234 THE HOUSE OF AMERICA. 



there was nothing in the North able to do it except Miller's Dam- 

 sel, so he made a match for four thousand dollars a side on con- 

 dition that Damsel should prove not to be in foal. But the mare 

 proving to be in foal the match was off. He then took Hamble- 

 tonian into his stable and offered to match him for the same 

 amount against Tippoo Sultan, but he went amiss and the match 

 was off. This incident is here introduced to show that whatever 

 his real merits, Hambletonian had some reputation as a running 

 horse. It was said that the secret of Mr. Colden's hostility to 

 the "Virginia Mare" and her descendants was because those 

 descendants were always able to beat the descendants of his 

 fashionably bred mare Matilda. Whatever the motive in expos- 

 ing a pedigree that has never been fully established, there is one 

 particular and that the most important of all particulars, in 

 which Mr. Golden has done justice to Hambletonian. He says: 

 " Hambletonian got some excellent roadsters, good trotters." 



There seems to be no description of this horse extant that is 

 fully satisfactory. For some seasons he was in the hands of Mr. 

 Daniel T. Cock, who in 1869 furnished me the following: "He 

 was a dark bay, a little heavy about the head and neck, fifteen 

 and a half hands high, and rather an upright shoulder. Back, 

 loin and hind quarters as good as were ever put on a horse. Fore 

 legs a little light, but hind legs strong and good pretty straight. 

 He was a beautiful saddle horse, notwithstanding his head and 

 ear were a little coarse." Other persons who had seen him have 

 described him as "a great strong horse, with bone and substance 

 enough to pull the plow or do any other kind of drudgery." It 

 has been said that he had a fine open trotting gait and that, in a 

 cutter with old Isaac Bishop behind him, he was able to show the 

 boys the road. 



In 1807 he became the property of Townsend Cock, of Long 

 Island, and he remained on the turf till 1810, when he was put in 

 the stud. That and the following season he was at the stable of 

 his owner; 1812 at Cornwall; 1813 at Fishkill; 1814 at Goshen; 

 1815-16 at Fishkill; 1817 at White Plains. In the winter of 

 1819 Mr. Cock sold him to Stephen and Smith Germond of Dutch- 

 ess County, New York, and Isaac Bishop of Granville, New 

 York. The latter was probably the real owner, and the horse 

 then became known as "Bishop's Hambletonian." He made 

 several seasons in the region of Granville and was back in Dutch- 

 ess County 1823 and 1824. The next year he was at Granville 



