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A History of Horse Racing - A Large Collection of Historical Articles on Horse Racing in England and America
A History of Horse Racing - A Large Collection of Historical Articles on Horse Racing in England and America
A History of Horse Racing - A Large Collection of Historical Articles on Horse Racing in England and America
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A History of Horse Racing - A Large Collection of Historical Articles on Horse Racing in England and America

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“A History of Horse Racing” contains a collection of classic articles on the subject of horse and horse racing in England and the Unites States. Contents include: “Every Horse Owners Cyclopedia, By J H Walsh”, “The American Trotting Horse”, “The Atlantic Monthly, By John Elderkin”, “A History Of The Turf And The Trotting Horse In America”, “Horse Racing Greats, By Alfred E T Watson”, “Mr. Peter Purcell Gilpin”, “The Badminton Magazine Of Sports And Pastimes - April 1904, By E. Somerville Tattersall”, etc. This book is highly recommended for those with an interest in the history of horse racing. Many vintage books such as this are increasingly scarce and expensive. It is with this in mind that we are republishing this volume now in an affordable, modern, high-quality edition complete with a specially-commissioned new introduction on horses used for sports and utility.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateOct 13, 2011
ISBN9781447491934
A History of Horse Racing - A Large Collection of Historical Articles on Horse Racing in England and America

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    A History of Horse Racing - A Large Collection of Historical Articles on Horse Racing in England and America - Read Books Ltd.

    Woodruff

    THE

    AMERICAN TROTTING HORSE.

    THE trotting gait has been brought to such a degree of excellence in this country, and the breeding, training, and driving of trotting horses claims so large a share of attention, both in town and country, that a book on horses would be incomplete if it did not treat more fully of these subjects than any foreign work could be expected to do.

    This Essay is therefore intended to give some account of the history of American trotting and of trotters of distinction, together with a few suggestions on breeding and training of this class of horses.

    Though trotting has been greatly cultivated here, and enters more largely into the business and pleasure of Americans than of any other people, it would be an error to suppose that no attention has been given to it in any other country, or that the matching of trotters in races had its origin here. The trot is a natural gait to the horse, as it is to many other quadrupeds, and wherever horses are driven in harness their trotting is likely to be improved. A horseback rider finds the gallop and the canter easier to him, and horses are chiefly trained to those gaits in countries where light vehicles and good roads are unknown; as in Asia, Africa, the eastern part of Europe, and all of America except the United States and Canada.

    Trotting, as a sport, began in England as early as 1791, in which year we find an account of a brown mare, eighteen years old, that trotted on the Essex road 16 miles in 58 minutes. On the 13th of October, 1799, a trotting match was decided on Sunbury Common, England, between Mr. Dixon’s brown gelding and Mr. Bishop’s gray gelding, each carrying 168 pounds, which was won in 27m. 10s. The distance is not stated, but the time shows that it was a trial of endurance as well as speed. Nearly all of the English trotting matches of that early period were of great distance. A Mr. Stevens drove a pair of his own horses tandem, in 1796, from Windsor to Hampton Court, 16 miles, in less than an hour; and the celebrated English trotter, Archer, carried 210 lbs 16 miles in 55 minutes. At about this period a variety of roadsters called Norfolk trotters came into notice in England, and still maintain a good reputation there, though none of them have ever attained a speed that would be considered very fast here. No other European country has produced trotters worthy of notice.

    Trotting as a public amusement began somewhat later in this country. Porter’s Spirit of the Times1000. The match was proposed at a jockey-club dinner, where trotting had come under discussion, and the bet was that no horse could be produced that could trot a mile in 3 minutes. If was accepted by Maj. Wm. Jones, of Long Island, and Col. Bond, of Maryland, but the odds on time were immense. The horse named at the post was Boston Blue, who won cleverly, and gained great renown. He subsequently was purchased by Thomas Cooper, the tragedian, who drove him on several occasions between New York and Philadelphia, thereby enabling him to perform his engagements in either city on alternate nights." This performance was more then twenty years later than the first public trotting in England, where the sport was then receiving some encouragement; and Boston Blue was taken to that country, where he trotted 8 miles in 28m. 55s., winning a hundred sovereigns. He also trotted several shorter races, making about 3m. time. He was a rat-tailed, iron-gray gelding, 16 hands high, and nothing is known of his pedigree.

    Trotting received very little attention here until after 1820, when the descendants of Messenger attracted notice by their speed, spirit, and endurance; chiefly about Philadelphia and New York.

    In 1825 the New York Trotting Club was organized, and established a trotting course on Long Island.

    In 1828 the Hunting Park Association was established in Philadelphia—for the encouragement of the breed of fine horses, especially that most valuable one known as the trotter. Its course, known as the Hunting Park, was located about four miles north of the city.

    Before the era marked by the organization of these two associations, three minutes was about the shortest time in which any horse here or in England had trotted a mile. In imitation of the four-mile running heats then and now common, the first trials of trotting speed were usually for three miles or more; and effort was not then directed to the development of the greatest degree of speed for a single mile. For several years, two and three-mile heats were trotted at about the rate of 2m. 40s. to the mile, and this is about the average speed of to-day, estimating from the reports of trotting races in the Spirit of the Times, though we now have many that can go the mile in less than 2m. 30s., a few that can make 2m. 24s., and two or three that have trotted in less than 2m. 20s. Among the early celebrities were Screwdriver, Betsy Baker, Topgallant, Whalebone, Shakspeare, Paul Pry, Trouble, and Sir Peter; all grand-colts of Messenger, except the first named, and he was a great-grand-colt. As many of the most distinguished trotters of the present day claim the same lineage, and as the influence of this great progenitor on the trotting stock of the country was immensely greater than that of all others together, a history of Messenger and his descendants would be a pretty full history of the eminent trotting horses of the world.

    Messenger was an English thorough-bred, foaled in 1780, and imported, as were many other English thorough-breds, on account of his value as a running horse, and for the improvement of thorough-breds in this country. He had run successfully in several races, and at five years old won the King’s Plate. It was three years after this performance, 1788, that he was imported into New York by Mr. Benger. The first two seasons after his arrival he was kept at Neshaminy Bridge, near Bristol, in Bucks county, Pa. Mr. Henry Astor then purchased him, and kept him on Long Island for two years. About this time Mr. C. W. Van Rantz purchased an interest in him, and for the remainder of his life he was kept in various parts of the state of New York, with the exception of one year at Cooper’s Point, in New Jersey, opposite Philadelphia. He died January 28, 1808.

    Messenger was a gray, 15 hands 3 inches high, and stoutly built. His form was not strictly in conformity with the popular notions of perfection, being upright in the shoulders and low on the withers, with a short, straight neck and a large, bony head. His loins and hind quarters were powerfully muscular, his windpipe and nostrils of unusual size, his hocks and knees very large, and below them limbs of medium size, but flat and clean; and whether at rest or in motion, his position and carriage always perfect and striking. It is said that during the voyage to this country the three other horses that accompanied him became so reduced in flesh and strength that when the vessel landed at New York they had to be helped and supported down the gang-plank; but when it came Messenger’s turn to land, he, with a loud neigh, charged down the gang-plank, with a colored groom on each side holding him back, and dashed off up the street at a stiff trot, carrying the grooms along in spite of their efforts to stop him.

    Though his name has been made illustrious chiefly by the performances of his trotting descendants, he was also the sire of some of the best running horses of his day. The most famous on the turf of his immediate thorough-bred descendants were Potomac, Fair Rachel, Miller’s Damsel (dam of American Eclipse), Bright Phoebus, Hambletonian, Sir Solomon, and Sir Harry. The celebrated four-mile racer, Ariel, had Messenger in her pedigree four times in five generations.

    In his day trotting was not much in fashion, as we have shown, and nothing is known of the trotting speed of this great fountain-head of trotters, nor were any of his sons or daughters ever trained to that gait. It was the second generation of his descendants, the grand-colts of Messenger, and mostly those produced by a cross with the common stock of the country, that attracted attention by their trotting speed. This fact is easily explained. The thorough-breds of his get were trained to running, and were not used as road horses, or some of them would probably have surpassed any of his half-bred descendants in trotting. But even his own half-bred colts made no mark as trotters, though some of them became celebrated as the sires of trotters. This is somewhat remarkable; but we should bear in mind that public attention had not then been given to that gait, good roads and light vehicles were not so common, and the next generation being more numerous, the probabilities were greater that this remarkable quality of the family should not remain undiscovered.

    The sons of Messenger to which nearly all the fast trotters of the present day trace their pedigree were Plato, Engineer, Commander, Why-Not, Mount Holly, Mambrino, and Hambletonian.

    Mambrino, named after the sire of Messenger, was thorough-bred, a bright bay, 16 hands high, long bodied, and, like his sire, upright in the shoulders. He was not only a large, but also a coarse horse, badly string-halted; a disease that seldom impairs a horse’s usefulness, though it was hereditary in this case, and many of his descendants had it. He had a free, rapid, swinging walk, a slashing trot, and running speed of the first order. He was the sire of Betsy Baker, one of the first eminent American trotters; of Abdallah, from whom are descended many of the fastest, including the get of Rysdyk’s Hambletonian, who was sired by Abdallah, and of Mambrino Paymaster, from whom are descended Mambrino Chief and all his get, including Lady Thorn, Mambrino Pilot, Bay Chief, &c. This son of Messenger stands undoubtedly at the head of the family as a progenitor of trotters.

    Next, in celebrity is Hambletonian, also thorough-bred. He was a dark bay, 15 hands 1 inch, beautifully moulded, and without a single weak point. He was the sire of Topgallant, Whalebone, Sir Peter, Trouble, and Shakspeare; all ranked among the best of the early American trotters.

    Abdallah was a grandson of Messenger, and deserves especial mention in this connection because so many trotters of celebrity are descended through him. He was foaled in 1826, the property of Mr. John Treadwell, of Jamaica, L. I. His sire was Mambrino, and his dam a daughter of Messenger, called Amazonia. Thus Abdallah was closely inbred. He was a bay, and inherited much of the plainness of his sire; but also inherited the trotting quality of Messenger in great degree. He was trained at four years eld, and was considered the fastest young horse of his day. In the spring of 1840 he was sold to Mr, John W. Hunt, of Lexington, Ky.; but, on account of the great value of his stock, he was bought back the next year, at a high price, and died in 1852. Beside being a progenitor, through his son, Rysdyk’s Hambletonian, of that numerous and highly-distinguished family of trotters of which Dexter, George Wilkes, and Mountain Boy are the most eminent representatives, he is equally remarkable for the number of mares of his get from whom very fast trotters have been bred. To say that a horse is out of an Abdallah mare, is pedigree enough on that side with most horsemen.

    Of the other sons of Messenger it is not necessary to speak at length, though we find many horses of the present day descended from them, and inheriting the Messenger characteristics. When the pedigree of any fast trotter can be traced far enough, it rarely happens that Messenger is not found in it. Many horses that show good trotting speed, and are considered by their breeders and owners to be nothing but common stock, are found to be descended from Messenger, when intelligent investigation reveals their pedigrees.

    Another imported horse that added something to the trotting quality of our stock was Bellfounder, a stallion foaled about 1817 and brought from England to Boston in 1823 by Mr. James Boot. He was a bay of fine form, size, and action; and these characteristics were transmitted to his colts with great uniformity. Many of them were very good and stylish carriage horses, with considerable speed, but only those infused with Messenger blood were very fast. Nothing is known of his pedigree, though his appearance indicated that he was nearly thoroughbred. It was said that he had trotted in England 2 miles in 6m. when three years old and 10 miles in 30m. at four years old. It was also asserted that he had trotted 17 1/2 miles in an hour; but these statements, not being very well authenticated, are deemed apocryphal by the best horsemen of this day. One of his colts, of the same name, stood several years in Delaware county, Pa., and left a numerous family of handsome, lively trotters, nearly all of which became lame in the fore feet, and some even to the fifth generation. His advent to that locality was a loss of many thousands of dollars to breeders. The name of Bellfounder, there, is about synonymous with worthlessness, and will long remain in disrepute; though this particular son of the imported horse probably inherited his constitutional tendency to lameness from his dam, as the Bellfounders elsewhere are not charged with the same defect. Many distinguished trotters are in part descended from some of the many thorough-breds that have been imported from England at various times, and, indeed, our most celebrated horses have a strong infusion of that blood, derived from other sources than Messenger. Conceding the value of good thorough-bred crosses in giving spirit and endurance to trotting horses, and admitting that Diomed, Whip, Trustee, Glencoe, Margrave, and other imported thorough-breds have eminent trotters among their descendants, it may be safe to say that all of them together would not have produced a family of trotters without a cross from Messenger; and equally safe to assert that the fame of Messenger would have been no less if any one of the others had never been foaled. The imported Arabian, Grand Bashaw, had the luck to have his name perpetuated in a family of good trotters that originated in Bucks county, Pa., but the trotting quality all came from Messenger, who stood in that county two years. The first of the Bashaws that manifested any trotting quality was Young Bashaw, a son of the Arabian; and he was the only one of the whole get (if we may coin a word) that was thus endowed. The explanation is found in the fact that Young Bashaw’s dam was a granddaughter of Messenger.

    Of American horses not descended from Messenger that have contributed to establish the reputation of our trotters, the number is not large nor the influence very considerable. Sir Henry, the famous competitor of American Eclipse, and Duroc, both thorough-breds, and both descended from imported Diomed, seem to have transmitted some trotting quality to their descendants, but it is very doubtful that either, or both, would have established a family of trotters. Seely’s American Star, quite famous as the sire of modern trotters, combines the blood of both, being sired by American Star, a son of Duroc, and out of Sally Slouch by Sir Henry; but his grand-dam was by Messenger. American Eclipse, the progenitor of many good trotters, had also the blood of Duroc, his sire; but as his dam, Miller’s Damsel, was by Messenger, the Duroc part of the pedigree is seldom thought of. Americus, who beat Lady Suffolk on the Hunting Park Course in a five-mile match to wagons in the remarkable time of 13m. 54s. and 13m. 58 1/2s., was by Red Jacket, a son of Duroc, and not known to have inherited his trotting from any other source.

    Canada has added something to our trotting stock. In Lower Canada, where the earliest settlers were French, and brought with them a breed of horses now known in France as Normans, they have a breed of hardy, spirited, compactly built horses, descended from the larger French horse, inheriting much of his form and general appearance, but greatly diminished in size. These Canadian horses are often called Cannucks, and by some are known as French horses, a designation likely to lead to misapprehension. They are of all colors, with thick, long manes, heavy tails, and hairy legs. Their heads are generally very good in size and form, faces dished, indicating gamy dispositions; necks well arched, often heavy in the crest but carried well up; backs shot, rumps steep, particularly in those that pace; bodies round and roomy, the ribs sometimes projecting from the backbone nearly horizontally, giving a peculiar, flat appearance to the back. Their legs are generally good, but somewhat inclined to spring in the knees; feet often narrow and mulish, but very durable. In trotting they are usually short, quick steppers with very high knee action, and are spirited, trappy harness horses, and long-lived. These horses are often said to be degenerated from their Norman ancestry by reason of the coldness of the climate, the long winters and scanty fare. There have been numerous importations from France to this country of the choicest specimens of Norman horses, and an impartial comparison shows that the Canadian has gained in spirit and speed more than enough to compensate for all he has lost in size.

    1000. He was afterwards sold to D. Heinsohn of Louisville, Ky., and was kept in that vicinity until he died about 1855. His stock were very stout and fast." As nothing is known of his pedigree, and as he was in all appearance a genuine Cannuck, it is likely that he did not owe anything to Messenger. One of his get, Alexander’s Pilot, Jr., out of Nancy Pope by Havoc, was the sire of many fast trotters, the fastest of which was John Morgan, out of a mare by Medoc and he by American Eclipse. The dam of Mambrino Pilot was also by Pilot, Jr., and, like John Morgan, was of Messenger descent on the dam’s side. Though the best of the descendants of Old Pilot are part Messenger, there is none of that blood in Pilot, Jr., and it must be confessed that Old Pilot sired some very good horses that took the trotting all from himself.

    Another horse of Canadian origin, though not a Cannuck, deserves notice in this connection. Royal George, called Warrior before he came to the States, the sire of the fast stallion Toronto Chief, and several other good trotters, was a native of Canada and probably out of a Cannuck mare, but his sire was Black Warrior, and he by an imported English horse.

    Some very good colts have been bred out of Cannucks by good trotting stallions. Thus the celebrated sons of Rysdyk’s Hambletonian, Bruno and the Brother of Bruno, and their full sister Brunette, are out of a Canadian mare. At three years old Bruno made the astonishing time of 2m, 39s. in harness. At four years old, 2m. 30s. and 2m. 34s. At six years old, he trotted to the pole with Brunette, seven years old, on the Fashion Course in 2m. 35 1/4s.

    1000 by trotting five miles over the Cambridge Park Course in 16m. In 1843 he won a race of two-mile heats with case in 5m. 43s. and 5m. 48s., and several times trotted single miles in 2m. 42s. He was the sire of Ethan Allen, Black Ralph, Lancet, Belle of Saratoga, Black Hawk Maid, Flying Cloud, and many others of good repute for speed. His colts were in great demand, particularly in the West and South, where hundreds were sold at very high prices. As many of his sons were, and still are, kept as stallions, his descendants are very numerous; and he undoubtedly has done much to improve the stock of American horses. But, notwithstanding these facts, the reputation of the family appears to be diminishing. Of fifty-two trotting stallions advertised in the Spirit of the Times in 1868, only three are descendants of Vermont Black Hawk, and all of these are also part Messenger.

    Every one of the fifty-two is descended from Messenger, and those most distinguished as sires of trotters have each several crosses of Messenger blood in their pedigree. These are very remarkable facts, and, taken in connection with the whole history of trotters, prove that we not only owe to Messenger the origin of American trotting horses, but also that the continuance of that particular quality, down to the present day, in increasing force, is due to the perpetuation of his stock, and to breeding together his descendants so as to combine the greatest quantity of Messenger blood in one animal. The value of his descendants depends, undoubtedly, in great degree, upon the quality of the horses crossed with the Messenger blood; and those other horses, both native and foreign, whether thorough-breds, Cannucks, or of mixed blood, that may justly claim a share in establishing the fame of American trotters, have done very little more than cross well with the Messengers. It is, probably, no exaggeration to say that all of them together would have failed to establish a family of trotters in the country if Messenger the Great had not been imported. The trotting quality runs out of all of them in a few generations if not crossed with the Messenger blood. They are but the tributary streams to the great river of which Messenger was the source. The immense influence of this one horse has a universal recognition in the common expression: A full-blooded Messenger, than which nothing can be more absurd. There was never but one full-blooded Messenger, and he died sixty years ago. Another expression often used in pedigrees is: Out of a Messenger mare. This may not be so absurd as the other, for the mare may be well endued with Messenger blood and quality, and almost entitled to the distinction; but in strict meaning none were Messenger mares except those of his own begetting. The Messengers are not a breed, as Cannucks and Mustangs and thorough-breds are, but only a family; and we have not arrived yet to the perpetuation of the family names of horses in the male lino, as is common among people of civilized countries.

    Pacing is not considered a good harness gait, but some of our fastest road and sporting horses have been pacers, and they are frequently matched with trotters in races. Many horses both trot and pace, and of those that have both gaits, some go faster in one and some in the other. To teach a trotter to pace is somewhat difficult unless the horse naturally inclines to it, but it may be done sometimes by riding with a severe curb-bit and spurs. Of course it requires good horsemanship, as well as means and appliances, to urge the movement desired, and to restrain the animal from the steps he is most accustomed to take. When the saddle was more in use than now, pacing was a favorite gait with many riders, but unless the horse can occasionally change his way of going into a canter, it becomes very tiresome on a long journey. Though the rider may not be jolted from the saddle so much as by a trotter, the wabbling twists his back first one way and then the other most fatiguingly.

    Pacing and cantering are pleasant gaits for ladies’ hackneys, and are well enough adapted to short journeys. In harness the pacer is not graceful. There is a gait, somewhat between a pace and a trot, and called a single-footed pace, that does pretty well in harness, but very few horses have it. For taking weight in

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