3-1 THE BREEDINCr PROBLEM. 



which can be and has proved in the dams of trotters a factor of apjire- 

 ciated value. It is also true beyond doubt that the Bellfounder blood, 

 when united with that of Messenger, found its true place at all times 

 when presented in the composition of the dam, as in the case of Ham- 

 bletonian. King Phillip, and all the distinguished produce of mares by 

 Sayer's Harry Clay, and in the case of Harry Clay himself. It may 

 not be easy to explain why this peculiarity exists, but the fact is 

 established by many examples. 



In the subsequent chapters of this volume attention wall be called to 

 the fact, that the class of blood coming from the union of that of Mes- 

 senger and Duroc, and termed Duroc- Messenger, has this quality in 

 an eminent degree, that it displays great success when presented in a 

 trotting combination on the side of the dam, but as such fails of its- 

 chief excellence when presented on the side of the sire, where the 

 dam is strong either in Messenger or Bellfounder blood. This may be 

 regarded by some as savoring of mysticism, but to all such I present 

 the case of Edward Lambert and his sons for six generations, and 

 when the facts in that case are refuted or their philosophy explained, 

 we shall be prepared to understand why it is that sires to succeed 

 with mares of a certain composition should themselves possess certain 

 blood traits in preference to others. 



Another important truth, known to many, but apparently understood 

 by few, is that in breeding trotters from thoroughbred dams, or mares 

 that are strong in the blood of the thoroughbred, the offspring are apt 

 to display the known precocity of the thoroughbred in regard to their 

 earliness of maturity, in the matter of trotting excellence, but fail to 

 retain it, or at least fail to improve with age. One family in particular, 

 where a Duroc-Messenger sire attained a most brilliant reputation as 

 the sire of young trotters, and was particularly distinguished by the 

 attractive and showy gaits of his produce from thoroughbred mares,, 

 but whose fame would now be regarded as resting on slender sup- 

 ports indeed if he had nothing to show but his list of 2:30 trotters 

 descended from mares thus bred. 



The explanation of all tliis is found in the fact that the blood of 

 Diomed, whose tendency at all times is fCgainst the trotting quality^ 

 when it was reinforced by the same or by kindred strains coming from 

 thoroughbred mares, worked against the real trotting quality in the 

 aftiimal produced, and in spite of the early appearances which gave 

 so much of promise, the horse at maturity was not a trotter. The pro- 

 duce of Mambrino Patchen and Woodford Mambrino from thoroujrh- 



