CHAPTER XXV.

AMERICAN STAR, PILOT, CHAMPION, AND NORMAN FAMILIES.

Seely’s American Star—His fictitious pedigree—Breeding really unknown—A trotter of some merit—His stud career—His daughters noted brood mares— Conklin’s American Star—Old Pacing Pilot—History and probable origin —Pilot Jr.—Pedigree—Training and races—Prepotency—Family statistics summarized—Grinnell’s Champion, son of Almack—His sons and performing descendants—Alexander’s Norman and his sire, the Morse Horse— Swigert and Blackwood.

Of all the hundreds of difficult and obscure pedigrees that I have undertaken to investigate and straighten out, I have given more time, labor and money to that of Seely’s American Star than to any other horse. In 1867 I got his pedigree from a gentleman in Morris County, New Jersey, who claimed to have bred him, and this pedigree and the history accompanying it embracing several details that were interesting, I published it, at full length, in the _Spirit of the Times_. This represented the horse as a light chestnut about fifteen hands high, with star and snip and two white hind feet. He was represented to have been foaled 1837 and to be by a horse called American Star, son of Cock of the Rock, by Duroc; dam Sally Slouch by Henry, the race horse; grandam by imported Messenger. As there was no horse of that name, so far as I knew, by Cock of the Rock, but as there was one of that name by Duroc, I wrote to know whether this was not the breeding of the sire, and the answer came that it might have been so.

After the appearance of this pedigree in the “Register” I was greatly surprised that nobody believed it, and the more a horseman knew of the horse and his history the more positive he was that it was a mistake. Several years passed away, and while I kept insisting it was true, the unbelievers became more persistent than ever in their opposition to the pedigree. The consensus of the opinions of horsemen seemed to be that the horse was part “Canuck,” and this was the view held by his owner, Edmund Seely, as long as he lived. At last the following story came to me from different responsible persons, all of whom were personally cognizant of the facts they related, as follows: On a certain occasion a street contractor had a force at work, grading with shovels and carts, near the foot of Twenty-third Street, I think, New York City. Among the cart horses there was a Canadian stallion and a frisky, high-strung bay mare that wouldn’t work kindly. One day during the noon hour, the “boys” for amusement brought this stallion and mare together and in due time the mare proved to be with foal, and she was sent over to Jersey the next spring. The foal she there dropped was Seely’s American Star. When I asked to whom the mare had been sent to be taken care of, the answer came back quickly naming the same man whom I had represented as the breeder. As the contractor had no use for the colt, as a matter of course, the keeper of the mare would take the colt for the keeping. There is nothing unnatural nor unreasonable in this story, and it bears a pretty strong resemblance to the way the dam of the famous George M. Patchen came into the world.

When the horse was four or five years old he began to show a fine trotting step and he was sold to John Blauvelt, of New York, for a driving horse. His feet not being strong, in the course of a year or two he developed a couple of quarter cracks and he was sent back to the man who raised him to be cured. In the winter of 1844-5 he was sold to Cyrus Dubois, of Ulster County, New York, who kept him in the stud the seasons of 1845, 1846 and 1847. His advertisement for the year 1847 reads as follows:

“American Star is a chestnut sorrel, eight years old on the 11th day of April, 1847, near 16 hands high, etc.... He was sired by the noted trotting horse Mingo, of Long Island, who was got by old Eclipse. American Star’s dam, Lady Clinton, the well-known trotting mare of New Jersey, was sired by Sir Henry.”

Here we have the third pedigree of this horse, and now the question arises, Where did this pedigree come from? Cyrus Dubois is dead, but a living brother of his says this is the pedigree that Cyrus brought with the horse from New Jersey. As this same quasi-breeder was the man who delivered the horse to Dubois, the statement of the living brother comes very near proving that the first and the third of the pedigrees here given were the work of the same man. Again, in 1844, this same quasi-breeder kept this horse at Warwick and New Milford, in Orange County, New York, and nobody in that region seems to have ever heard of either of these pedigrees. And again, this quasi-breeder wrote me that after Edmund Seely had brought the horse to Goshen he went to see him, and after fully identifying him as the same horse he had bred he gave the pedigree to Mr. Seely as he had given it to me. If this be true it is a very strange thing that Mr. Seely never seemed to know anything about it, but persisted in giving the pedigree as by a Canadian horse and out of a mare by Henry. Upon the whole, I long ago concluded that my first and earliest correspondent on the question of American Star’s origin was unfortunate in having a mental organization that placed him “long” on the ideal, and “short” on the real.

His stud services may be summarized as follows: In 1844 he was kept at Warwick and New Milford, Orange County, New York. In 1845, 1846 and 1847 he was in Ulster County, and on the borders of Orange. In 1848 and 1849 he was at Hillsdale, Columbia County, New York. In 1850, 1851, 1852 and 1853 he was at Goshen and other points in Orange County. In 1854 he was at Elmira, New York. In 1855, it is said on good authority, he was kept ten miles below Hudson. Others say he was at Piermont, Rockland County, that year. In 1856 he was at Mendota, Illinois. In 1857, 1859 and 1860 he was again in Goshen. In February, 1861, he died at Goshen, the property of Theodore Dusenbury. In Orange County his service fee ranged from ten to twenty dollars, and at last twenty-five dollars, and he was liberally patronized. An unusually large percentage of his foals were fillies, and he was essentially a brood-mare sire from the start. Opinions differ very widely among horsemen as to his capacity for speed, some maintaining that he could trot in 2:35 while others insisted on placing him ten seconds slower. In trying to harmonize these conflicting views it is probably safe to conclude that, when fit, which seldom occurred in his whole life, his speed was about 2:40. He was always a cripple from defective feet and limbs, and his whole progeny were more or less subject to the same troubles.

He left four trotters that barely managed to get inside the 2:30 list and eight sons that put sixteen inside of the list. But his strong point was in the producing character of his daughters. Thirty-six of these daughters left forty-five of their produce inside of 2:30. The disparity in the producing power of the sexes in this family is very remarkable and, in a breeding sense, very instructive. In the light of what has been developed in this family in the past fifty years, we are certainly ready to form a safe estimate of its value as a factor in the combination that goes to make up a breed of trotters. Star mares gave us a Dexter and a Nettie, and all the world thought that was the blood that was to live on and on in the new breed. But, while Hambletonian was able to get great trotters from Star mares, he was not able to get, through their attenuated trotting inheritance, sons that would be as great as himself. To his cover Star mares produced no such great sires as George Wilkes, Electioneer, Egbert, Happy Medium, and Strathmore. In the instances of Dictator and Aberdeen there was a reasonable measure of success, but all the others—and there were many of them—proved comparative failures. There is a lesson taught here that any one can interpret.

AMERICAN STAR (CONKLIN’S) was a chestnut horse, foaled 1851, and got by Seely’s American Star, and his dam has been variously represented, with nothing established as to her blood. He was bred by a Mr. Randall, of Orange County, and was among the first from his sire to attract attention. He came into the hands of E. K. Conklin when young, and was taken by him to Philadelphia, and was owned by him during his lifetime. He gave early promise of making a trotter, and from 1865 to 1868 he was on the turf, more or less, and left a record of 2:33. His stud services were confined to the region of Philadelphia till the year 1872, when he was taken back to Orange County and died there. Three of his get entered the 2:30 list; two of his sons got one trotter each and four or five of his daughters produced one each.

At one time the name “American Star” was very popular, and quite a number of stallions were so named that were bogus; but his son Magnolia put two in the 2:30 list; one son got three trotters, and three daughters produced five performers. His son Star of Catskill got two performers, and his son King Pharaoh got four pacers and all of them fast. The family has not grown strong either in numbers or in merit. It has been carried, so far, by the influences of stronger blood, and it seems destined to complete absorption and extinction in more potent strains.

PILOT, the head of the Pilot family, was a black pacing horse, and of later years he has been generally designated as “Old Pacing Pilot.” He was foaled about 1826, and nothing is known of his origin or his blood. From his make-up and appearance he was generally considered a Canadian, as was the custom at that time, and I think I have used this term myself in referring to the horse, but there is really no foundation for crediting him to that source. The earliest information we have of him is from an unpublished source, to the effect that he was well known to certain sporting men about Covington, Kentucky. He next appears in New Orleans, hitched to a peddler’s cart, but really looking for a match as a green pacer. To promote this object, Major Dubois, a sporting man, was taken into the confidence of his owner, and it is said the horse showed him a mile in 2:26 with one hundred and sixty-five pounds on his back, and the major bought him for one thousand dollars. In 1832 Dubois sold him to Glasgow & Heinsohn, a livery stable firm of Louisville, Kentucky, and he remained the property of that firm till he died, about 1855. It has been asserted with some semblance of authority that he could trot as well as pace, but this seems to be wholly apocryphal, and on this point I am prepared to speak without hesitation or doubt. A large breeder in the vicinity of Louisville, whom I have learned to trust implicitly, through the intercourse of many years, has assured me repeatedly that he knew the horse and his master well, and that he had seen him very often, for years, that he would not trot, and that his master could not make him trot a step. On the occasion of a very deep fall of snow he was taken out to see whether that would not compel him to trot, and he went rolling and tumbling about with no more gait than a hobbled hog.

He left a numerous progeny, most of them pacers, with some trotters. We know but little of their merits, as at that period pacing and trotting races were carried on, generally, on guerrilla principles, and no records kept, except at a few of the more prominent occasions. His fastest pacer, probably, was Bear Grass, and there is a little history here that will be interesting further on. My late friend, Edmund Pearce, had always, from childhood, been a great admirer of the grand old saddle mare, Nancy Taylor. She had been bred to Old Pilot and produced a colt foal, which Mr. Pearce bought when young and named him Bear Grass. This was the first piece of horseflesh he ever owned, and he didn’t think he had ever owned a better one. He was amazingly fast, and could go away from all competitors, but unfortunately an accident befell him that ended his career before he reached maturity. Bear Grass had a half-sister called Nancy Pope, being the daughter of Nancy Taylor, that was afterward bred to Old Pilot, and she produced the famous Pilot Jr., that was the fastest trotter from the loins of the old pacer. Pilot Jr. took the diagonal form of the trot from his dam and never paced. It is worthy of noting that Nancy Taylor and Nancy Pope—mother and daughter—produced old Pilot’s fastest pacer and fastest trotter.

PILOT JR. (ALEXANDER’S) was a grey horse, foaled 1844, “got by old Pacing Pilot; dam Nancy Pope, grandam Nancy Taylor.” This is the literal version of his pedigree as given by his first owners and as given by W. J. Bradley and others who had him in charge year after year in the region of Lexington, according to the different advertisements, and no change ever appeared till the horse was bought and taken to Woodburn Farm. Then, for the first time we learned that Nancy Pope was got by Havoc, thoroughbred son of Sir Charles, and that Nancy Taylor was got by Alfred, an imported horse. This was not the work of Mr. R. A. Alexander, an honorable man, but the work of the professional pedigree manufacturer, who exploited his inventive skill very widely through the early catalogues of that great establishment. As a matter of historic fact, Pilot Jr.’s dam was Nancy Pope, but nothing is known of her sire, and Nancy Pope was out of Nancy Taylor, about whose pedigree nothing whatever is known. But as the subject of Pilot Jr.’s pedigree is exhaustively treated in Chapter XXIX., the details need not be further dealt with here.

The training of Pilot Jr. commenced when he was five years old, and after the close of his stud seasons he was kept at it, in a moderate way, for several years, and it is said he never manifested any inclination to strike a pace. He was engaged in some races, and his advertisement claims he won several, giving the names of horses he had beaten, but the time made seems to be carefully avoided. He could probably trot in about 2:50 or a little better. He and all his family, so far as I can learn, were willful and hard to manage in their training, and were, therefore, in danger of becoming unreliable, but they were fast for their day, and dead game campaigners. There is one particular in which this horse seemed to surpass nearly all others and that was in his power to eliminate the running instinct and to plant the trotting instinct in his progeny from running-bred mares. It is doubtless true that many of those mares, so classed, were only running bred on paper; but the fact still remains, and it is supported by a sufficient number of authentic instances, to justify the conclusion that his potency in this direction was remarkable.

During the troublous times of the war many of his early progeny were lost or destroyed, but from his own loins he put eight performers in the 2:30 list and others not far away. Six of his sons became the sires of forty-one performers, and eighteen of his daughters produced forty-one performers. Although the official records do not show that Pilot Jr. got any pacers, it is nevertheless true that he did get some very fast ones. But when we get past the period when the pacer was considered a bastard and kept out of sight, we meet with some astonishing facts. As an example, take Miss Russell, the greatest of all the Pilots. First, she produced a pacer that was changed to the diagonal instead of the lateral step, and then stood for years as the champion trotter of the world. Second, her son Nutwood has placed twenty pacers in the 2:30 list; her son Mambrino Russell has placed five there, and her son Lord Russell has placed five there. This brief and hasty exhibit of what the descendants of Miss Russell are doing seems to upset all the laws of heredity, provided always that her dam was a thoroughbred mare. The evidence that the breeding of this reputed “thoroughbred” mare is wholly unknown is considered in another part of this volume.

In a few odd instances, in the male lines of descent from Pilot Jr., the trotting and pacing instinct seem to be transmitted in stronger measure than in any of the other minor families, but the day of its submersion is not far distant. The survival of the fittest is the law of Nature.

CHAMPION, the head of the Champion family, was a beautiful golden chestnut, sixteen hands high and without marks. He was bred by George Raynor, of Huntington, Long Island, and was foaled 1842. He was got by Almack, son of Mambrino, by Messenger; dam Spirit, by Engineer Second, son of Engineer, by Messenger, and sire of the famous Lady Suffolk. This is enough Messenger blood to please the most fastidious, but I think there was still more beyond the Engineer mare. When eighteen months old this colt showed phenomenal speed when led behind a sulky, and when three years old he was driven a full mile to harness in 3:05, a rate of speed which, at that time had never been equaled by a colt of that age. This made him “champion” as a three-year-old and William T. Porter named him Champion. After this performance Mr. John Sniffin, a merchant of Brooklyn, bought him, and in June, 1846, Mr. William R. Grinnell paid two thousand six hundred dollars for him and took him to Cayuga County, New York. After keeping Champion in that county till the close of the season of 1849, Mr. Grinnell concluded to sell the horse, as in all that time he had not covered one hundred mares. Mr. Grinnell complained that the farmers did not appreciate the horse, and many of them failed to pay for his services. But the fault was not all on the part of the farmers, for the price, to them, was very high, and he was a very uncertain foal getter.

In April, 1850, he was sent to New York and kept in the stable of Mr. Van Cott, on the Harlem road. He had been very badly handled, and Mr. Van Cott says he had been abused and ill-treated, and when he came to his place he was as vicious and savage as a wild beast. The horse was kept there for sale, and in his daily exercise Mr. Van Cott says he could “show considerably better than 2:40 at any time.” In 1851 he was sent over to Jersey and kept for public use at a fee of fifty dollars, by Samuel Taylor, at Newmarket, Metuchen, Boundbrook and Millstone. After making three or four seasons in the region of Boundbrook, in the year 1854, Mr. Grinnell, who still owned him, sold him to Mr. James Harkness, of St. Louis, Missouri, for about seven hundred and fifty dollars. On reaching St. Louis he proved to be as dangerous as ever, and no man dared to go into his stall, except Mr. Harkness and one assistant. In 1858 Mr. Harkness sold him to Thomas T. Smith, of Independence, Missouri, for one thousand dollars. He was there stolen by “jayhawkers” and taken to Leavenworth, Kansas, where he made two seasons and died 1864. Although he lived to be old, he left comparatively few colts, but a large proportion of that few were of excellent quality and many of them trotters.

CHAMPION (SCOBEY’S also known as King’s Champion) was the best son of Grinnell’s Champion, the son of Almack, and he came out of a mare called Bird, by Redbird, son of Billy Duroc. He was foaled 1849, and was bred by Jesse M. Davis, then of Cayuga County, New York, and sold to David King, of Northville, New York, and by him in 1861 to Mr. Kellogg, of Battle Creek, Michigan. He was repurchased by Messrs. Backus, Scobey and Burlew in August, 1865, and soon became the property of Mr. C. Scobey and died his in May, 1874. It has been claimed this horse had speed and a record of 2:42 in 1857, but I have no data to determine how fast he was. From his own loins he put eight performers in the 2:30 list, two of which were phenomenally fast, although their records do not show it. Here I allude to Nettie Burlew and Sorrel Dapper, more generally known as “The Auburn Horse.” The latter was a long, leggy, light chestnut, with a tremendous stride, and Hiram Woodruff did not hesitate to say he was a faster horse than Dexter. This Champion was a sire of excellent quality, although but a few of his progeny were developed. He left six sons that were the sires of forty-four trotters, and seven daughters that produced nine performers.

CHAMPION (GOODING’S) was a bright bay horse with black points, standing fifteen and three-quarter hands high. He was got by Scobey’s Champion, dam the trotting mare Cynthia, by Bartlett’s Turk, son of Weddle’s imported Turk; grandam Fanny, by Scobey’s Black Prince; great-grandam Bett, by Rockplanter, son of Duroc; great-great-grandam Kate, represented to be a Messenger mare. He was foaled 1853, and was bred by Almeron Ott, Cayuga County, New York, and traded to Mr. Stearns, from whom he passed to his late owners, T. W. and W. Gooding, Ontario County, New York. He died June, 1883. This horse was peddled about in Seneca County at a fee of five dollars, and had a very light patronage among the farmers. At last he was sold, with difficulty, at Canandaigua, for three hundred dollars to the Messrs. Gooding, and he brought them a handsome income as long as he lived. As his reputation as a sire of speed spread abroad, the quality of the mares brought to him improved, and among them were some with good trotting inheritance. Of his progeny, seventeen entered the 2:30 list, the fastest in 2:21, and they were good campaigners. It is a remarkable fact that only one of his sons proved himself a trotting sire, and he left but a single representative. On the female side of the house he was more successful, for six of his daughters produced seven performers.

CHARLEY B. was a bay horse, sixteen hands high, and was bred by Charles Burlew, of Union Springs, New York. He was foaled 1869, and was got by Scobey’s Champion, son of Champion, by Almack, and proved himself the best son of his sire. He was out of a mare well known as “Old Jane” that was the dam of Myrtle with a record of 2:25½. Several pedigrees have been provided for this mare that did not prove reliable, and they were all careful to endow her with plenty of Messenger blood. After searching for the facts through some years, the only version of it that seemed to be worthy of credence showed that her sire was a horse called Magnum Bonum and there it ended. In his racing career this horse was started sometimes under the name of “Lark.” He has six heats to his credit in 2:30 and better, and a record of 2:25. From his own loins he has twenty-two trotters in the 2:30 list. Considering the respectable number this horse shows in the 2:30 list, his great nervous energy, his vigorous constitution, and the number of years he was liberally patronized in the stud, it is a most notable fact that he has but two sons that are producers. Six of his daughters have produced. As a propagator of speed in the coming generations, this horse seems to be even a greater failure than his half-brother, Gooding’s Champion.

NIGHT HAWK was a chestnut son of Grinnell’s Champion. He was bred by John S. Van Kirk, of Newark, New Jersey, and his dam was by Sherman’s Young Eclipse, son of American Eclipse. He was foaled 1855-6. In 1862 Mr. Van Kirk took him to Kalamazoo, Michigan, thence to Paw Paw in 1872, and in 1879 he was returned to Kalamazoo, owned by A. T. Tuthill. He was something of a trotter, and had a record of 2:36, under the name of Champion, when he was controlled by Mr. D. B. Hibbard, I think. He was shown at a State fair, held at Lansing, on a poor half-mile track, it is said, and trotted a mile in 2:31¼, and for this performance he received a piece of plate from the society testifying to this fact. He has but two representatives in the 2:30 list, and three of his sons have five trotters to their credit, while six of his daughters have produced seven performers. He lived to an old age.

The merits and demerits of this family are very marked. The head of it seems to have possessed great nerve force and an unmistakable instinct to trot, but he was irritable and vicious in his temper. Both these qualities—the desirable and the undesirable alike—he seems to have transmitted to his offspring. I have seen Gooding’s Champion, and he had the temper and disposition of his grandsire. It appears that the original Champion was a shy breeder, and I am disposed to think he inherited this infirmity from his sire, Almack, and whether the inability of his sons and grandsons to get sires of trotters may be accounted for from this cause would be a very difficult question to answer. There are several others of this family, East and West, that have single representatives in the 2:30 list, that I have not enumerated, but from the statistics, as they now stand, it seems probable that whatever is good in this family will be swallowed up in other tribes that are more prepotent and positive in the trotting instinct.

NORMAN, OR THE MORSE HORSE.—This horse was originally named “Norman,” but in later years he was more generally and widely known as The Morse Horse. His family is not large, but some of his descendants have shown great speed and great racing qualities. His origin and breeding as given below have resulted from a wide and laborious correspondence, and, I think, can be accepted as trustworthy. He was bred by James McNitt, of Hartford, Washington County, New York, who was a large farmer and distiller. He was foaled 1834, got by European; dam Beck, by Harris’ Hambletonian; grandam Mozza, by Peacock, son of imported Messenger. He was fifteen and three-quarter hands high, a dark iron grey when young, and became white with age. He had plenty of bone, was handsome and a natural trotter. Something of the history of the animals entering into this pedigree is important and I will try to give it in as brief form as possible.

The breeder, Mr. McNitt, was in the habit of visiting Montreal at least once a year with the products of his farm and his distillery. On one occasion he brought back three horses with him, two “Canucks” and a very elegant grey horse that he called European, that was evidently somewhat advanced in years and was a little knee-sprung from the effects of hard driving. The two “Canucks” were fast trotters, but European could beat either of them. Mr. McNitt represented that this horse had been imported into Canada from Normandy in France and doubtless he believed it, but there were none of the French characteristics about him. He was purchased in Montreal about 1829 and died in Washington County about 1836. The dam and grandam of the Morse Horse were bred by Mr. Joseph T. Mills, of the town of Argyle, in Washington County. Beck, the dam, was a bright bay mare about sixteen hands high. At weaning time Mr. Mills sold her to Robert Stewart, of Greenwich, and at three years old he sold her to Mr. McNitt. She was got by Harris’ Hambletonian, when he was kept by John Williams, Jr. This is established quite satisfactorily and circumstantially. Mozza, the dam of Beck, was a chestnut mare, without marks, and was got by Peacock, a son of imported Messenger that was owned by Mr. Emerson in Saratoga County and was afterward burned up in his stable. This son of Messenger, called Peacock, was entirely new to me when I was investigating this pedigree in 1876 and I was disposed to reject it, but Mr. Mills certainly had a horse of that name and he represented him to be a son of Messenger, and he probably was, but I do not _know_ that he was so bred.

Mr. McNitt sold the colt at three years old to Martin Stover, who lived on his place, for eighty dollars; the next year Stover sold him to James Mills. In 1840 Mills sold him to Mr. Tefft and Zack Adams, and they sold him not long after to Philip Allen and Calvin Morse, of White Creek. Mr. Morse had him a number of years and when old sold him to Mr. Grant, and he died at Spiegletown in Renssalaer County, New York. He was a very perfect, natural trotter, and his speed was developed to some extent. In August, 1847 or 1848, Mr. Morse put him into the hands of John Case, of Saratoga Springs, the driver of Lady Moscow, to prepare him for the State Fair, at which he expected to meet the famous Black Hawk. Mr. J. L. D. Eyclesheimer, a very intelligent gentleman, formerly of the region of Saratoga, wrote that while the horse was in Case’s hands, he, with Mr. Morse, timed him a full mile in 2:40½. At the State Fair he was all out of fix and Black Hawk beat him in the second and third heats. He won the first heat in 2:52½. In the rivalries between stallions at agricultural fairs, however, is a very poor place to look for fair work and fair judgment, either from the stand or from the spectators.

GENERAL TAYLOR was a grey horse, foaled 1847, got by the Morse Horse, dam the trotting mare Flora, a New York road mare of unknown breeding. He was bred by the brothers Eyclesheimer, then of Pittstown, New York. He was taken to Janesville, Wisconsin, 1850, and thence to California, 1854, where he trotted thirty miles against time in one hour forty-seven minutes and fifty-nine seconds. He also beat New York a ten-mile race in 29:41½. This horse has no representative in the 2:30 list, but his blood has always been very highly esteemed in California for its speed, but more especially for its game qualities. Honest Ance was another son of the Morse Horse that did a great deal of racing in California, although he has no record in the 2:30 list. He was a chestnut gelding, and was managed by the notorious Jim Eoff, who was always ready to win or to lose as the money seemed to suggest.

NORMAN (ALEXANDER’S) was a brown horse, foaled about 1846, got by the Morse Horse, son of European; dam one of a pair of brown mares purchased by John N. Slocum of Samuel Slocum, a Quaker of Leroy, Jefferson County, New York, and represented to be by Magnum Bonum. These mares passed to Mr. Russell, and from him to Titcomb & Waldron, who bred the better of the two to the Morse Horse, and the produce was Alexander’s Norman. This colt passed through several hands till he reached Henry L. Barker, of Clinton, New York, and about 1860, he sold him to the late R. A. Alexander, of Woodburn Farm, Kentucky. He died 1878. The original version of this pedigree, as put upon Mr. Alexander and advertised by him, as were many others, was wholly fictitious on the side of the dam. He was not retained long at Woodburn Farm. He does not seem to have been a uniform transmitter of speed, but when it did appear it was apt to be of a high order. He left but two representatives in the 2:30 list, Lula, 2:15, with fifty-six heats, and May Queen, 2:20, with twenty-five heats. He left four sons that became the sires of fifty-eight performers and thirteen daughters that produced nineteen performers. Such sons as Swigert and Blackwood speak well for his transmitting powers.

SWIGERT was a brown horse, foaled 1866, got by Alexander’s Norman, son of the Morse Horse; dam Blandina, by Mambrino Chief; grandam the Burch Mare, by Brown Pilot, son of Copper Bottom, pacer. He was bred at Woodburn Farm, Kentucky, and when young became the property of Richard Richards, of Racine, Wisconsin, where he remained many years and passed to F. J. Ayres, of Burlington, Wisconsin. As a prepotent sire this horse stands high in the list of great horses. This may be accounted for in great part by the speed-producing qualities which he inherited from his dam. I am not informed as to the amount of training he may have had, nor of the rate of speed he may have been able to show. He placed forty-four trotters and two pacers in the 2:30 list. Thirty-three of his sons became the sires of sixty-one trotters and fourteen pacers. Twenty-three of his daughters produced twenty-one trotters and six pacers. From the number of his sons that have already shown their ability to get trotters, it is fair to presume that his name will be perpetuated. He died in 1892.

BLACKWOOD was a black horse, foaled 1866, got by Alexander’s Norman, son of the Morse Horse; dam by Mambrino Chief; grandam a fast trotting dun mare, brought from Ohio, pedigree unknown. He was bred by D. Swigert, Spring Station, Kentucky, and foaled the property of Andrew Steele, of Scott County, Kentucky. At five years old he was sold to John W. Conley, and by him to Harrison Durkee, of New York, and was afterward owned at Ticonderoga, New York. He made a record of 2:31 when three years old, which, at that day, was considered phenomenal for a colt of that age. His opportunities in the stud were not of the best, but nine of his progeny entered the 2:30 list; eleven of his sons got twenty performers, and twenty-five of his daughters produced thirty-seven performers.