Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1888-12-28
MERITS OF THE MORGANS.
From American Cultivator. ]


A correspondent from New Jersey
asks: "HOw comes it that so many of
our turf journals are so bitterly opposed
70 the Morgan horse? The fact that on
erage Morgan is more or less inferior to
the average Hambletonian, does not, it
appears to me, sufficiently account for
the undsguised contempt with which the
average Morgan is so generally treated"
" There has been gradual but decided
change in public sentiment in favor of
the Morgans during the past decade, and
ten years hence the Morgan cross will be
much more popular than today. The
most that is written disparaging them
nowadays come from the pens of those
who are ignorant of their real merits.
One reason why they are sometimes
slurred is that few of them which trace
directly to Justin Morgan in the male
line have been distinguished of late years
as strictly tirst-class trotters, capable to
compete with Maud S. (2.OSD, Jay-Eye-
See (2:l0), St. Julien and others of that
class. That they have not done so may
be argued to be due to lack of advan-
tages. This does not count for anything,
however, nowadays, since Blue Bull has
shown that animals may attain distinc-
ton in the face of adverse circumstances
The Hambletonians and Mambrno
Chiefs have been the favorites among
prominent turf men, from the palmy
days of Dexter (2:17D and Lady Thorne
Gasp to the present time, and most of
the record breakers have come from those
families. 1t was at one time thought
that the Morgan strain was detrimental
to high rate of trotting speed. Some
doubtless suppose that to be the fact even
now. 1t is popularity of certain indi-
viduals that when opinions are once
formed, no matter how erroneous they
may be, it is very difficult to change
them. Such men see no significance in
the fact that the second dam of George
Wilkes traced directly to Justin Morgan,
and that the second dam of his most dis
tinguished son as sire of trotters, Red
Wilkes. was strongly inbred to the same
strain, and that the dam of Red Wilkes's
best son, Prince Wilkes (2:l4a), traces
directly through Blood's Black Hawk
and Vermont Black Hawk to Sherman
Morgan, the most celebrated son of the
world-renowned Justin Morgan.
They overlook the fact, or regard it as
of little consequence, that the dam of
Rosalind Wilkes (2:14a) was by Zilcaadi
Golddust, son of Dorsey's Golddust, by
Vermont Morgan, or that the dam of
Jack (2:l9D, winner of the largest sum
of money captured by any trotter in the
Grand Circuit last season, was an inbred
Morgan, or that the dam of kentucky
Prince, sire of Guy cap, sprang from
the same source. They overlook the fact
that the fastest trotter found among the
progeny of Alexander's Abdallah, Belle
Hamlin q :l34), is inbred to the Morgan
strain. In fact, the breeding of some of
her ancestors was so strong in Morgan
lines tilat IL might almost De called inces-
tuous. The fastest of Almont's sons and
daughters, the PAGER Westmont (2:l3a).
was from mare of Morgan descent; and
several of Almont's sons, most distin-
guished as sires of trotters, are also faint
ed with the Morgan element, including
Hamiin's Almont, Jr., whose list of 80
trOttprg nutnumhars that of a nv ntbar G ON
of AlmOnt.
The dana of The Moor, sire of the phe-
nomenal trotting progenitor Sultan
(2:2), was Belle of Wabash @ :4O), a
mare which If report is correct, was pro-
duced by mating colt whose sire was of
Kentucky Copperbottom stock with his
own dam, daughter of Vermont Black
Hawk. The best csmpaigner that the