The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1885-05-15


other PAGERS had fallen Into the same
hands? We can only figure by what
Blue Bull and Pocahontas Boy have
ccomplished- also would proba-
bly, have been accidents. 1t was no
more an accident that Blue Bull pos
sessed the power to produce speed than
it was all accident that IIambletonian
O0) was gifted in the same way: each
horse doubtless was more highly en-
dOwed in this respect than many others
of equal breeding, but they each owe
much of their SUCCESS to the parties in
whose charge they fell. do not now
remember of IIambletonian having any
brother who Appropriated him in his
produce, hence we might say with equal
proprietv that llambletonian is an acct
dent. There is another particular in
which the success of each horse is to
some extent the result of accident and
that is the class of mares brought to
their embrace. llamhletonian was
located where he had the best mares i'll
the East: while Blue Bull served the
class of speed-producing mares in
Indiana-by accident he was located in
that part of the State filled with Tom
\ L
General Taylor, Pocahontas and Red
Buck mares, several of which families
are the direct descendants of old Pacing
Pilot. We think it a mistake when it
is claimed that Blue Bull served inferior
mares; an examination of the records
of his get will show that those pacing
bred mares almost uniformly produc-
ed speed from anything, but not so
much from steers, such as many of
them are now being bred to, as they
did from Blue Bull,
Again IL is said that Blue Bull is
phenomenal, only, in producing speed;
that from a want of trotting inherit
ance he has been unable to endow his
sons with like power, and that Ham
bletonian's greatness largely exists i'll
the fact that his sons and grandsons are
speed producers. AT first flush there
seems to be force in this argument.
Blue Bull is represented in the 2:30
list by but one grandson in the male
line, while Ilambletonian is represent
cd by hundreds, but when carefully
examined much of its force vanishes.
Hambletoniau has grandsons almost as
old as Blue Bull himself, and much
older than any entire son of Blue
Bull. From the beginning of Handle
toniau's life, he WAS considered great
horse-at years Old he sired four colts,
one of which was AleXander's Abdal-
lah, foaled in 1902; in 1893 Edward
Everett was foaled, and in 1900 George
Wilkes and Volunteer were toaled; ;
most of these and many other of his
inf 70 Of of nj
and were bred on the very best of
mares-thus the family started more
than quarter of a century ago; sur
rounded by the most favorable public
opinion and aided by all of the best
blood of the East and South, it would
be expectedtto accomplish great deal.
With Blue Bull the circumstances were
very diflerent his early life was spent
in obscurity and man who would
have thought of keeping a son of the
old horse for stock purposes 20 years
ago would have been considered a
crank. The old horse, at the time en-
ioyed the reputation of being a dung
hill and duiIer. His oldest entire sons
are still young horses; the oldest of
which have any knowledge does not
exceed II years. The lack of age is
not the only obstacle that the sons of
Blue Bull had to encounter. Before
the colts of any of his sons were old
enough to develop, the enemies of the
old horse were convinced they would
have to change their fight on the family :;
the performances of the Blue Bulls had
silenced their charges that they were
cutters and could not trot, so his enc
mics raised the cry that we still hear
"that while Blue Bull produced trotters
his sons would nor,' and so the cry
goes all down the line. For that rea-
son his sons have been deprived of the
assistance of good mares and their pro-
duce have been neglected and undevel-
oped. The man who had a good mare
would pass young Blue Blue and
breed to some son or grandson of Ham
bletonian, even if he was II or Is years
old and never had produced trotter,
simply because it was fashionable.
They believed the stories of the men
who had thousands of dollars invested
in fashionably bred trotting stock, that
llambletoIian was prepotent and Blue
Bull was not-such fcOlishness is still
being practiced. There are many men
now passing such horses as Manlove's
Blue Bull, by old Blue Bull, dam by
Pocahontas Boy, and full brother to
Dandy Boy, 2:22. passing Elgin Boy,
bred almost the same way, and full
brother to Lady Elgin; passing Maze:
Blue Bull. full brother TO Waverly land
many other highly bred sons of Blue
Bull, and breeding TO horses that are
neither trotters nos producers of trot
ters. 1t is lamentable fact that ever
the friends of Blue Bull have failed t.
appreciate his sons as stock horses anC
even tried in some instances to taxi