The New York herald., 1921-01-30
ROAM TROTTERS
OF UNKNOWN BLOOD
Harness Horses Of This Color
Always Distinguished for
Courage and Endurance.
ny w. II. GOCHER.

Webster denneS roam morse as Nne
having bay. sorrel or dark color with
spots of gray or white thickly inter-
spersed In his coat. Roam is a mixture
of all the horse colors. the different
shades being known as black. blue. red.
silver or strawberry roam. The numer-
Gus references to roam horses by the
early writer's shows that they must have
been common In their day. This has led
many to believe that roam was the first
step from the original dun horse--which
IS still seen in Norway. Sweden and Cen
tral Asa--to the bay black, brown,
chestnut and gray Of the present day.
Roam thoroughbred horses are very
rare. the nearest approach to 1t among
the gallopers being a sprinkling of white
in the coats of bays and chestnuts, es-
pecially the latter when they are freely
marked with white. When the color ap-
pears in the light harness horse 1t can
always be traced to an ancestor whose
breeding is unknown. None of the
foundation sires except Tom Hal were
roans. In all other families the color
was brought in by mares of unknown
breeding.
Roam horses have always been distin-
guished for their gameness and endur-
ance. Their success in light harness
racing. when their number is consid-
cred. has been, phenomenal The Ken
lucky Futurity. for example, was won
by the roam FLIES Rose Croix in 1886,
Nella Jay in 1902, and Baroness Virginia
in 1909, while Susie j. finished second
in 1900. and .Trampfast won the two
year-old division in 1907.
There arc seventy-five roam horses in
the 2:10 list. Twenty-six are trotters
and forty-nine PAGERS. OF the trotters
the breeding Of Duchess, 2:07H, is un-
known. Twenty -one of the trotters trace
to the roam mares Lady Franklin, Nell
and Laura Fair. The breeding of Lady
Franklin is unknown, while the other
two disappear with roam mare at two
removes. OF the PAGERS thirty-four
trace to the three mares named, Tilla
and the stallion Tom Hal, breeding un-
known.
The group of the roam 2 10 performers
shows the influence, that an unknown
cross has in the horse world. 1t also
demonstrates why breeders hesitate be-
fore using a horse that has a blank or
two in his pedigree.
About 1920 a strawberry roam horse
was purchased in Philadelphia. He was
called Canadian. This horse was Tom
Hal He appears In the third remove
of the pedigree of the roam horse Glib
sons Tom Hal, whose dam, Julia john
son. was also a roam.
Gibson's Tom Hal founded the Hal
family of PAGERS. 1t was the first to
beat 2:12 and the first to have a repre-
sentative in the two minute list Three
of Tom Halls seven performers were
roans. His descendants show eighteen
. 10 performers of the same color. The
list includes Roam Hal. 2:00a4 Alcy-
fras, 1854 Zulu Hal, :03A Hal S.,
2 :04% Roam Wilkes. . :04M Lancelot
2 :05A Queen Hal, :05H ~ and Chimes
Hal. 2 :06A. In this family the roam
color frequently disappears and returns
after one or two generations. as is
shown by Zulu Hal and Hal S. Both of
them were got by bay sons of Brown
HAL -rsc
OF the roam mares which transmitted
their color Lady Franklin is the most
prominent. She made trotting record
of 2:29M in 1864. After being retired
she was mated twice with Mambrino
Star. She produced Cottage Girl. 2 :291
and the roam mare Lady Frank. The
latter was the dam of the roam horse
Jay Bird. He founded family In which
there were eighteen roam . 10 perform
ers. Ten of them were trotters and eight
PAGERS.
In the first remove Jay Bird is cred
tied with Hawthorne. 2':06H Dulce Jay.
2 :09& a. and Early Bird. 2:10, as well
as the Kentucky, Futurity winner Rose
Croix. 2:11A. jolly Bird. n roam mare
by Jay Bird. produced Codero. 2:09%.
Rachel, another daughter, is the dam of
Bessie Drake, 2:0Sai. and Nimble. the
grandam of Bird b., 2 :09A. All of
them were roam. ttar
KentsclSy lost great sire when the
roam horse Jayhawker, by Jay Bird.
died as an eight-year-old. He made a
record of 214%. During his brief stud
career he got the roam mare Susie j.,
2 :061a the worlds record for four-year-
olds when made; the kentucky Futurity
winner Nella Jay. 2:14h. which pro-
duced the roam horses Cavalier Gale,
2 :oSh. and Director Jay. 2:OSh, as well
as Denella, the dam OF Nella Dillon,
2 :05 u, winner of both divisions of the
Kentucky Futurity. b Moonrise, another
roam mare by Jayhawker. produced the
roam horse Al Stanley. 2 :0SH, who, IN
addition to transmitting his coat to the
PAGER Ardella. 2:0S1 1a. is the sire of
2:o3A, winner of the Kentucky
F'uturity, and Transylvania. Jayfoot.
Jr.. another grandson Of Jay Bird, is
the sire of the roam horse Moonbeam.
:06K. y,
The line of roam speed from Lady
Franklin was also continued through
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