The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1892-04-21

with one exCep
ton had little trotting Inheritance or de.
velopment. Neither imported Messenger
nor imported Grand Bashaw were brought
TO this country for any trotting instinct,
Imported Messenger was n retired running
horse from England Of very indifferent
turf success, and frequently ridiculed fol-
trotting at exercise. Grand Bashaw was
q little black pony from Barbary, beauti.
full to the eye, but useful only as saddle
hack. Justin Morgan was not bred foI
trotting purposes, and he was noted more
for his pulling matches and his quarter
races than for his trotting capabilities
Neither of them could trot under four
minutes.
Imported Bellfounder is the only horse
ever brought to this country that had the
trotting habit fixed. He belonged to the
hackney or roadster breed of England, and
previous TO his importation in 1922 had
trotted two milss in six minutes, He knew
nothing but trot
From these unpromising beginnings on
the common mares of this country within
the space of three-quarters Of century
American breeders have evolved the swift.
est harness horses in the history Of the
equine race.
The blood elements out Of which the
trotting horse is being evolved is worthy
of the most careful consideration. A new
breed Of animals Is never made by crossing
two and only two distinct breeds, preserv.
ing the better qualities of both. New
breeds, however, are often made from sew.
eral original breeds by selection from the
mongrel progeny, and this is the case with
the trotter. The English thoroughbred
has been bred and developed for a running
horse, and while he but rarely trots he has
the conformation of swift horse as well
as those mental qualities and instincts
that fit him for the race course
Some thoroughbreds, especially import
ed Messenger, have shown n special apti
tude to beget trotters when crossed on the
common stock of this country, and the
American trOtting horse is being evolved
out of cross between the thoroughbred,
the common stock of the country and one
vulgar outcross, imported Bellfounder.
Messenger is undoubtedly the great foun-
tain source of the tyotter and this state
ment is deserving Of the greater weight,
when, as the stud book shows, all 9TH er
strains receive potency in speed produc.
ing qualities just in proportion to the de.
gree of intermixture with his lineage.
But too little credit in tracing the origin
of the trotter is given to imported Bell
founder, himself a trOtter and the get Of
Old Bellfounder out of Velocity, both
great trotters in England during the first
part Of this century. 1t Is well known that
HambletOnian 10, the greatest progenitor
of trotters was sired by Abdallah l, a SOD
Of Mambrino, by imported Messenger, and
that his dam, the Kent mare, was by i'm
ported Bellfounder. 1t is only fair to give
~ f1,n ,f
derful horse that his great-grandsire Mes
senger always receives. Then in the case
of the Green Mountain Maid, the greatest
trotting brood mare ever foaled, we find
that she was sired by Harry Clay 45, whose
dam was by Bellfounder.
Again, the breeding of Electioneer, the
greatest sire Of trotters, with a hundred of
his get in the 2:30 list, including the fast
est trotter in the world, Sunol, 2:OS1{; the
fastest stallion, Palo Alto, 20S2I, and the
fastest 2-year-old, Arion, 2:l03I, as well as
the fastest ut all ages except yearlings,
and one Of his yearlings for time held
the record for that age. How is Elec.
tioneer bredI By Hambletonian 10, grand.
son of Bellfounder, out of Green Noun.
tain Maid, granddaughter of Bellfounder.
Thus in Hambletonian, the greatest pI }.
genitor of trotters, and in Green Mountain
Maid, with eight in the 2:30 list, we find
25 per cent. of Bellfounder, while the son
of these two is Electioneer, the greatest
sire of trotters, an inbred Bellfounder.
Laying aside all prejudice in the matter,
is it not time that due need should be
given to imported Bellfounder in forming
our race Of trotting horses2
But as the trotter on one side comes from
the common stock of this country, it is In
teresting to know its condition at the time
of the importation of Messenger, Bell.
founder and Grand Bashaw. This stock
was even then much improved by the cross
Of the splendid horses that the French cav.
airy officers bad brought into Canada for
their own use.
The newspapers throughout New Eng
land from the Revolution TO the beginning
of this century show in their advertise
ments the horse then in demand for driv.
ing. He was the PAGER, and fully one-fourth
of the common stock Oil the country where
imported Messenger landed were natural
PAGERS. Our common stock in those days
both trotted and paced, but the preference
was much in favor Of the pace. It must not
be forgotten that pedigrees Of trotters show
conclusively that the cross Of thorough
bred and pacing sires frequently produced
intense speed, as in the case of Maud S, and
it is impossible to ignore the conclusion
that the early PAGERS exerted apowerful in,
fuence in stamping both trotting action
and speed upon the sons Of Messenger.
Had this common stock not been OF such
INTRINSIC excellence, neither the. Messefi.
gers, Bellfounders, Bashaws nor Morgans
would have been able to produce a horse
anywhere near the perfection Of the trotter
today. The type, that Of the greyhound,
is fixed and his perfection cannot be OBJ.
tained by untried crosses or retroactive
herding Such colts as Frou-Frou, Mon.
bars, Ralph Wilkes and Arion show the
fxedness of the type and also that he
needs no extraneous outcrosses. Rapidly
yet certainly he has been evolved in in.
stinct and brain in conformation and ap-
propriate muscular development, In cour-
age and in staying qualities TO trot, till the
American trotting horse of today is the
peer Of the race horse in size, power and
beauty. In speed and endurance he is
superior in the first century of his eXis-
tence TO all other harness horses on the