HAMBLETOX1AX AND HIS FAMILY. 273 



only forty-one foals. This large percentage of failure indicated 

 beyond question that his procreative powers had been overtaxed 

 and that there was a general letting down of his vital energies. 

 In 1868 he was not allowed to cover any mares. In 1869 he 

 again manifested his. usual vigor and he covered twenty-one 

 mares, getting fourteen foals. In 1870 he covered twenty-two 

 mares and got thirteen foals. From this time forward his pro- 

 creative powers dwindled, and in 1875, I think, he got but two 

 foals, and died the following March. 



It has been estimated that he got about one thousand three 

 hundred foals, and for several years it was one of the amusing 

 features of horse literature to see how many writers were able to 

 demonstrate that as a progenitor of speed he was a failure. This 

 item of one thousand three hundred foals was taken as the basis 

 of computation, and then with the small number of forty trotters 

 out of the one thousand three hundred, the percentage of trotters 

 was very small. The next step was to find some unknown horse, 

 generally a pacer, that had only two or three foals to his credit 

 and one of them had made a record of 2:30, thus showing a much 

 larger percentage than Hambletonian, and by that much he was a 

 greater sire than Hambletonian. All this foolishness has now 

 subsided in the face of the fact that the great mass of the trot- 

 ters of to-day have more or less of his blood in their veins, and in 

 a very short time that blood will abound in greater or less 

 strength in every American trotter. The tables which here 

 follows will make this fact evident to all who will study them. 



[Prefatory to these tables and to the other statistics concerning the present 

 rank of the trotting families given in the pages following, an explanatory 

 paragraph is in order so that they may not be misunderstood. (1) They are 

 based on the tables given in the Year Book for 1896, and I regret to say that 

 these tables are so emasculated, incomplete, unsatisfactory and in many cases 

 contradictory one of the other that it is literally impossible to compile from 

 them statistics that may be accepted as absolutely correct and letter perfect. 

 However, as this work is not intended as one for statistical reference, the tables 

 being approximately correct serve my purpose, which is merely to show rel- 

 atively and with substantial accuracy the standing of the sires and families 

 embraced to the close of 1896. (2) By the term " standard performers " is meant 

 horses that have acquired trotting records of 2:30 or better, or pacing records of 

 2:25 or better. The Year Book no longer gives a 2:30 pacing list, and it should 

 be noted that pacers with records between 2:30 and 2:25 are not credited in 

 these tables. (3) The tables are designed to show (a) the number of standard 

 performers got by each sire named. (6) The number of his sons that are sires of 

 standard performers, (c) The number of his daughters that are dams of 



