be considered at another place in this volume. In passing it, some very intelligent writers have attributed it to what is called “the climatic outcross,” and there may be some real value in this point, but the great cause, aside from the new surroundings and expectations of his progeny, may be found in the fact that his own speed was never developed until the very eve of his transfer to Kentucky. His instinct to trot and to trot fast had remained dormant, practically, during the whole period of his Northern service, and when he reached Kentucky he was, in a sense, a new horse and conscious of his powers as a trotter. The salutary effects of development, at whatever gait, have been shown in ten thousand instances and will continue to be shown as long as the interests and ambitions of man shall prompt him to strive to surpass his neighbor.

At one time it was maintained right vehemently by the owners of the stock of Mambrino Chief, as well as some others, that as a stock horse he was not only equal but superior to Hambletonian. In 1867, when the battles were raging between Dexter and Lady Thorn, this view showed little abatement, and notwithstanding the gelding was beating the mare all the time, they still maintained that in the end she would be the conqueror. When Lady Thorn was seriously crippled and retired from the turf, there were many sad hearts in the Mambrino family and many wonderful stories were told, privately, of what Dan Mace had seen her do, and that he was keeping very quiet till an opportunity came to show the most wonderful flight of speed that the world had ever seen or ever would see. With the shroud of what “might have been” about them, they were “of the same opinion still.”

Mambrino Chief left six in the 2:30 list; twenty-three sons that put ninety-five in the list and seventeen daughters that produced twenty-four trotters.

LEADING SONS OF MAMBRINO CHIEF.

------------------------------------------------------------------------ Performers produced in two generations. ------------------------------------------------------------------+ Standard performers produced by sons and daughters. | -----------------------------------------------------------+ | Producing daughters. | | -----------------------------------------------------+ | | Producing sons. | | | -----------------------------------------------+ | | | Standard performers. | | | | -----------------------------------------+ | | | | Year died. | | | | | ----------------------------------+ | | | | | Year foaled. | | | | | | ---------------------------+ | | | | | | Name. | | | | | | | ---------------------------+------+------+-----+-----+-----+------+----- Mambrino Patchen | 1862 | 1885 | 25 | 51 | 90 | 259 | 284 Woodford Mambrino, 2:21½ | 1863 | 1879 | 13 | 23 | 24 | 172 | 185 Mambrino Pilot, 2:34¾ | 1859 | 1885 | 9 | 17 | 15 | 71 | 80 Clark Chief | 1861 | 1871 | 6 | 12 | 25 | 43 | 49 Ericsson, 2:30½ | 1856 | 188- | 6 | 4 | 15 | 25 | 31 Mambrino Chief Jr. (Fisk’s)| 1861 | 189- | 5 | 6 | 14 | 34 | 39 ---------------------------+------+------+-----+-----+-----+------+-----

MAMBRINO PATCHEN was the best son of Mambrino Chief and was brother to Lady Thorn, 2:18¼. He was foaled 1862, after the death of his sire, and was bred by Levi T. Rodes. His dam was by Gano, a running-bred son of American Eclipse; his grandam was a pacing mare by a colt of Sir William, but what Sir William is not known; his great-grandam was an inveterate pacer and never was known to strike any other gait. Mambrino Patchen was so much smoother and handsomer than his sire, and was so much of a failure as a trotter, that a very strong conviction prevailed among the friends and neighbors of his owner that he was not a son of Mambrino Chief, nor a brother of Lady Thorn. To this story that he was a Denmark and not a Mambrino Chief I never have given any shadow of credence. The attempt of his owner, Dr. Herr, to make him a trotter was patient and persistent, extending through several years, but with all his skill and experience he failed. Nobody was ever able to “catch” him a mile, but it seems to have been conceded that he might go somewhere in the “forties.” While this persistent and long-continued training failed in its original purpose of giving the horse a record of reputable speed, there can be no doubt, under the law that governs, that this development did great good to the horse, as a progenitor of trotters. The conditions being a handsome horse, with the banner constantly flying over him, “full brother to Lady Thorn,” an industrious and very capable owner, in the heart of the greatest breeding region in the whole country, it is easy to account for a very wide and lucrative patronage. Still, as a getter of speed he was not a great success, and as a getter of high speed he was a failure. With all the facilities for development, only twenty-five of his progeny have found a place in the 2:30 list, the fastest of which has a record of 2:20½. Of his sons, fifty-one are the sires of one hundred and twenty-six trotters, and of his daughters, ninety have produced one hundred and twenty-nine standard performers. He has proved himself a very great sire of brood mares, and when his daughters are bred to horses of stronger inheritance, they stand among the best.

WOODFORD MAMBRINO.—This son of Mambrino Chief was a large brown horse, foaled 1862. He was bred by Mr. Mason Henry, of Woodford County, Kentucky. His dam was also the dam of other trotters, was got by Woodford, son of Kosciusko, and her dam was a farm mare without any known breeding. Woodford was a large, strong horse used only for farm work, to which he was well suited. After spending a good deal of time and labor on his pedigree I am constrained to say that while he may have been a son of Kosciusko, his dam’s breeding is worse than unsatisfactory. Woodford Mambrino made a record of 2:21½, and placed thirteen of his get in the 2:30 list. He left twenty-three sons that were the sires of standard performers, and twenty-four daughters that produced twenty-seven standard performers. His son, Princeps, owned by Mr. R. S. Veech, of Indian Hill Farm, near Louisville, Kentucky, was in the stud far and away the best of his sons, and although he had no record of his own he placed in the list forty-four trotters and four pacers, many of them with fast records.

MAMBRINO PILOT was a very large and very coarse horse. He was a brown, got by Mambrino Chief, foaled 1859, dam Juliet, by Pilot Jr.; grandam by Webster, son of Medoc; great-grandam by Whip. He was bred by Thomas Hook, of Scott County, Kentucky, and after passing through the hands of Dr. Herr and others he was sold to C. P. Relf, of Philadelphia, and, I think, remained in his family till he died, 1885. He had a record to saddle of 2:27½. He put nine of his get into the 2:30 list, and seventeen of his sons left fifty-one performers and fourteen of his daughters produced twenty performers.

Many others of the descendants of Mambrino Chief might be noticed, but it is not the purpose of this volume to dwell upon matters that are accessible in the current literature of the trotting horse. The foundations of breeds and the leading heads of tribes must command my labor. The table shows the rank of the other sons of Mambrino Chief that achieved any degree of success, and of these clearly the best was Clark Chief, that died at ten years old.

Spotted a typo or a problem in this chapter? Tell us

XXIV. THE CLAYS AND BASHAWS

The imported Barb, Grand Bashaw—Young Bashaw, an inferior individual—His greatest son, Andrew Jackson—His dam a trotter and pacer—His history—His noted son, Kemble Jackson—Long Island Black Hawk—Henry Clay, founder of the Clay family—Cassius M. Clay—The various horses named Cassius M. Clay—George M. Patchen—His great turf career—George M. Patchen Jr.—Harry Clay—The Moor, and his son Sultan’s family.

This family is no longer prominent in trotting annals and its blood has been practically absorbed by other strains that have proved themselves more potent in transmitting and more uniform and more speedy in performing. The name “Bashaw Family” is a misnomer and it should never have been used, but as it has represented, for many years, the oldest line of developed speed, it seems a necessity to recognize it here. A branch of this family, designated as “The Clay Family” has perpetuated itself in some strength and will be considered in this chapter.

GRAND BASHAW, the horse that gave this family its name, was imported from Tripoli by Richard B. Jones, who was the American consul at that port. Mr. Morgan was associated with him, and they imported at the same time two other Barbs, Grand Sultan and Saladin. Grand Bashaw was kept in Lower Merion, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, several years; Grand Sultan was kept in New Salem, New Jersey, for a time, and Saladin was taken to North Carolina and afterward died in Georgia. From these three horses nothing has been left to the horse history of the country but one single attenuated line. Grand Bashaw was a black horse, fourteen hands and an inch high, with a star and a snip on his nose. He was kept all his life in the vicinity of Philadelphia, and died at Newtown, Pennsylvania, 1845.

YOUNG BASHAW was a grey horse, about fifteen and one-quarter hands high, and is the only descendant of Grand Bashaw through which we can trace to that horse. He was foaled 1822 and was bred by Thomas Logan, of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. His dam was Pearl, by Bond’s First Consul, a famous running horse, his grandam Fancy, by imported Messenger, and his great-grandam by imported Rockingham. This is the pedigree under which he was advertised, but it has never been authenticated in any of its crosses. Judging by the horse himself and his progeny there can hardly be a doubt that there was a Messenger cross in it, but just where cannot be determined.

He made his first season in Salem, New Jersey, 1826. He was then four years old and by no means handsome or attractive in his form. His head, ear and neck were his worst features; but in addition to these defects he was flat on the ribs and habitually carried his tail to one side. His limbs and feet were as good as ever were made, but his great redeeming quality was his trotting gait. When in Salem he was only a rough, partly developed, four-year-old colt, but he showed then a step and a rate of speed so remarkable as to induce a few to breed to him, notwithstanding his ungainly appearance. He did not cover more than a dozen mares that season, and all-told he got eight foals. Out of these eight, seven proved to be superior trotters for that day. Andrew Jackson was the best, but there was another that could go below 2:40. The common remark was, wherever he touched a mare of Messenger blood, there was sure to come a trotter. This was the general rule, but the best hit he ever made, probably, was when he covered Joseph Hancock’s black pacing mare and got Andrew Jackson.

In looking over his blood elements we can see nothing in his pedigree to justify these trotting qualities except the grandam, Fancy, by Messenger. First Consul was a great race horse, but neither he nor his descendants ever evinced a disposition to trot. The horse Rockingham was contemporaneous with Messenger and a constant rival while Messenger was about Philadelphia. He was not wholly running-bred, as he was by Towser, afterward called Counsellor, and out of a hunting mare. As a stock horse he was esteemed as only second to Messenger on the Delaware, where he stood many years.

The fame of Young Bashaw did not cease nor die out after the exploits of Andrew Jackson, Black Bashaw, Charlotte Temple, Washington and others from his own loins. The Clays, the Long Island Black Hawks and the Patchens have kept spreading it wider and wider until of late years we find that only the one great Hambletonian family has overshadowed them all. Young Bashaw, after eleven years in the stud along the Delaware River, above and below Philadelphia, died at Morrisville, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, June, 1837.

ANDREW JACKSON was the most noted son of Young Bashaw. He was a black horse, fifteen and a half hands high, with three white feet and a strip of white in his face. He was very well formed in every point and was strong, compact, short-legged and handsome. He was foaled 1827, and was bred by Joseph Hancock, of Salem, New Jersey. His dam was a strong, compact black mare that both trotted and paced, and was noted for her speed at the latter gait. This mare was brought in a drove from Ohio, in the spring of 1820 and on the twenty-first of June of that year she was sold to Mr. Hancock, of Salem, New Jersey, for one hundred dollars. He kept her a little over six years, and in the spring of 1826 bred her to Young Bashaw, and in the fall of that year sold her to Powell Carpenter; and soon after he sold her to Daniel Jeffreys, a brickmaker on the Germantown road, near Philadelphia. She was then in foal by Young Bashaw, and the next spring she dropped the colt that became famous as Andrew Jackson.

The incidents connected with the history of this mare are here given, perhaps in unnecessary detail, but as Andrew Jackson was very extensively advertised under a fraudulent pedigree from about 1834 till the time of his death, and as I had at one time accepted it as true, it is better that it should be made very plain, especially as I had been severely criticised for changing it. The correction made, as above, was founded on information received from two separate and distinct sources and both thoroughly reliable. The fraudulent pedigree of this mare represented her as “by Whynot, son of imported Messenger, and her dam by Messenger” himself. This was just such a pedigree as so great a horse should have had, but there was no truth in it. The attack was led by quite a large breeder in one of the prairie States, who had a number of animals remotely descended from Andrew Jackson. He did not even pretend to know anything at all about the truth of the matter, but simply urged most vehemently that the pedigree should be restored because it was old. The fact of the matter was the man wanted the old lie instead of the new truth maintained because it would help to sell his stock, which was the very object for which the lie was originally invented.

Daniel Jeffreys was very much addicted to trotting horses, and when he bought the black mare that was then carrying Andrew Jackson he kept her for his own driving and named her “Charcoal Sal.” She was no doubt among the fastest of the road horses, but there is no record of her ever being in a race. How much Jeffreys drove Charcoal Sal that autumn cannot now be determined; probably too much for the physical, but not too much, for the mental, organization of the foal she was carrying.

About the break of day, one morning in the following April, somebody was passing Jeffreys’ brickyard (my recollection is, it was George Woodruff himself), and he heard a splashing in the water accumulated in one of the clay pits, and Charcoal Sal circling round in great distress. She had dropped her foal, and in its weak efforts to get on its feet, it had rolled into the pit. It was at once pulled out and the family aroused, and no time was lost in rubbing it dry and wrapping it in warm blankets. Some of the mare’s milk was poured into it from time to time, and toward noon it was so much revived and strengthened as to manifest a disposition to get on its feet. This was due, principally, to the womanly care and good nursing of Mrs. Jeffreys. But, when helped up, he appeared to have strength enough everywhere but in his pastern joints, and there he had no strength at all. In this condition the colt remained a day or two, a most pitiable and most helpless object, standing on its pasterns instead of its feet. One morning at the breakfast-table Mr. Jeffreys said he would give any of the boys a dollar if he would put that colt out of misery and bury it out of his sight. Mrs. Jeffreys, whose womanly feelings and sympathies were all enlisted, replied to her husband’s remark that “the boy who would kill that colt never could eat another mouthful at that table.” What a grand exhibition of true womanly instincts! Day by day her unremitting care was rewarded by seeing a little more strength gathering in the weak places, and at last her kind, motherly heart was gladdened by seeing him skip and play, a strong beautiful colt.

Mr. Jeffreys kept the colt till he was some five or six years old! and then sold him to John Weaver, whose residence was about half a mile from the old Hunting Park Course. He remained the property of Mr. Weaver till he died, September 19, 1843. In his stud services he was kept on both sides of the Delaware, in the region of Philadelphia, and made one season, perhaps two, on Long Island. As a trotter he stood as the first of all stallions of his day.

His first race took place October 19, 1832, over the Hunting Park Course for a purse of two hundred dollars for green horses, to saddle. He was entered under the name of “Brickmaker,” was ridden by George Woodruff (“Uncle George”), and beat Jersey Fagdown, son of Fagdown, by Messenger. Time 6:30, 6:23.

The next year he beat Jersey Fagdown again for the same purse and over the same course.

October, 1834, he again won the same purse, over the same course, at two miles to saddle, beating Sally Miller. Time 5:26, 5:25.

The next October, 1835, over the same course, the same conditions, he beat Lady Warrenton, by Abdallah, and Daniel D. Tompkins, by a son of Winthrop Messenger. Time 5:20, 5:19.

These performances have been extended far enough to give a just conception of his speed and his staying qualities. His races seem to have been pretty much all to saddle and two-mile heats. In that day most races were to saddle. George Woodruff told me he was on his back when he made Edwin Forrest trot in 2:31¼ to win, but whether it was in a race or a trial I cannot now recall. Mr. George Woodruff was an uncle of Hiram Woodruff and a very worthy man. To him I am indebted for all the details of the early life of Andrew Jackson, and they were of his own personal knowledge.

KEMBLE JACKSON.—About the year 1853, of all the idols of the trotting-horse world, perhaps no one had so many worshipers as Kemble Jackson. In 1852 he was beaten by O’Blennis, three-mile heats in harness, and in April, 1853, he was beaten by both Green Mountain Maid and Lady Vernon, mile heats in harness, but in June following he achieved a great triumph. The race was on the Union Course and there was a vast concourse of people there to see it. The purse and stake was for four thousand dollars, three-mile heats to two hundred and fifty-pound wagons. The interest was very intense, as O’Blennis, Boston Girl, Pet, Iola and Honest John were in it. Each horse in the race made better time than he ever made before, and yet Kemble Jackson took the lead and maintained it from end to end, without a skip or a break. After the first heat even, the friends of O’Blennis would not hedge their money, for they had faith that the gallant son of Abdallah would win. The finish of the second heat was in the order above given. The time was 8:03, 8:04¾. Faster time has since been made to wagon, but probably not with this weight and at this distance. As a weight-puller for three miles I believe he still remains the champion. He was a very strongly built chestnut horse, and was got by Andrew Jackson the last year of his life.

The pedigree of his dam was in confusion for a long time. Her name was Fanny Kemble. There were a number of running-bred mares named after that very popular actress, and everybody who had anything tracing to “Fanny Kemble” was sure that that particular mare was the dam of Kemble Jackson. In the first volume of the “Register” he is given as out of Fanny Kemble by Sir Archy, and in the second volume there was some fairly good evidence that he was out of Fanny Kemble by Hunt’s Eagle, tracing on through running lines. It is true he was out of a mare called Fanny Kemble, but neither of the two foregoing. Her blood was wholly unknown. The Hon. Ely Moore was a member of Congress, and when on his way to Washington in 1839 he saw a very fine, stout-looking mare hitched to a gig in the city of Baltimore. She was a chestnut and showed such ability to handle a great heavy gig with ease and rapidity that he bought her. He bought her for what she was herself and not for what her blood was. There was no evidence asked or given as to how she was bred. This mare produced several foals to Andrew Jackson, the youngest of which was Kemble Jackson. While he was still a colt, Mr. Moore presented him to his son-in-law, G. U. Reynolds, who still owned him when he died. Mr. Reynolds is an intelligent and very reputable man, and this is the history of the origin of Kemble Jackson as given to me in person by him. Mr. Moore paid two hundred and fifty dollars for this mare Fanny Kemble, and she was so handsome and so fast on the road that he considered her a very cheap mare. The company never was too hot nor the road too long for her.

Everybody has heard of “The Kemble Jackson Check” and nearly everybody, until within the last few years at least, has been using it without knowing just why or when it can be used with advantage. When in the hands of Hiram Woodruff, Kemble Jackson got into the habit of bringing his chin back against his breast, and in that shape Hiram could pull on him all day without getting control of him. In this dilemma, Mr. Reynolds suggested an overdraw check which might prevent the indulgence of this bad habit. Hiram took the suggestion, had one made, and it was a success, in his case. In twenty-four days after the performance which made him a great name from one end of the land to the other he died of rupture. As he was only nine years old and as he was just beginning to be appreciated as a stallion the breeders of the country sustained a great loss. Up to this point in his history he had no reputation, had been little patronized and left but few of his progeny to perpetuate his name.

LONG ISLAND BLACK HAWK.—This son of Andrew Jackson was foaled 1837 and his dam was the distinguished trotter Sally Miller, by Tippoo Saib, son of Tippoo Saib by imported Messenger. This mare was bred in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and trotted as a three-year-old in 1828 on the Hunting Park Course, Philadelphia. She was distinguished in her day, beating many of the best, and was the first three-year-old trotter of which we have any account. She was finally owned on Long Island, but I have never been able to learn the name of her owner. Black Hawk trotted some famous races on Long Island, the most noted of which, perhaps, was his match with Jenny Lind in which he was to pull a two hundred and fifty-pound wagon, and the mare the usual weight. In this match he beat her in straight heats. Time 2:40, 2:38, 2:43. In 1849 he beat Cassius M. Clay, time 2:41, 2:38, 2:41. This horse was owned for a time by Jonas Hoover, of Germantown, Columbia County, New York, and was there called Andrew Jackson Jr., or Young Andrew Jackson. He made some seasons in Orange County, and died at Montgomery in that county July, 1850. His progeny were not numerous and but two of them from his own loins entered the 2:30 list. His son Jupiter put five in the 2:30 list; Andrew Jackson Jr., two; Mohawk, three; Nonpareil, two; Plow Boy, one; and Vernol’s Black Hawk, one; to which we may add the fact that this last named was the sire of the famous Iowa stallion, Green’s Bashaw. Although his life was not long and his stud career was probably up to the average, it cannot be said that he was a great progenitor of trotters.

HENRY CLAY, the nominal head of the tribe that has taken his name, was a black horse, foaled 1837, got by Andrew Jackson, son of Young Bashaw; and his dam was Surrey, or Lady Surrey, as she is sometimes called, a pacing mare that was brought from Surrey, New Hampshire, to New York, and was converted to a trotter, or possibly she may have been double-gaited from her birth. It has been generally stated in years past that this mare was brought from Canada, and as there have been many disputes about her origin, I will try to give what authentic knowledge we have concerning her.

Mr. Peter W. Jones, one of the “old-time” horsemen and a very reliable man, said that David W. Gilmore, formerly a grocer at City Hall Place and Pearl Street, New York, bought a pacing mare, five years old, of Mark D. Perkins, of Mount Vernon, New Hampshire, which came from Surrey, New Hampshire, and hence her name “Lady Surrey.” Gilmore rode her to New York, with a young man named Lovejoy. He gave less than one hundred dollars for her. She was a superior saddle mare, and as Mr. Gilmore appreciated horseback riding he bought her for that purpose. Frank Gilmore, who was a deputy sheriff under Sheriff Orser, of New York, said that Lady Surrey was the mare his brother rode from New Hampshire, and after he sold her she turned out to be a trotter.

This is the story as told by Mr. Jones, and judging from its source I have no doubt it is substantially correct. This leaves us without any knowledge whatever of the blood of the mare, but only that she was both a pacer and a trotter. She was engaged in some races and was quite well known to the trotting men of that day, and she must have been a pretty good one to have been owned by such a horseman as George M. Patchen and by him bred to Andrew Jackson. It is said Surrey and Sally Miller were coupled with Andrew Jackson the same day; they both stood, and the one produced Henry Clay and the other Long Island Black Hawk.

While Henry Clay remained the property of his breeder he was trained and was looked upon as a promising young horse, but I have not been able to determine what rate of speed he was able to show. He certainly did not stand anywhere near the fastest, and he does not appear to have ever won a race, and perhaps never started in one. Still, he was esteemed as one of the best horses on Long Island and was liberally supported while there. When about eight years old he was sold for a fine price to General Wadsworth, of Livingston County, New York, and he was kept at various points in that part of the State till he died of old age and neglect in 1867. He came into the world when trotters were few and he lived till they were many. He left a numerous progeny, but as the sire of trotters he was a pronounced failure. In examining the 2:30 list I find a single one of his get, before he left Long Island, with a single heat of even 2:30. And in examining the list of his get during the twenty-odd years of his life in Western New York, I find a single representative, with a single heat in even 2:30, and this one was out of a mare by old Champion, a very noted trotting progenitor. He left three sons that appear as sires: Andy Johnson, with three just inside of the 2:30 list, Henry Clay Jr., with a single one to his credit, and Cassius M. Clay, with one very fast one to his credit. This Cassius M. Clay was the sire of the famous George M. Patchen. Three of Henry Clay’s daughters produced six 2:30 trotters, and for a time it was held that the dam of the very famous George Wilkes was a daughter of his, but that claim has not been sustained by later developments.

The name and memory of the horse Henry Clay would have been perpetuated in horse history through an attenuated line of descendants, as a fairly good horse, though unsuccessful as a trotting progenitor, had his bones been left to rest and rot where they were buried. Unfortunately, about the time of his death, there sprang up a most voluble enthusiast whose special mission on earth seemed to be to extol the superlative greatness of Henry Clay, and the contemptible worthlessness of “Bill Rysdyk’s bull,” as he designated Hambletonian. He commenced pouring his endless contributions into the columns of the breeding press and writing interminable letters to as many prominent breeders as would receive them, and all about the Clay blood being the only blood from which the trotter could be bred. These effusions were written with some skill, abounding in great prodigality of fancy and still greater economy of truth. It was astonishing how many men believed what he said and how few understood that the “old man” was in it as a “business.” He had gathered up all the cheap sons of the old horse and wanted to sell them at a handsome advance, and for a time the game won.

To keep the interest from falling off and the Clay blood moving, he secured access to the purses of two wealthy gentlemen who were possessors and admirers of Clay blood, and the bones of the horse were taken up, mounted and set up, and presented to the United States National Museum at Washington, D. C. The bones are still there, and the inscription on the pedestal when last seen was as follows:

“The progenitor of the entire family of Clay Horses, and the foundation of the American Trotting Horse.”

Then follow the names of the two gentlemen who presented the bones to the Museum, but as a kindness to them their names are omitted. The first clause of the inscription is true, but the second is not true, and I very seriously doubt whether they ever authorized the second clause. Henry Clay was not the “foundation” of anything, except the airy fabric of a fortune for our enthusiast. The scheme as an advertising dodge was well worked, and the schemer could well exclaim, “Where now is Bill Rysdyk’s bull?” In the nature of things such shams cannot last; this one had its fleeting day, and in the end the sheriff sold its worthless accumulations.

CASSIUS M. CLAY.—This son of Henry Clay was quite a large bay horse, taking his color and much of his shape from his dam. He was foaled 1843, and his dam, Jersey Kate, was the dam of the trotting horse John Anderson. Jersey Kate was a bay, about fifteen hands three inches high, with a clean, bony head, long neck, well set up, and when in driving condition was a little high on her legs. She was used in livery work, and when a good and fast driver was wanted, Jersey Kate was always in demand. In the same stable a pair of “Canuck” ponies were kept that were driven in a delivery wagon. They were duns with white manes and tails and about fourteen and one-half hands high, quick steppers with no speed. One of them slipped his halter one night and got Jersey Kate with foal. While she was carrying this foal she became the property of Mr. Z. B. Van Wyck’s father, and when she had dropped her colt and was put to farm work it was found that she was too rapid and spirited for his other horses, and he sold her to Joseph Oliver, of Brooklyn. The colt she dropped was weaned before the sale of the dam and remained in the family till he grew up. He was a grey, a little below fifteen hands, and as the boy, Z. B. Van Wyck, had broken and ridden him he got it into his head that he would make a trotter, so he bought him from his father for eighty dollars. He continued to improve and he sold him to Timothy T. Jackson and he to Charles Carman, who trotted him in many races. When Mr. Oliver, then owner of Jersey Kate, saw her “catch” colt by a “Canuck” pony able to beat many of the good ones on the island, he concluded to breed her to Mr. Patchen’s horse, Henry Clay, and the produce was Cassius M. Clay. From her appearance, form, and especially her action, it was the universal opinion she was by Mambrino, son of Messenger, and it is probable she was, but in the absence of proof she must be classed as “breeding unknown.” Had it not been for the speed of little John Anderson, there would not have been any Cassius M. Clay.

When the colt grew up, Mr. Oliver, his breeder, sold him to Mr. George M. Patchen, of Brooklyn, and he became a very popular stallion. After the death of Kemble Jackson and Long Island Black Hawk he was considered the best trotting stallion on Long Island. He was in a good many races, some of which were reported, but more that were not, and as against stallions, he was with the fastest. In temper he was disposed to be vicious and had to be watched. In form he could not be considered beautiful, but powerful. When the artist was modeling the equestrian statue of Washington that stands in Union Square, he had a great search for a horse to serve as a model, and he selected Cassius M. Clay as the best representative of majesty and power that he could find. Although the bronze is of heroic size, it is, no doubt, a fair representation of the outline and structure of the horse. He died at Montgomery, Orange County, New York, July, 1854, in the same stable where Long Island Black Hawk had died four years before. The three great horses, Long Island Black Hawk, Kemble Jackson and Cassius M. Clay, died just as they entered on what should have been the period of their greatest usefulness, the first at the age of thirteen; the second at the age of nine; and the third at the age of eleven. If these horses had lived through the usual period of horse life, doubtless the records of performers would bear very different relations from what they do to-day, but the really great sire had not yet made his appearance.

Considering the short period Cassius M. Clay was in the stud he left a numerous progeny, but only one of them, George M. Patchen, achieved greatness on the turf. He placed thirty-four heats in 2:30 or better to his credit and made a record of 2:23½ in 1860, which was the fastest for any stallion of his day. This was the only one in the 2:30 list from the loins of Cassius M. Clay. Nine of his sons became the sires of eighteen trotters, and more than a dozen of his sons were named “Cassius M. Clay Jr.” thus leading to great confusion and oftentimes uncertainty as to identity.

CASSIUS M. CLAY JR. (NEAVE’S).—This was a brown horse foaled 1848, got by Cassius M. Clay; dam by Chancellor, son of Mambrino; grandam by Engineer, sire of Lady Suffolk. He was bred by Charles Mitchell, of Manhasset, Long Island, owned by Joseph Godwin, New York; stood in Orange County, 1852, in Dutchess, 1853, and was taken to Cincinnati that fall. He was owned by Mr. Neave, made a few seasons, broke his leg in the hands of Mr. McKelvy, and had to be destroyed. Mr. Godwin represented this horse to me as very fast until four years old, when by an accident he was thrown into the Harlem River when hot and was stiff ever afterward. He put four of his get into the 2:30 list, and four of his sons got ten trotters and one pacer. His early death was esteemed a great loss, for he was better bred than most of the other sons of his sire.

CLAY PILOT, by Cassius M. Clay (Neave’s), was out of a catch filly, whose dam was the famous Kate, the grandam of Almont. From the noted old trotting mare Belle of Wabash, whose history will be found in Chapter XXX. on the investigation of pedigrees, Clay Pilot got The Moor, himself a fast trotter and a successful sire. He died at ten years old, leaving among others the famous Beautiful Bells, 2:29½, that, mated with Electioneer, produced a remarkable family; and Sultan, 2:24, sire of the great Stamboul, 2:07½, and of thirty-eight other performers, and of thirteen producing sons and twenty producing daughters. The Moor founded an excellent family.

From a sister to Crabtree Bellfounder, by imported Bellfounder, Neave’s Cassius M. Clay got the black stallion Harry Clay, 2:29, that was quite a reputable trotter in his day, and left five standard performers, sixteen producing sons and twenty-three producing daughters, among the latter the famous Green Mountain Maid, the dam of Electioneer.

CASSIUS M. CLAY JR. (STRADER’S).—This was a handsome brown horse, foaled 1852, by the original Cassius, and his dam was a black mare by Abdallah, that passed through the hands of A. Van Cortlandt and afterward became the property of Joseph Godwin; grandam by Lawrence’s Eclipse; great-grandam the Charles Hadley mare by imported Messenger. This pedigree has been questioned without assigning any reasons or facts, but as it came to me circumstantially and from unquestionable sources I have no reason to doubt it. He was bred by Joseph H. Godwin, of New York, and foaled the property of Dr. Spaulding, of Greenupsburg, Kentucky. He made some seasons in the hands of Dr. Herr, of Lexington, Kentucky, was bought 1868 by R. S. Strader, and passed to General W. T. Withers, of Lexington, where he died 1882. He was engaged in several races and made a record of 2:35¼. He put four in the 2:30 list, and he left sixteen sons that were the sires of forty-six trotters and seven pacers. His daughters have produced well, thirty-four of them having produced forty-two trotters and seven pacers. This shows him to have been a better horse than his sire and better than any of the other sons of his sire.

GEORGE M. PATCHEN was a large bay horse, fully sixteen hands high and heavily proportioned. He was bred by H. F. Sickles, Monmouth County, New Jersey, for Richard F. Carman, of New York, the owner of his dam. He was got by the original Cassius M. Clay, and his dam was a light chestnut mare, owned and driven on the road by Mr. Carman. As the blood and origin of this mare was for many years unknown, it is necessary to go into some particulars concerning it. From 1835 two brothers, Thomas and Richard Tone, were contractors on the streets in the northern part of New York City. Two or three years afterward Richard bought or traded for a large, strong sorrel mare to work in one of their dirt carts. It was represented that she had lost a foal shortly before and she was thin in flesh and looked coarse. When she moved out of a walk she always went into a pace, and that seemed to be her natural gait. They kept this mare at work in the cart for several years and sometimes turned her out to pasture in a small field at the foot of “Break-neck” hill, adjoining a pasture owned by the Bradhurst family. One morning a two-year-old stallion colt, owned by Samuel Bradhurst, was found in the pasture with the big pacing mare. He had broken down the fence between the two pastures and gotten the big mare with foal. In due time she dropped a light chestnut filly, and when weaned, Thomas Tone bought this filly from his brother Richard, and at two years old commenced working her to his wagon. She had very severe treatment for so young an animal and went amiss, when Thomas sold her to James Scanlon, a blacksmith, and after a time he sold her to Richard F. Carman for a driving mare. Like her dam, when she started off she would pace, but after going some distance she would strike a trot and go very fast. Mr. Carman paid one hundred dollars for her and he drove her beside another that he paid fifteen hundred for, and his fast daily drives from Carmanville down to the city soon tested the respective merits of the two mares. The hundred-dollar mare could outlast the other and had to help her along toward the end of the drive. In time she was foundered and permanently stiffened and that was the reason she was sent to Mr. Sickles to be bred.

We must now look after the two-year-old colt that was the sire of this mare. Robert L. Stevens, of Hoboken, owned the famous race mare, Betsey Ransom, and with others he bred from her the two fillies, Itasca and Frolic. In 1837 these two mares were owned by Samuel Bradhurst, who manifested a sporting disposition, very much against the wishes of his father. In 1837 he bred these two mares to imported Trustee, then standing at Union Course, Long Island, and the produce were Head’em and Fanny Ransom. It is not known what became of Fanny Ransom, but he continued to own Head’em for some years and ran him in 1841 at the Union Course and beat the imported colt Baronet, by Spencer. There seems to be no other trace of his running or his stud services. It was in 1840, therefore, that he jumped the fence and in 1841 that the dam of George M. Patchen was foaled. George Canavan, Mr. Bradhurst’s coachman, says there were no other foals of any description bred by Mr. Bradhurst. These facts were gleaned personally and separately from Tone and Canavan, and as they complement and sustain each other, they must be accepted as the best information extant on the breeding of this great horse. His dam was by Head’em, a son of Trustee, out of a mare by American Eclipse, a grandson of Messenger, and she was a pacer and a trotter. His grandam was a pacer of unknown breeding.

In 1851 he was purchased for four hundred dollars from Mr. Sickles by John Buckley, of Bordentown, New Jersey, and a few months afterward he sold a half interest in him to Dr. Longstreet, of the same place, and he remained their joint property till 1858, when Mr. Buckley sold his half interest to Mr. Joseph Hall, of Rochester, New York. He commenced his remarkable career on the turf in 1855 and it continued till 1863. In 1858 he was engaged in the first race that gave him a national reputation. This was against no less a celebrity than Ethan Allen, and he was distanced, leaving Ethan with a clear title to the stallion championship. In 1860 he turned the tables on his old rival and beat him in straight heats in 2:25, 2:24, 2:29. The next week the contest was renewed and Patchen again won in straight heats, and this gave him the unchallenged right to the rank of the fastest trotting stallion in the world. His triumphs, however, were as wide as the trotting turf and not limited to sex. He was able to beat and did beat all the best but the indomitable little Flora Temple, and although he beat her twice, she was too fast for him and beat him many times. It is not my purpose to give a history of his achievements. It is sufficient to say he made a record of 2:23½, with thirty-four heats to his credit in 2:30 and less, and two miles in 4:51½.

It cannot be said that he was a very great success in the stud as we now measure success. Four of his get were able to enter the 2:30 list, and among them was the great Lucy, with her record of 2:18¼. Fifteen of his sons became the sires of sixty-two trotters and three pacers, and four of his daughters produced five trotters. It is hardly fair to compare the stud services of a horse of Patchen’s generation with many of the great sons of Hambletonian, but at the same time we must not forget that Patchen was foaled the same year as Hambletonian. On the first of May, 1864, when Dan Pfifer was preparing him for the racing season then about to open, he died of a rupture, just as his sire had died.

GEORGE M. PATCHEN JR. (California Patchen) was a bay horse by the foregoing; dam Belle by Top Bellfounder, a grandson of imported Bellfounder, of which little is known. He was bred by Joseph Regan, Mount Holly, New Jersey, and taken to California 1862 by William Hendrickson; returned to New York 1866, sold to Messrs. Halstead, Poughkeepsie, 1867, and by them to W. A. Matthews in 1869, and taken to San Jose, California; then sold to P. A. Finnegan, of San Francisco, and died the property of J. B. Haggin, Sacramento, 1887. He was campaigned quite extensively during the years 1866 and 1867 in the East, and carried away a good share of the winnings from the best. His best record was 2:27. In the stud he was more successful than his sire, which may be accounted for by his more numerous progeny and his longer life. From his own loins he put ten trotters into the 2:30 list, and, although there was no Lucy among them, Wells Fargo made a record of 2:18¾; Sam Purdy, 2:20½; Vanderlyn, 2:21, etc., showing a better average than the get of his sire. Ten of his sons got twenty-three trotters and two pacers, and eleven of his daughters produced twenty-five trotters and three pacers.

Several of the other sons of George M. Patchen left valuable and fast trotting progeny, and among them I will name Godfrey Patchen, with nine trotters to his credit and his descendants breeding on; Henry B. Patchen, with seven to his credit; Seneca Patchen, with sixteen trotters and one pacer to his credit, perhaps more than he is honestly entitled to; Wild Wagoner, with four to his credit; and Tom Patchen with three and his family transmitting speed.

In considering the founders of the Clay family, there are two or three important facts that should be kept in view, bearing upon the growth, or the decadence of the family. In a breeding sense this appears to be the longest line of developed speed that we have in any of our trotting families. While we know that there were developed trotters and pacers many years before Abdallah and Andrew Jackson were foaled, we are not able to connect them in lines of descent, generation after generation. As Andrew Jackson with his developed speed stands at the head of this line, the question naturally arises, Where did he get his ability to trot? The only answer we can give is, from the daughter of Messenger that was the grandam of his sire, and from the fast pacer, Charcoal Sal, that produced him. Even if we accept the pedigree of Young Bashaw, with his Messenger grandam, when we get to Andrew Jackson we are a long way from the Messenger source of trotting speed; hence, we must look to the pacing speed of his dam—Charcoal Sal from Ohio—as the more probable source.

Andrew Jackson was bred upon the converted pacer Surrey, and produced Henry Clay, then Henry Clay was bred upon Jersey Kate, of unknown blood, but a producer of trotting speed, and produced Cassius M. Clay. Then Cassius M. Clay was bred upon a mare “full of Messenger blood” and produced Strader’s Cassius M. Clay—the best of the Clay name by the record. Cassius M. Clay (the original) was also bred on “Dick Carman’s mare” and produced the famous George M. Patchen. This Carman mare was by a running-bred son of Trustee. She was both a pacer and a trotter and her dam was a natural pacer. George M. Patchen was bred on the Regan mare and produced California Patchen. This mare was, practically, of unknown breeding. California Patchen was bred on Whiskey Jane and the produce was his best son, Sam Purdy. This mare Whiskey Jane was quite a trotter and she was undoubtedly pacing bred, but I will not here enter into the details of her origin.

We have here before us a condensed view of the trotting inheritance of the Clay and the Patchen families from Andrew Jackson to Sam Purdy, and its most remarkable feature is its poverty in recognized trotting blood. On the maternal side, the pacing habit of action seems to prevail in almost every succeeding generation. The second thought is that the tribe has not held its vantage ground of the first and the longest line of developed trotting speed. The third is that it has failed to transmit speed with uniformity, but rather sporadically. This may be accounted for by the general character and uncertainty of the maternal side, and suggests the question whether animals so bred can be relied upon to transmit with uniformity an inheritance received sporadically. From its place in the first rank as to time and popularity, this family has not been able to hold its own and it has declined to a place among the minor families of trotters and bids fair to be absorbed by tribes of stronger trotting inheritance.

Spotted a typo or a problem in this chapter? Tell us

XXV. AMERICAN STAR, PILOT, CHAMPION, AND NORMAN FAMILIES

Seely’s American Star—His fictitious pedigree—Breeding really unknown—A trotter of some merit—His stud career—His daughters noted brood mares— Conklin’s American Star—Old Pacing Pilot—History and probable origin —Pilot Jr.—Pedigree—Training and races—Prepotency—Family statistics summarized—Grinnell’s Champion, son of Almack—His sons and performing descendants—Alexander’s Norman and his sire, the Morse Horse— Swigert and Blackwood.

Of all the hundreds of difficult and obscure pedigrees that I have undertaken to investigate and straighten out, I have given more time, labor and money to that of Seely’s American Star than to any other horse. In 1867 I got his pedigree from a gentleman in Morris County, New Jersey, who claimed to have bred him, and this pedigree and the history accompanying it embracing several details that were interesting, I published it, at full length, in the Spirit of the Times. This represented the horse as a light chestnut about fifteen hands high, with star and snip and two white hind feet. He was represented to have been foaled 1837 and to be by a horse called American Star, son of Cock of the Rock, by Duroc; dam Sally Slouch by Henry, the race horse; grandam by imported Messenger. As there was no horse of that name, so far as I knew, by Cock of the Rock, but as there was one of that name by Duroc, I wrote to know whether this was not the breeding of the sire, and the answer came that it might have been so.

After the appearance of this pedigree in the “Register” I was greatly surprised that nobody believed it, and the more a horseman knew of the horse and his history the more positive he was that it was a mistake. Several years passed away, and while I kept insisting it was true, the unbelievers became more persistent than ever in their opposition to the pedigree. The consensus of the opinions of horsemen seemed to be that the horse was part “Canuck,” and this was the view held by his owner, Edmund Seely, as long as he lived. At last the following story came to me from different responsible persons, all of whom were personally cognizant of the facts they related, as follows: On a certain occasion a street contractor had a force at work, grading with shovels and carts, near the foot of Twenty-third Street, I think, New York City. Among the cart horses there was a Canadian stallion and a frisky, high-strung bay mare that wouldn’t work kindly. One day during the noon hour, the “boys” for amusement brought this stallion and mare together and in due time the mare proved to be with foal, and she was sent over to Jersey the next spring. The foal she there dropped was Seely’s American Star. When I asked to whom the mare had been sent to be taken care of, the answer came back quickly naming the same man whom I had represented as the breeder. As the contractor had no use for the colt, as a matter of course, the keeper of the mare would take the colt for the keeping. There is nothing unnatural nor unreasonable in this story, and it bears a pretty strong resemblance to the way the dam of the famous George M. Patchen came into the world.

When the horse was four or five years old he began to show a fine trotting step and he was sold to John Blauvelt, of New York, for a driving horse. His feet not being strong, in the course of a year or two he developed a couple of quarter cracks and he was sent back to the man who raised him to be cured. In the winter of 1844-5 he was sold to Cyrus Dubois, of Ulster County, New York, who kept him in the stud the seasons of 1845, 1846 and 1847. His advertisement for the year 1847 reads as follows:

“American Star is a chestnut sorrel, eight years old on the 11th day of April, 1847, near 16 hands high, etc.... He was sired by the noted trotting horse Mingo, of Long Island, who was got by old Eclipse. American Star’s dam, Lady Clinton, the well-known trotting mare of New Jersey, was sired by Sir Henry.”

Here we have the third pedigree of this horse, and now the question arises, Where did this pedigree come from? Cyrus Dubois is dead, but a living brother of his says this is the pedigree that Cyrus brought with the horse from New Jersey. As this same quasi-breeder was the man who delivered the horse to Dubois, the statement of the living brother comes very near proving that the first and the third of the pedigrees here given were the work of the same man. Again, in 1844, this same quasi-breeder kept this horse at Warwick and New Milford, in Orange County, New York, and nobody in that region seems to have ever heard of either of these pedigrees. And again, this quasi-breeder wrote me that after Edmund Seely had brought the horse to Goshen he went to see him, and after fully identifying him as the same horse he had bred he gave the pedigree to Mr. Seely as he had given it to me. If this be true it is a very strange thing that Mr. Seely never seemed to know anything about it, but persisted in giving the pedigree as by a Canadian horse and out of a mare by Henry. Upon the whole, I long ago concluded that my first and earliest correspondent on the question of American Star’s origin was unfortunate in having a mental organization that placed him “long” on the ideal, and “short” on the real.

His stud services may be summarized as follows: In 1844 he was kept at Warwick and New Milford, Orange County, New York. In 1845, 1846 and 1847 he was in Ulster County, and on the borders of Orange. In 1848 and 1849 he was at Hillsdale, Columbia County, New York. In 1850, 1851, 1852 and 1853 he was at Goshen and other points in Orange County. In 1854 he was at Elmira, New York. In 1855, it is said on good authority, he was kept ten miles below Hudson. Others say he was at Piermont, Rockland County, that year. In 1856 he was at Mendota, Illinois. In 1857, 1859 and 1860 he was again in Goshen. In February, 1861, he died at Goshen, the property of Theodore Dusenbury. In Orange County his service fee ranged from ten to twenty dollars, and at last twenty-five dollars, and he was liberally patronized. An unusually large percentage of his foals were fillies, and he was essentially a brood-mare sire from the start. Opinions differ very widely among horsemen as to his capacity for speed, some maintaining that he could trot in 2:35 while others insisted on placing him ten seconds slower. In trying to harmonize these conflicting views it is probably safe to conclude that, when fit, which seldom occurred in his whole life, his speed was about 2:40. He was always a cripple from defective feet and limbs, and his whole progeny were more or less subject to the same troubles.

He left four trotters that barely managed to get inside the 2:30 list and eight sons that put sixteen inside of the list. But his strong point was in the producing character of his daughters. Thirty-six of these daughters left forty-five of their produce inside of 2:30. The disparity in the producing power of the sexes in this family is very remarkable and, in a breeding sense, very instructive. In the light of what has been developed in this family in the past fifty years, we are certainly ready to form a safe estimate of its value as a factor in the combination that goes to make up a breed of trotters. Star mares gave us a Dexter and a Nettie, and all the world thought that was the blood that was to live on and on in the new breed. But, while Hambletonian was able to get great trotters from Star mares, he was not able to get, through their attenuated trotting inheritance, sons that would be as great as himself. To his cover Star mares produced no such great sires as George Wilkes, Electioneer, Egbert, Happy Medium, and Strathmore. In the instances of Dictator and Aberdeen there was a reasonable measure of success, but all the others—and there were many of them—proved comparative failures. There is a lesson taught here that any one can interpret.

AMERICAN STAR (CONKLIN’S) was a chestnut horse, foaled 1851, and got by Seely’s American Star, and his dam has been variously represented, with nothing established as to her blood. He was bred by a Mr. Randall, of Orange County, and was among the first from his sire to attract attention. He came into the hands of E. K. Conklin when young, and was taken by him to Philadelphia, and was owned by him during his lifetime. He gave early promise of making a trotter, and from 1865 to 1868 he was on the turf, more or less, and left a record of 2:33. His stud services were confined to the region of Philadelphia till the year 1872, when he was taken back to Orange County and died there. Three of his get entered the 2:30 list; two of his sons got one trotter each and four or five of his daughters produced one each.

At one time the name “American Star” was very popular, and quite a number of stallions were so named that were bogus; but his son Magnolia put two in the 2:30 list; one son got three trotters, and three daughters produced five performers. His son Star of Catskill got two performers, and his son King Pharaoh got four pacers and all of them fast. The family has not grown strong either in numbers or in merit. It has been carried, so far, by the influences of stronger blood, and it seems destined to complete absorption and extinction in more potent strains.

PILOT, the head of the Pilot family, was a black pacing horse, and of later years he has been generally designated as “Old Pacing Pilot.” He was foaled about 1826, and nothing is known of his origin or his blood. From his make-up and appearance he was generally considered a Canadian, as was the custom at that time, and I think I have used this term myself in referring to the horse, but there is really no foundation for crediting him to that source. The earliest information we have of him is from an unpublished source, to the effect that he was well known to certain sporting men about Covington, Kentucky. He next appears in New Orleans, hitched to a peddler’s cart, but really looking for a match as a green pacer. To promote this object, Major Dubois, a sporting man, was taken into the confidence of his owner, and it is said the horse showed him a mile in 2:26 with one hundred and sixty-five pounds on his back, and the major bought him for one thousand dollars. In 1832 Dubois sold him to Glasgow & Heinsohn, a livery stable firm of Louisville, Kentucky, and he remained the property of that firm till he died, about 1855. It has been asserted with some semblance of authority that he could trot as well as pace, but this seems to be wholly apocryphal, and on this point I am prepared to speak without hesitation or doubt. A large breeder in the vicinity of Louisville, whom I have learned to trust implicitly, through the intercourse of many years, has assured me repeatedly that he knew the horse and his master well, and that he had seen him very often, for years, that he would not trot, and that his master could not make him trot a step. On the occasion of a very deep fall of snow he was taken out to see whether that would not compel him to trot, and he went rolling and tumbling about with no more gait than a hobbled hog.

He left a numerous progeny, most of them pacers, with some trotters. We know but little of their merits, as at that period pacing and trotting races were carried on, generally, on guerrilla principles, and no records kept, except at a few of the more prominent occasions. His fastest pacer, probably, was Bear Grass, and there is a little history here that will be interesting further on. My late friend, Edmund Pearce, had always, from childhood, been a great admirer of the grand old saddle mare, Nancy Taylor. She had been bred to Old Pilot and produced a colt foal, which Mr. Pearce bought when young and named him Bear Grass. This was the first piece of horseflesh he ever owned, and he didn’t think he had ever owned a better one. He was amazingly fast, and could go away from all competitors, but unfortunately an accident befell him that ended his career before he reached maturity. Bear Grass had a half-sister called Nancy Pope, being the daughter of Nancy Taylor, that was afterward bred to Old Pilot, and she produced the famous Pilot Jr., that was the fastest trotter from the loins of the old pacer. Pilot Jr. took the diagonal form of the trot from his dam and never paced. It is worthy of noting that Nancy Taylor and Nancy Pope—mother and daughter—produced old Pilot’s fastest pacer and fastest trotter.

PILOT JR. (ALEXANDER’S) was a grey horse, foaled 1844, “got by old Pacing Pilot; dam Nancy Pope, grandam Nancy Taylor.” This is the literal version of his pedigree as given by his first owners and as given by W. J. Bradley and others who had him in charge year after year in the region of Lexington, according to the different advertisements, and no change ever appeared till the horse was bought and taken to Woodburn Farm. Then, for the first time we learned that Nancy Pope was got by Havoc, thoroughbred son of Sir Charles, and that Nancy Taylor was got by Alfred, an imported horse. This was not the work of Mr. R. A. Alexander, an honorable man, but the work of the professional pedigree manufacturer, who exploited his inventive skill very widely through the early catalogues of that great establishment. As a matter of historic fact, Pilot Jr.’s dam was Nancy Pope, but nothing is known of her sire, and Nancy Pope was out of Nancy Taylor, about whose pedigree nothing whatever is known. But as the subject of Pilot Jr.’s pedigree is exhaustively treated in Chapter XXIX., the details need not be further dealt with here.

The training of Pilot Jr. commenced when he was five years old, and after the close of his stud seasons he was kept at it, in a moderate way, for several years, and it is said he never manifested any inclination to strike a pace. He was engaged in some races, and his advertisement claims he won several, giving the names of horses he had beaten, but the time made seems to be carefully avoided. He could probably trot in about 2:50 or a little better. He and all his family, so far as I can learn, were willful and hard to manage in their training, and were, therefore, in danger of becoming unreliable, but they were fast for their day, and dead game campaigners. There is one particular in which this horse seemed to surpass nearly all others and that was in his power to eliminate the running instinct and to plant the trotting instinct in his progeny from running-bred mares. It is doubtless true that many of those mares, so classed, were only running bred on paper; but the fact still remains, and it is supported by a sufficient number of authentic instances, to justify the conclusion that his potency in this direction was remarkable.

During the troublous times of the war many of his early progeny were lost or destroyed, but from his own loins he put eight performers in the 2:30 list and others not far away. Six of his sons became the sires of forty-one performers, and eighteen of his daughters produced forty-one performers. Although the official records do not show that Pilot Jr. got any pacers, it is nevertheless true that he did get some very fast ones. But when we get past the period when the pacer was considered a bastard and kept out of sight, we meet with some astonishing facts. As an example, take Miss Russell, the greatest of all the Pilots. First, she produced a pacer that was changed to the diagonal instead of the lateral step, and then stood for years as the champion trotter of the world. Second, her son Nutwood has placed twenty pacers in the 2:30 list; her son Mambrino Russell has placed five there, and her son Lord Russell has placed five there. This brief and hasty exhibit of what the descendants of Miss Russell are doing seems to upset all the laws of heredity, provided always that her dam was a thoroughbred mare. The evidence that the breeding of this reputed “thoroughbred” mare is wholly unknown is considered in another part of this volume.

In a few odd instances, in the male lines of descent from Pilot Jr., the trotting and pacing instinct seem to be transmitted in stronger measure than in any of the other minor families, but the day of its submersion is not far distant. The survival of the fittest is the law of Nature.

CHAMPION, the head of the Champion family, was a beautiful golden chestnut, sixteen hands high and without marks. He was bred by George Raynor, of Huntington, Long Island, and was foaled 1842. He was got by Almack, son of Mambrino, by Messenger; dam Spirit, by Engineer Second, son of Engineer, by Messenger, and sire of the famous Lady Suffolk. This is enough Messenger blood to please the most fastidious, but I think there was still more beyond the Engineer mare. When eighteen months old this colt showed phenomenal speed when led behind a sulky, and when three years old he was driven a full mile to harness in 3:05, a rate of speed which, at that time had never been equaled by a colt of that age. This made him “champion” as a three-year-old and William T. Porter named him Champion. After this performance Mr. John Sniffin, a merchant of Brooklyn, bought him, and in June, 1846, Mr. William R. Grinnell paid two thousand six hundred dollars for him and took him to Cayuga County, New York. After keeping Champion in that county till the close of the season of 1849, Mr. Grinnell concluded to sell the horse, as in all that time he had not covered one hundred mares. Mr. Grinnell complained that the farmers did not appreciate the horse, and many of them failed to pay for his services. But the fault was not all on the part of the farmers, for the price, to them, was very high, and he was a very uncertain foal getter.

In April, 1850, he was sent to New York and kept in the stable of Mr. Van Cott, on the Harlem road. He had been very badly handled, and Mr. Van Cott says he had been abused and ill-treated, and when he came to his place he was as vicious and savage as a wild beast. The horse was kept there for sale, and in his daily exercise Mr. Van Cott says he could “show considerably better than 2:40 at any time.” In 1851 he was sent over to Jersey and kept for public use at a fee of fifty dollars, by Samuel Taylor, at Newmarket, Metuchen, Boundbrook and Millstone. After making three or four seasons in the region of Boundbrook, in the year 1854, Mr. Grinnell, who still owned him, sold him to Mr. James Harkness, of St. Louis, Missouri, for about seven hundred and fifty dollars. On reaching St. Louis he proved to be as dangerous as ever, and no man dared to go into his stall, except Mr. Harkness and one assistant. In 1858 Mr. Harkness sold him to Thomas T. Smith, of Independence, Missouri, for one thousand dollars. He was there stolen by “jayhawkers” and taken to Leavenworth, Kansas, where he made two seasons and died 1864. Although he lived to be old, he left comparatively few colts, but a large proportion of that few were of excellent quality and many of them trotters.

CHAMPION (SCOBEY’S also known as King’s Champion) was the best son of Grinnell’s Champion, the son of Almack, and he came out of a mare called Bird, by Redbird, son of Billy Duroc. He was foaled 1849, and was bred by Jesse M. Davis, then of Cayuga County, New York, and sold to David King, of Northville, New York, and by him in 1861 to Mr. Kellogg, of Battle Creek, Michigan. He was repurchased by Messrs. Backus, Scobey and Burlew in August, 1865, and soon became the property of Mr. C. Scobey and died his in May, 1874. It has been claimed this horse had speed and a record of 2:42 in 1857, but I have no data to determine how fast he was. From his own loins he put eight performers in the 2:30 list, two of which were phenomenally fast, although their records do not show it. Here I allude to Nettie Burlew and Sorrel Dapper, more generally known as “The Auburn Horse.” The latter was a long, leggy, light chestnut, with a tremendous stride, and Hiram Woodruff did not hesitate to say he was a faster horse than Dexter. This Champion was a sire of excellent quality, although but a few of his progeny were developed. He left six sons that were the sires of forty-four trotters, and seven daughters that produced nine performers.

CHAMPION (GOODING’S) was a bright bay horse with black points, standing fifteen and three-quarter hands high. He was got by Scobey’s Champion, dam the trotting mare Cynthia, by Bartlett’s Turk, son of Weddle’s imported Turk; grandam Fanny, by Scobey’s Black Prince; great-grandam Bett, by Rockplanter, son of Duroc; great-great-grandam Kate, represented to be a Messenger mare. He was foaled 1853, and was bred by Almeron Ott, Cayuga County, New York, and traded to Mr. Stearns, from whom he passed to his late owners, T. W. and W. Gooding, Ontario County, New York. He died June, 1883. This horse was peddled about in Seneca County at a fee of five dollars, and had a very light patronage among the farmers. At last he was sold, with difficulty, at Canandaigua, for three hundred dollars to the Messrs. Gooding, and he brought them a handsome income as long as he lived. As his reputation as a sire of speed spread abroad, the quality of the mares brought to him improved, and among them were some with good trotting inheritance. Of his progeny, seventeen entered the 2:30 list, the fastest in 2:21, and they were good campaigners. It is a remarkable fact that only one of his sons proved himself a trotting sire, and he left but a single representative. On the female side of the house he was more successful, for six of his daughters produced seven performers.

CHARLEY B. was a bay horse, sixteen hands high, and was bred by Charles Burlew, of Union Springs, New York. He was foaled 1869, and was got by Scobey’s Champion, son of Champion, by Almack, and proved himself the best son of his sire. He was out of a mare well known as “Old Jane” that was the dam of Myrtle with a record of 2:25½. Several pedigrees have been provided for this mare that did not prove reliable, and they were all careful to endow her with plenty of Messenger blood. After searching for the facts through some years, the only version of it that seemed to be worthy of credence showed that her sire was a horse called Magnum Bonum and there it ended. In his racing career this horse was started sometimes under the name of “Lark.” He has six heats to his credit in 2:30 and better, and a record of 2:25. From his own loins he has twenty-two trotters in the 2:30 list. Considering the respectable number this horse shows in the 2:30 list, his great nervous energy, his vigorous constitution, and the number of years he was liberally patronized in the stud, it is a most notable fact that he has but two sons that are producers. Six of his daughters have produced. As a propagator of speed in the coming generations, this horse seems to be even a greater failure than his half-brother, Gooding’s Champion.

NIGHT HAWK was a chestnut son of Grinnell’s Champion. He was bred by John S. Van Kirk, of Newark, New Jersey, and his dam was by Sherman’s Young Eclipse, son of American Eclipse. He was foaled 1855-6. In 1862 Mr. Van Kirk took him to Kalamazoo, Michigan, thence to Paw Paw in 1872, and in 1879 he was returned to Kalamazoo, owned by A. T. Tuthill. He was something of a trotter, and had a record of 2:36, under the name of Champion, when he was controlled by Mr. D. B. Hibbard, I think. He was shown at a State fair, held at Lansing, on a poor half-mile track, it is said, and trotted a mile in 2:31¼, and for this performance he received a piece of plate from the society testifying to this fact. He has but two representatives in the 2:30 list, and three of his sons have five trotters to their credit, while six of his daughters have produced seven performers. He lived to an old age.

The merits and demerits of this family are very marked. The head of it seems to have possessed great nerve force and an unmistakable instinct to trot, but he was irritable and vicious in his temper. Both these qualities—the desirable and the undesirable alike—he seems to have transmitted to his offspring. I have seen Gooding’s Champion, and he had the temper and disposition of his grandsire. It appears that the original Champion was a shy breeder, and I am disposed to think he inherited this infirmity from his sire, Almack, and whether the inability of his sons and grandsons to get sires of trotters may be accounted for from this cause would be a very difficult question to answer. There are several others of this family, East and West, that have single representatives in the 2:30 list, that I have not enumerated, but from the statistics, as they now stand, it seems probable that whatever is good in this family will be swallowed up in other tribes that are more prepotent and positive in the trotting instinct.

NORMAN, OR THE MORSE HORSE.—This horse was originally named “Norman,” but in later years he was more generally and widely known as The Morse Horse. His family is not large, but some of his descendants have shown great speed and great racing qualities. His origin and breeding as given below have resulted from a wide and laborious correspondence, and, I think, can be accepted as trustworthy. He was bred by James McNitt, of Hartford, Washington County, New York, who was a large farmer and distiller. He was foaled 1834, got by European; dam Beck, by Harris’ Hambletonian; grandam Mozza, by Peacock, son of imported Messenger. He was fifteen and three-quarter hands high, a dark iron grey when young, and became white with age. He had plenty of bone, was handsome and a natural trotter. Something of the history of the animals entering into this pedigree is important and I will try to give it in as brief form as possible.

The breeder, Mr. McNitt, was in the habit of visiting Montreal at least once a year with the products of his farm and his distillery. On one occasion he brought back three horses with him, two “Canucks” and a very elegant grey horse that he called European, that was evidently somewhat advanced in years and was a little knee-sprung from the effects of hard driving. The two “Canucks” were fast trotters, but European could beat either of them. Mr. McNitt represented that this horse had been imported into Canada from Normandy in France and doubtless he believed it, but there were none of the French characteristics about him. He was purchased in Montreal about 1829 and died in Washington County about 1836. The dam and grandam of the Morse Horse were bred by Mr. Joseph T. Mills, of the town of Argyle, in Washington County. Beck, the dam, was a bright bay mare about sixteen hands high. At weaning time Mr. Mills sold her to Robert Stewart, of Greenwich, and at three years old he sold her to Mr. McNitt. She was got by Harris’ Hambletonian, when he was kept by John Williams, Jr. This is established quite satisfactorily and circumstantially. Mozza, the dam of Beck, was a chestnut mare, without marks, and was got by Peacock, a son of imported Messenger that was owned by Mr. Emerson in Saratoga County and was afterward burned up in his stable. This son of Messenger, called Peacock, was entirely new to me when I was investigating this pedigree in 1876 and I was disposed to reject it, but Mr. Mills certainly had a horse of that name and he represented him to be a son of Messenger, and he probably was, but I do not know that he was so bred.

Mr. McNitt sold the colt at three years old to Martin Stover, who lived on his place, for eighty dollars; the next year Stover sold him to James Mills. In 1840 Mills sold him to Mr. Tefft and Zack Adams, and they sold him not long after to Philip Allen and Calvin Morse, of White Creek. Mr. Morse had him a number of years and when old sold him to Mr. Grant, and he died at Spiegletown in Renssalaer County, New York. He was a very perfect, natural trotter, and his speed was developed to some extent. In August, 1847 or 1848, Mr. Morse put him into the hands of John Case, of Saratoga Springs, the driver of Lady Moscow, to prepare him for the State Fair, at which he expected to meet the famous Black Hawk. Mr. J. L. D. Eyclesheimer, a very intelligent gentleman, formerly of the region of Saratoga, wrote that while the horse was in Case’s hands, he, with Mr. Morse, timed him a full mile in 2:40½. At the State Fair he was all out of fix and Black Hawk beat him in the second and third heats. He won the first heat in 2:52½. In the rivalries between stallions at agricultural fairs, however, is a very poor place to look for fair work and fair judgment, either from the stand or from the spectators.

GENERAL TAYLOR was a grey horse, foaled 1847, got by the Morse Horse, dam the trotting mare Flora, a New York road mare of unknown breeding. He was bred by the brothers Eyclesheimer, then of Pittstown, New York. He was taken to Janesville, Wisconsin, 1850, and thence to California, 1854, where he trotted thirty miles against time in one hour forty-seven minutes and fifty-nine seconds. He also beat New York a ten-mile race in 29:41½. This horse has no representative in the 2:30 list, but his blood has always been very highly esteemed in California for its speed, but more especially for its game qualities. Honest Ance was another son of the Morse Horse that did a great deal of racing in California, although he has no record in the 2:30 list. He was a chestnut gelding, and was managed by the notorious Jim Eoff, who was always ready to win or to lose as the money seemed to suggest.

NORMAN (ALEXANDER’S) was a brown horse, foaled about 1846, got by the Morse Horse, son of European; dam one of a pair of brown mares purchased by John N. Slocum of Samuel Slocum, a Quaker of Leroy, Jefferson County, New York, and represented to be by Magnum Bonum. These mares passed to Mr. Russell, and from him to Titcomb & Waldron, who bred the better of the two to the Morse Horse, and the produce was Alexander’s Norman. This colt passed through several hands till he reached Henry L. Barker, of Clinton, New York, and about 1860, he sold him to the late R. A. Alexander, of Woodburn Farm, Kentucky. He died 1878. The original version of this pedigree, as put upon Mr. Alexander and advertised by him, as were many others, was wholly fictitious on the side of the dam. He was not retained long at Woodburn Farm. He does not seem to have been a uniform transmitter of speed, but when it did appear it was apt to be of a high order. He left but two representatives in the 2:30 list, Lula, 2:15, with fifty-six heats, and May Queen, 2:20, with twenty-five heats. He left four sons that became the sires of fifty-eight performers and thirteen daughters that produced nineteen performers. Such sons as Swigert and Blackwood speak well for his transmitting powers.

SWIGERT was a brown horse, foaled 1866, got by Alexander’s Norman, son of the Morse Horse; dam Blandina, by Mambrino Chief; grandam the Burch Mare, by Brown Pilot, son of Copper Bottom, pacer. He was bred at Woodburn Farm, Kentucky, and when young became the property of Richard Richards, of Racine, Wisconsin, where he remained many years and passed to F. J. Ayres, of Burlington, Wisconsin. As a prepotent sire this horse stands high in the list of great horses. This may be accounted for in great part by the speed-producing qualities which he inherited from his dam. I am not informed as to the amount of training he may have had, nor of the rate of speed he may have been able to show. He placed forty-four trotters and two pacers in the 2:30 list. Thirty-three of his sons became the sires of sixty-one trotters and fourteen pacers. Twenty-three of his daughters produced twenty-one trotters and six pacers. From the number of his sons that have already shown their ability to get trotters, it is fair to presume that his name will be perpetuated. He died in 1892.

BLACKWOOD was a black horse, foaled 1866, got by Alexander’s Norman, son of the Morse Horse; dam by Mambrino Chief; grandam a fast trotting dun mare, brought from Ohio, pedigree unknown. He was bred by D. Swigert, Spring Station, Kentucky, and foaled the property of Andrew Steele, of Scott County, Kentucky. At five years old he was sold to John W. Conley, and by him to Harrison Durkee, of New York, and was afterward owned at Ticonderoga, New York. He made a record of 2:31 when three years old, which, at that day, was considered phenomenal for a colt of that age. His opportunities in the stud were not of the best, but nine of his progeny entered the 2:30 list; eleven of his sons got twenty performers, and twenty-five of his daughters produced thirty-seven performers.

Spotted a typo or a problem in this chapter? Tell us

XXI. HAMBLETONIAN AND HIS FAMILY…

Cite this passage

MLA

APA

Chicago