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VOLUME 1. 



ROCHESTER, JUNE 11, 1831. 



NUMBER 23. 



PUBLISHED BY L. TUCKER <fc CO. 



At the Office of the Daily Advertiser. 

 Term»-$2.50 per annum, or 



$2,00 if paid in advance. 



N. GO0D3F.LL, EDITOR. 



HORSES--DUROC. 



The following memoir of the celebrated 

 horse Duroc, from the American Turf Re- 

 gister, we trust will be read with satisfaction 

 by every farmer, as his stock has been allow- 

 ed to be equal to that of any other one of 

 our country. One of his colts, the Ameri- 

 can Eclipse, perhaps was equal, both for 

 speed and bottom, to any horse in the world. 

 This distinguished thorough-bred stallion, 

 was bred by Wade Mosby, Esq. of Powhat- 

 tan county, Virginia, and foaled on the 4th 

 day of June, 1806; a chesnut in color, with- 

 out white ; 15 hands 3 inches high ; of large 

 bone, but very muscular, and of noble pres- 

 ence. His sire was the imported horse Di- 

 omed (the sire also of Sir Archy, of Hamp- 

 ton, and other celebrated racers) out of A- 

 manda, by Grey Diomed, a son of Old Med- 

 ley ; her dam, by Old Cade, grandam by 

 Col. Hickman's Independence, by Old Fear- 

 naught, out of Dolly fine ; Dolly fine by Old 

 Silver Eye ; great grandam by the imported 

 horse Badger. 



At Washington in 1810, then four years 

 old, Duroc was sold by the breeder to Bela 

 Badger, Esq. of Bristol, Pennsylvania, for 

 the sum of #2500, who disposed of him in 

 1813, to Townsend Cock, Esq. of Oyster 

 Bay, Long-Island, where he stood many 

 years, and was finally sold to Mr. Kelscy, 

 tor the sum of #£000, in whose hands he di- 

 ed at Hyde Park, of a sudden illness, in the 

 year 18"25, aged 19 years. 



We are thus particular in the history of 

 this horse, and in the detailed notices that 

 follow of him, by reason of his great success 

 as a stallion, and from an erroneous opinion 

 which has gone abroad, of his not having 

 been thorough bred. 



To do ample justice, it is necessary to give 

 extracts from documents from under the 

 hand of the breeder of Duroc, showing the 

 performances of Amanda, his dam, as well as 

 to give a copy of her pedigree furnished by 

 John Hoomes, Esq. of Virginia, at the time 

 of selling her to Mr. Mosby, at Richmond, 

 having been brought there for sale, on ac- 

 count of her breeder. 



Wade Mosby, Esq. states in his certifi- 

 cate as follows, viz : Amanda was the finest 

 mare I ever saw, and was so thought of by 

 most of my acquaintances, and I will state 

 where, and how I gul her. About the year 

 1804 Iwas at Richmond races, and on one 

 of the days, Col. Hoomes offered her for 

 sale as a full bred four year old mare, and 

 said she was bred by a neighbor of his, and 

 sent by him for sale. I purchased her for 



8300, and took her home in the month of| 

 May ; and subsequently trained her with a 

 number of my horses, and among them there 

 were some good ones. The first time of hav- 

 ing a brush, I was surprised to find her come 

 in, hard in hand, a long distance ahead of 

 litem. I therefore paid great attention to 

 her, and in September following, took her 

 to Powhattan Court-house, and there ran 

 her first race of a mile, against a remarkably 

 fast horse for that distance, in which she won 

 #400 ; having come out more than one nun 

 dred yards ahead. From thence I took her 

 to Broadrock, where I met the full strength 

 of Virginia: Col. Tayloe, Col. Hoomes, 

 fVilkes, Selden, Ball and some others. 



The field, the four mile day, was seven ; 

 considered the best racers in the state at that 

 time. This she won in two heats ; throwing 

 all behind the distance pole, saving Colonel 

 Hoomes's fine horse, Whiskey. After the 

 race, Col. Tayloe offered me for her, his 

 full bred mare Desdemona and #1500 in mon- 

 ey, which I refused. In this race, Amanda 

 injured her feet ; notwithstanding, I ran her 

 the same season at Fredericksburg on a hard 

 course, when finding her failing from lame- 

 ness, although running ahead for two miles, 

 I drew her from the contest. 



Her next race was at Richmond, where she 

 contended against Col. Tayloe's horse Top 

 Gallant, and Col. Selden's Lavina. The 

 conditions were, that I should pay double 

 entrance, and bet #500 dollars that Lavina 

 ould not beat her. On these terms I en- 

 tered her, although thought by me to be out 

 of order. She was beaten by Top Gallant, 

 but beat Lavina and won the bet. 



A stakes was then made up of five sub. 

 scribers : Col. Hoomes' Peace Maker, Col. 

 Tayloe's Top Gallant, Col. Selden's Lavi- 

 na, Maj. Ball's Florizel, and my mare Aman- 

 da ; #600 entrance — half forfeit: Colonel 

 Hoomes paid forfeit, the others started. A- 

 manda was pronounced lame before starting 

 The race was won by Florizel ; Amanda 

 second, the other horses distanced. In this 

 race, in the last half mile, Amanda started a 

 sinew ; was taken out of training, and the 

 next spring put to Diomed, and on the 4th 

 of June 1806, brought Duroc, one of the 

 biggest boned colts, and finest of the get, of 

 that horse. 



I then put the mare to the imported horse 

 Knowsley, and when within a few days of 

 foaling, she was kicked by a horse, which 

 caused her death. Thus I lost the finest 

 mare I ever owned. 



The foregoing extract, from the hand of 

 Mr. Mosby shows Amanda to have been a 

 first rate racer ; and it now only remains to 

 give a copy of the certificate of the blood of 

 Amanda, to do away the wrong impression 

 before alluded lo. 



Pedigree. I hereby certify that Aman- 

 da was got by Grey Diomed ; Grey Diomed 

 by Old Medley ; her dam by Old Cade ; — 

 grandam by Col. Hickman's Independence • 

 Independence by Old Feamavght, out of 

 Dolly Fine ; Dolly Fine by Old Silver Eye ; 

 great grandam by the imported horse Badg- 

 er. A copy from the breeder's certificate. 

 (Signed,) John Hoomes. 



From the known respectability of the a- 

 bove named gentleman, all doubts must van- 

 ish touching the blood of Duroc ; and it on- 

 ly remains to show his performances, and 

 how much he has contributed to the improve- 

 ment of our stock of horses. 



Duroc ran several races in Virginia, of 

 which we have but an imperfect account, 

 except one of four mile heats, against Sir 

 Alfred and two other horses — one of them 

 Col. W. R. Johnson's mare Maria, by Bay- 

 Yankee. The two first were dead heats be- 

 tween Duroc and Sir Alfred. Sir Alfred 

 won the third heat, when Duroc was drawn 

 and the race was won by Maria ; she win- 

 ning the fourth and fifth heats — making a 

 race of twenty miles. 



The fall of his being four years old, Mr. 

 Badger trained Duroc, and run him the foui 

 mile heat over the Fairview course, against 

 Mr. Bond's far famed horse Hampton, whom 

 he beat. This race was allowed to have 

 been the greatest ever run in Pennsylvania 

 up to the date of it : having been run in sev- 

 en minutes and fifty-three seconds. 



In a subsequent race with Hampton, Du 

 roc bolted and lost the purse. 



In the spring of 1813 he covered fifty 

 mares, and in the following autumn was 

 trained and run the four mile heats over the 

 New Market course, beating easily Mr- 

 Bush's horse Pegassus, and Mr. Cot's horse 

 Volunteer. 



The next season he ran against Mr. Van 

 Ranst's horse Defiance, and lost the race by 

 bolting. The running was very severe, and 

 it was though that Duroc would have won, 

 but for the vicious habit he had got intoi 

 having been ridden by a boy that could not 

 manage him, which caused him to bolt at his 

 will, without apparent cause. He nevsr 

 started afterwards. 



Thus it will be seen Duroc was a first rate 

 runner ; and we have only to name some of 

 his descendants, to prove him to have been 

 one of the most valuable foal getters of his 

 day. 



The fust on the list is the American E- 

 clipse ; who i» no doubt, of all the horses our 

 country has to boast, one of the best, as uni- 

 ting more valuable properties than any ether 

 horse as regards symmetry of form, speedy 

 bottom and all the essentials required in this* 

 animal. At the same time, his stock is only 

 rivalled by the famous Sir Archy, and Vir« 



