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:

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.