HIGHLY-BRED DAMS. 81 



Porter, the fastest son of Downing's Bay Messenger, was from Madam 

 Porter by Roman's Orphan Boy, not a thoroughbred; his 2d dam by 

 Bertrand, and 3d dam by Sir Archy; and the dam of Roman's Orphan 

 Boy was by Bertrand, 2d dam by Sir Archy — in each case from a 

 part-bred mare, and the racing blood coming from the sire's side. 

 Mambrino Pilot was bred in the same wav, his 2d dam and his 3d dam 

 being by thoroughbred sires, but going in racing blood no further. 

 Tlie dam of Lucille Golddust was by Bald Hornet, most prol^ably a 

 thoroughbred, but not traced further. The dam of Molsey was by 

 Dallas, 2d dam by Leviathan, 3d dam a saddle mare. The dam of 

 Great Eastern, by Walkill Chief, was by imported Consternation. 

 The dam of Comee, by Daniel Lambert, was by imported Balrownie. 

 The dam of Grafton was by Kavanaugh's Grey Eagle, 2d dam by 

 J\Iason's Whip, 3d dam by Post Boy. The dam of Little Fred was 

 by Blackbird, a horse very nearly thoroughbred. Sam Purdy, Wood- 

 ford Chief, Frank Reeves, Calmar, Dan Bryant, and Dick Taylor, all 

 came from mares of racing blood, but which were not thoroughbred. 



All of the above will be recognized as trotters of the 2:25 class, or 

 very near that mark, and the dams were as given, but none of them 

 going back to a thoroughbred mare, although some go as far as three 

 direct thoroughbred crosses; the majority, however, not above two. 



Besides this very formidable array, do we ever inquire as to the 

 make-up of the so-called Star mares, which have acquired so great 

 fame as the dams of trotters? These mares are all by Seely's Ameri- 

 can Star, a son of Stockholm's American Star, whose sire was Duroc, 

 the thoroughbred son of Diomed. The dam of Seely's Star was by 

 Henry, the thoroughbred son of Sir Archy, and the 2d dam by im- 

 ported Messenger. Stockholm's American Star was probably a thor- 

 oughbred. 



By this it will be seen that Star was either a thoroughbred or very 

 nearly so, and no better in blood than Post Boy, son of Henry, and 

 jDerhaps many others; but locality, and the employment of so many 

 for the particular purpose, in large part, gave them their great adapta- 

 tion to the part they filled. Of these mares, more at the proper place. 

 Many other instances of the same character are to be found by exam- 

 ining the Trotting Register, and in nearly every case it will be seen 

 that where the trotting sire has a promiscuous lot of mares, both high 

 and low and thoroughbred, his greatest success has been with th€ hia-h- 

 bred mares, coming, not through thoroughbred dams, but through 

 thoroughbred su-es — the racing blood having been transmitted through 

 6 



