The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1896-04-12
OLD.IlNE ROAD MARES.
-vrtR DrFSPRING WERE THE
IsrITESIIROTTERS OF THEIR Day


...,.. q the Charles Kent Mare, KATY
n,,,,pe, aud DotIS Spnuker-They Were
s.s,t,, hut the Capt. Roberts Mar. ~
rnutd Hent AIi-Snrrey ana Old Daisy.
rts annals vt the New York road are dotted
-,I the names OF many old-timo %trottInR
80. MAT gained distinction through their
rS,riu. after they had been retired TO the
,s.'Jr. .,ul. Some OF tho most noted OF the
.,,rrr .,rc. the founders of the preaent.day
t,.,do OF ,rut'tts-hnd for their dams broken
Sarn road mares from New York and Brook
90, and every horsemnn who Is versed In the
h,ocl line. u the %trotters of to-day can name n
ian, list ot great performers on the turf that
trace back 10 some old road mare or other that
81. more ur less NJ a celebrity In her time on
cha plnoruiugdale road. Third avenue, or the
Harlem lane. In the Importance Of the part
,bey have played in building up the breed of
horses that is peculiar to America, these old
road mares " New York rank higher, PERHAPS,
than, the turf winners of the sam period, for
without them there would have been no Ham.
bletDnian, 10 George Wilkes. no Elcctioneer,
and no Goldsmith Maid.
one NJ the first fast ~trotters Of which there Is
ANY mention in the meagre chronicles OF early
trottins on Long Island was Amayonia, a large,
coar.c surrcl mare with a strip In tho face, fiat
riblri. rough hipped. big boned, with shaggy
fetlorks. a dropping rump, and all of the ear
MARKS ~ ~p,ebcian blood. She was purchased In
New Jersey. not far from Philadelphia. about
1915, by b. I. Nissan, n dry goods jobber of New
York. who used her about a year and then sold
her to his uncle. John Tired well OF Salisbury
I.ace, l.. l.. The man who sold her to Nissan
told him she was got by a son OF imported Mes
senerr. but nothing definite is known about her
origin or her blood. Amazonia was possessed of
great courage and speed at the trot. and she
came to be one OF the best known road mares Of
her day.
There was no such thing as a %trotting track at
that time. but the mare lost and won many a
match race between the milestones Of the old
Jamaica turnpike. then the favorite speeding
ground for the %trotters and hackers on Long ISL
and. In 1922 John Tredwell bred her to MAN.
brine. the thoroughbred con of imported Mes
senger. owned BY Major William Jones. and she
produced Abdallah. who was about the first
horse that got ~trotters OF 2:3o speed with any
considerable degree OF uniformity. and whose
number is l in the registry list of standard trot-
ting 'tailions.
Abdallah got many ~trotters who were noted in
tLcir day. but incomparably the greatest Of his
SCI was Rysdyk's Hambletonian, the first really
great trotting sire that appeared and the pro-
lenltor of ninety per cent. OF the fast ~trotters
now on the turf. mbletonian's dam, although
raised in Orange county. was brought to New
York when three years old. and was for several
years one of the fast team driven on the road
BY a banker here. Some OF the old-time horse
men now living can remember when she was
. conspicuous figure in the throng of
on the road. One who knew the
mare describes her as a bright bay.
about 1873 hands high. with q star in her
forehead. q roam ankle In front and q white one
behind. Her hips were coarse. her stiles broad
and powerful, and her hind legs were q bit an
GUAR AT the hooks like those of her noted son.
had q long, thin name. q light tail, and a
will OF her own. Tradition has it that she trot.
TED a trial in 2:4l at the Union Course in 1888,
hut 2:41 was sensational time for a four-year-
old TO make In those days.
At last the fast mare and her mate ran away
aud The danghter # Bellfounder was crippled
10 foF r iits; she k was SOLD 90 Su scSa AFTER who t brsd ACCIDENT Ssd mt
Webber'sC Canadian %trotter Tom Thumb. and got
he, dam y s Of Green's e Fl. Bansnaw;y enc Of th the ate ETsases.
following her dam. Jonas Seely bought the
narrower afterward known rs, the Charles
county. where she produced, in ls49. the bay
colt Hambletonian That Seely did not prize |
either mare or colt is evident from the fact that
he sold both in 1850 to his former hired man.
NJ. Rysdyk, for sl25;
gave HeG birth to thu the colt sds' by Abdallan there %ers
two other noted mares on the road in New York.
each of whom was destined to I'LL a large place
aA oiS HiStoIS. boN Wv VI ia |
known blood. and although repeated efforts
have since been made to trace them back to
their breeders. the origin of Katy Darling and
Dolly Spanker remains a mystery. which at this
day is not likely eyer 10 be cleared away.
tie oest road mare Of her time on the old Third
avenue speed way. 1t was the custom then for
everybody who drove a trotter out to the Red
House track in Harlem TO leave the rendezvous
for the homeward drive in the after
loon, and the last man down to Billy Van Cott's
lite of Proctor'- Pleasure Palace or Whereabouts,
had to settle, for the wine. 1t is said that in
.hese four-mile races. to wagon. Katy Darling
cad.
that day, and in the winter OF ls50-5l a keen
ivalry sprung up between the Maid and Katy
Darling ior the mastery OF the snow path, the
.esuIted in a decisive victory. for Katy Darling.
After celebrating in the old fashioned way. Vie
for a moonlight drive up the road that
hight; When they were some distance north Of
lie Harlem River. on the White Plains road,
Katy Darling stepped on a loose stone. or got
Ter foot caught in the frog of a railroad track.
another story hns it, and stopped short, so
BADLY crippled that she could hardly hobble to
he nearest barn. There she remained until Lewis
sutton OF Warwick, Orange county. boughth her
or $50 the next spring. sutton managed to get
he mare home after much trouble. and late in
he summer he bred her to the Kent mares colt,
hen an unnamed two-year-old. ..
lorss colt afterward known as Edsall's Ham
I~letOnian and later as Alexander's Abdallah.
~ W hblNIbHillh iihlu. niLiOlls tiiiub
" Gods Hambletonian and q long list of other
treat ones, Like Jonas Seely, the breeder OF
sutton allowed the capital prize
lat he had drawn in the lottery OF breeding
Hip through his hands for a sony. Tho veteran
who Is still living at q ripe old age In
Orange, tells how in his absence one day
NO OF his neighbors, Seely Edsall and Heze-
llOyt, set a sheep dog after the colt when
le was about "A year old, chasing the youngster
over the field without getting him TO leave
lis natural gait, IA square trot. Hoyt met Sutton
n thY road as the latter was coming home and
sought the colt for $500.
In the early volumes OF the stud book Katy
Darling was registered as by Bay Roman, dam
~ a son or Mambrino," but there Is considers
pc doubt as to the correctness OF this pedigree.
AOout twelve years ago George Nelson, an old
iine brooklyn horseman, told the writer more
bout the early history OF Katy Darling than
las ever appeared in print. Nelson had traced
no mare back, to the colored man who
brought her to New York when she was three
ears old. This man had been a purser, stew
va or something OF the sort on the New York
va Albany steamboats,, and he wal, a very
horsemen. according TO Nelson's
worry lie remembered the mare distinctly.
M said lac had bought her from the farmer
Sho had raised her, about twelve miles back
y Albany" lie could not then recall this
name nor the name of Katy Darling's
lNA mus H. Il n"n