MESSENGER'S SONS. 233 



of this "Virginia Mare" in the advertisement of Hambletonian 

 for 1814 when he was owned by Townsend Cock and standing 

 that year at Goshen, New York. The "Old Turfman," Cadwal- 

 lader R. Golden, was thoroughly familiar with all turf subjects in 

 the early years of this century, and was the best turf writer of his 

 generation. He had no patience or tolerance with frauds in 

 pedigrees and always exposed them without mercy. He stoutly 

 maintains that the pedigree of the "Virginia Mare" was bogus, 

 and, to use his own language, he says: 



" When Hambletonian became a public stallion, his owners were in a dilem- 

 ma; & pedigree was necessary, so to work they went, and, as many had done 

 before and as many are doing now, made one; and in his handbills his dam was 

 given as bred in Virginia, and got by imported Shark, with a train of maternal 

 ancestors, with as much truth, and affording as much ability to trace it or 

 discover the breeder of the dam, as though they had said hi, cockalorum jig.'' 



Mr. Golden goes into the pedigree of this mare and the non-racing 

 character of her family at great length, and it cannot be denied 

 that he has the whole argument. As a specimen of sharp and 

 interesting turf writing of that period and from that pen, I must 

 commend my readers to turn to this article, which will be found 

 in Wallace's Monthly, Vol. II., p. 67. 



With the probabilities all against the truthfulness of the pedi- 

 gree of the dam, as given, it is certainly true that he was a run- 

 ning horse and attained distinction in his day. I have no full 

 list of his performances at hand, but the following may be taken as 

 a fair summary of his principal achievements. He ran at New- 

 market in the spring of 1807 (then three years old), one mile, 

 beating General Coles' colt Bright Phoebus, Mr. Terhune's bay 

 filly, and distancing two others. He also ran, two days after the 

 above race, four heats of a mile each, beating Bright Phoebus 

 again and distancing three others. In the fall of 1808 he ran 

 five weeks successively, and the three last weeks he won three 

 four-mile purses, running the distance in shorter time than it 

 ever had been run in the State of New York. I must say here that 

 these races were run on the then Harlem course, which was not a 

 full mile in length. 



While Hambletonian was on the turf, Tippoo Sultan, a grand- 

 son of Messenger, beat Bond's First Consul in a famous four-mile 

 race, and Mr. Bond determined that he would find a horse that 

 would be able to lower Tippoo Sultan's colors, and it was thought 



