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crave another." With regard to his gait Mr. Jones uses the 

 following very emphatic language: "I have been the breeder of 

 some, and the owner of many good horses, and with the best 

 opportunities of judging, having ridden him (he was never driven) 

 many, many miles, I say, with entire confidence, he was the best 

 natural trotter I ever threw a leg over. His walk was free, fling- 

 ing and elastic; his trot clear, square and distinct, with a beau- 

 tiful roll of the knee and great reach of the hind leg." In the 

 absence of actual training and timing, it is hardly possible to get 

 better evidence that Mambrino was a natural trotter that might 

 have been developed to a considerable rate of speed. It would 

 be interesting to know just why the horse "never was driven." 

 Did he show an unconquerable aversion to harness, and did 

 Abdallah inherit this aversion? This description of Mambrino 's 

 gait was written in 1866, and the writer had spent a long lifetime 

 in an intimate personal knowledge of many, or indeed most, of 

 the best early trotters that this country had produced. 



The only one of his immediate progeny that attained distinc- 

 tion as a trotter was the famous Betsey Baker. This mare was 

 very prominent among the best of her day, and was able, on one 

 occasion at least, to beat the great Topgallant, and in tandem 

 with Grey Harry when she was old she trotted in 2:41f-2:43f. 

 Others of his progeny were trotters of some merit, but none of 

 them especially distinguished on the turf. His three sons, Abdal- 

 lah, Almack and Mambrino Paymaster, are the bright links in the 

 chain extending from Messenger to the two-minute trotter that 

 will keep his memory green as long as there is a trotting horse 

 on the earth. Abdallah at the head of the Hambletonians, 

 Almack at the head of the Champions, and Mambrino Paymaster 

 at the head of the Mambrino Chiefs embrace the major portion 

 of the great trotters of this generation. 



WINTHROP, OR MAINE MESSENGER. Perhaps no son of Mes- 

 senger, not excepting Hambletonian and Mambrino, produced a 

 more marked effect upon the stock of any part of the country 

 than this horse did in the State of Maine. The impress he there 

 made was not only remarkable at the time, but it is still felt and 

 acknowledged in his descendants to this day. There have been 

 many conflicting statements made to the public about him and 

 his history, but I think I am now able to give, in authentic and 

 reliable form, all that is really known of his origin and history. 

 He was foaled about 1807 and was among the last colts by the 



