THE AMERICAN THOROUGHBRED 47 



in the back. Indeed, her shape is faultless in all essentials, and her 

 action is remarkably long, yet as her pace tells you it must be particularly 

 quick. 



THE AMERICAN THOROUGHBRED 



UNTIL THE ENGLISH THOROUGHBRED HORSE is described, it is scarcely 

 possible to enter fully into the pedigree of the American, descended as 

 the latter is from stock imported from the mother country. But, taking 

 the fact for granted, I may proceed to allude to the progress which has 

 been made in the United States, from the date of the first importation. 

 It appears that shortly prior to the year 1750, a Mr. Ogle, the Governor of 

 Maryland, was in possession of Spark, presented to him by Lord Balti- 

 more. About the same time he also imported Queen Mab, by Musgrove's 

 grey Arab ; and, soon afterwards, Colonel Tasker obtained Selima, daughter 

 of the Godolphin Arabian; while Colonel Colville's Miss Colville, known 

 in the English Stud-book as Wilkes' Old Hautboy mare, Colonel Taylor's 

 Jenny Cameron, and Routh's Crab, were severally introduced into the 

 colony. In 1747, Monkey, by the Lonsdale bay Arab, though in his 

 twenty-second year, crossed the Atlantic, and got some good stock, followed 

 during the next year by Jolly Roger, by Roundhead, out of a Partner 

 mare. About 1764, Fearnought, a son of Regulus and Silvertail, and 

 therefore of the very highest English blood, went to America, and within 

 a few years of that date Morton's Traveller, by Partner, out of a mare by 

 the Bloody Buttocks Arabian, which completes the list of the importations 

 prior to the War of Independence. It must be observed, that, before the 

 year 1829, no Turf Register existed in America, and hence there is not 

 the same guarantee for the fidelity of a pedigree as in England, where there 

 are authentic records which reach to a much earlier period. Moreover, 

 the war upset the homes of so many families, that multitudes of documents 

 were lost; but, nevertheless, I believe sufficient has been preserved to 

 prove the authenticity of the pedigrees belonging to the horses which I 

 have enumerated, and whose progeny can be traced down to the present 

 day, their blood being mingled with that of numerous importations of a 

 more recent date. The love of racing was very soon implanted in the 

 colonists of Maryland and Virginia, from whom it spread to North and 

 South Carolina, and in these southern states the sport has been kept up 

 to the present day with great spirit. Tennessee was inoculated with the 

 virus of the racing mania soon after its first settlement, as also may be 

 said of Kentucky, both states having possessed some very celebrated horses 

 at various times. New York joined in at a much later period than the 

 southern states, no organized racing club existing there until after the 

 commencement of the present century; although there were small race- 

 courses at Newmarket and Jamaica before the Revolution. But the energy 

 of the true Yankee sent the New Yorkites ahead, and they soon became 

 worthy rivals of the southern statesmen. From 1815 to 1845 the great 

 stables of the North and South were carried on under a most honourable 

 rivalry ; but at the second of these dates it so happened that a vast number 

 of the most energetic supporters of the turf in the northern states withdrew 

 from the arena, and, as they disappeared, none filled the gaps, except a few 



