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:

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 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.

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:

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:

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.

* 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.

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.

* 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.

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: