The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-05-07
COLOR IN HORSES.
Gray in Thorounhbreds Rare, Yet Their.
Are Plenty of Gray .Trotters.
New York SUM-

mails OF this color among trOtterS are in
such striking contrast that one gradually
becomes worked up in a feverish desire
to know what has become of the gray
thoroughbreds, and why they are such
rarity on the race course.
In days gone by, when the land was
teeming with milk and honey, maple
syrup and mint juleps, and everybody
Toasted on racing guides and racing
tables, gray horses held a lofty position.
Then Grey Eagles deeds were sung
throughout the land, and Grey Medoc's
name had become well known in turf
history Following in their footsteps
came Gabriel and the great sons of Blue
Bonnet, Lightning, Thunder and Load
stone, all cloaked with color of their dam.
Others of the same hue of more or less
prominence were Galopade, Ariel, Fanny
Wright, Miller's Damsel, Grey Planet,
Eagless, Grey Goose and Fanny Wright.
With such an array it seemed impossible
for the gray thoroughbred to be threat
ened with extinction. Yet today, in this
section, Belmar and Grey Bird only re-
main to uphold the fame of the color,
while Draw Scot is most prominent
among the few in the West.
That gray horses have proved failures
as sires is stud book record This has
been due in a measure to general preju-
lack OF opportunity. Grey Eagle, how
ever, received a ir.chance, and he failed
to perpetuate his name, while no excuse
on the score of lack of appreciation can
be raised on Lightning's behalf, who,
during his career as sire, was RESPOND
BILE for Jean Vatican. Thunder disap-
peared into Canada, while Loadstone
seems to have vanished trackless after
his racing campaign. So much for gray
in the male line. In the female line the
gray mares have played a more effective
hand. Descendants of Galopade, Bonnets
o. Blue, Eagless, Fanny Wright and Mil
ler's Damsel are still holding their own,
though bearing darker color.
Galopade, whose color came from her
great grandsire,, Mambrino, was response
BILE for Reel, who established the War
Dance family. Fanny Wright is respon-
sible for a stong combination of gray in
Inspector BIS pedigree, through the
female line OF his dam, Colossa, whose
granddam was the gray mare Eleanor
Margrave, daughter of Fanny Wright,
whose sire and dam were both grays.
The color IN this case has apparently died
out with Eleanor Margrave. Eagless, a
daughter of Glencoe and a mare BY Grey
Eagle, was the dam of the grays Mary
Clark, Gray Planet, Steel Eyes and Liz
Zie Lucas. The latter's daughter, Cerise
will live in turf history as the dam Of
Morello, who could never be accused of
favoring the female line in color. Lizzie
Lucas was also responsible for the gray
horse CambySeS, from whom nothing has
haan hoard Ciraa hp ,soIi,
oprations, and the gray mare Cleola, who
was among the mares purchased for w.
I'll. Vanderbilt from Pierre Lorillard S
string. Millers Damsel, gray mare by
the gray horse Messenger, was the dam
of American Eclipse, a chestnut, who
failed to perpetuate the color of his DAM
The most persistent line of gray today
is found in Adele, the dam of the two
grays, Adelbert and Belmar Adele's
dam was by the gray horse Lightning
That the gradual extinction Of the gray
color in thoroughbreds is not entirely due
to the lack of support received byhorses of
that color in the past is proven by the
fact that mares of the same color have
been as highly priced as matrons of more
| fashionable compilations. 70 get at the
root of the business, all thoroughbreds
| today descend in the male line from
| Eclipse, Herod and Matchan, through
certain prescribed lines. Eclipse was
| chestnut, while Herod and Matcham were
both bays, nor were any Of their represen-
tatives through whom their names are
being perpetuated, gray. Again, all re-
suits of breeding show that the weaker
color has to stand on one side. This is
shown in dogs, as instanced in fox terri
ers, where the sire and dam of one of the
principal pillars were both tan marked
in head, yet the son threw back to an an
cestor with a black and tan marked head,
and the latter color, with black predorni-
| mating, has become distinctive feature
of the family.
In collies, sable became the most fash
ionable color some fifteen or twenty years
ago. A dog named Charlemagne appeared
on the scene, and now, through his sons
and daughters, his blood is the most
priced. He was a sable, by black, white
and tan dog, and, try as much as they
can, traders are confronted in almost
every litter with black, white and tan
puppies. In breeding ferrets it is the
same thing. Mate a white female with a
polecat, or brown colored dog ferret, and
a large proportion, if not the entire litter,
will favor the sire's color.
With thoroughbreds, black, brown, bay
or chestnut is stronger OF more potent
color than gray, and since neither of the
three taprootS, nor their most potential
descendants, have favored the lighter
color, the odds have been overwhelmingly
against its asserting itself, even if with
fair start it could have withstood the
onslaught OF the more pronounced colors.
That number of trotters are gray is ac-
counted for by the fact that their taproot
was the imported gray thoroughbred Mes
senger.