86 EACING BLOOD IN THE TROTTER. 



blood instincts and impulses of the trotter, unaided by reinforcement 

 from other sources, to overcome the racing or galloping impulses of 

 the thoroughbred or Arab, he has in so many instances appeared in 

 the pedigree of fast trotters, and those which have come from racing 

 or thoroughbred families, as to suggest that he yet retained a strong 

 trace of the blood and trotting instincts of a coach or road horse in 

 the remote past, and as it does apjoear that he runs to Sampson by 

 one or more lines, this fact may be accounted for, as will be more 

 fully seen in Chapter V, when I came to speak of Sampson. 



The history of the trotting turf in this country has furnished an 

 interesting number of what might be termed exceptional trotters, 

 from their having now and then apjDeared, one at a time, from diflFerent 

 families not supposed to possess any special element of trotting 

 blood, and which have hardly been succeeded with sufficient indica- 

 tions to point to their origin as anything more than purely excep- 

 tional. However, it will be a matter of some interest, and somewhat 

 suggestive also, to note in how many of these sporadic or exceptional 

 cases the blood of Trustee or his sire Catton appears, and we must not 

 too hastily assert that his blood is not a valuable factor in the 

 pedigree of our trotting families. 



While the individual cases of a great trotter, coming from imme- 

 diate thoroughbred sources, do not carry with them any absolute 

 lesson of great value on the subject of breeding the trotting horse, 

 the history of our turf has furnished some interesting records. 



Imported Young Priam, a son of the great Priam, son of Emilius, 

 and out of an English mare by Soothsayer, was the sire of the 

 gelding Silas Rich that attained a record of 2:24f, and fourteen heats 

 in 2:30 or better. The blood of the dam was unknown, and her 

 qualifications for trotting are also unknown. 



Strawn's Monarch, a son of imported Monarch, a son of imported 

 Priam, has produced some trotters. I am not advised as to the blood 

 of his dam. He has to his credit Monarch Jr., with a record of 2:25^, 

 and twenty-one heats in 2:30 or better; and Monarch Rule, 2:27, and 

 thirteen heats in 2:30 or better. This, in connection with Silas Rich, 

 the son of Young Priam, will suggest, doubtless, some adaptation in 

 the blood of Priam for the trotting horse. 



Young Melbourne, a son of imported Knight of St. George, whose 

 dam was Melrose by Melbourne, was the sire of the bay gelding Jim 

 Irving, one of the fastest trotters that ever yet showed on our trot- 

 ting turf. He made a record of 2:23, and seven heats in 2:30 or 



