ABDALLAH. 165 



day has left progeny and tlieir descendants so distinctly marked as trotters, as 

 this said long-eared Dove. 



It was nest to an impossibility to purchase one of them. They remained 

 in families as a sort of heir-loom, passing from father to son. 



Mr. Van Meter speaks of having an intimate personal knowledge of 

 the horses of that part of New Jersey, from as early a date as 1808, 

 and the above is certainly a very forcible and well-expressed descrip- 

 tion of a family that show very strong claims to kinship with the dam 

 of Abdallah. 



The evidences in this case as to the origin of Amazonia come very 

 close to fixing the fact vnth great certainty. "We know the exact 

 region where she was produced — and, as educated horsemen, we also 

 know that in all the wide range of American breeding she could have 

 found the traits and qualities she displayed nowhere else. That is 

 one of the certainties of the case. The dates are near enough to make 

 her either a daughter of Saratoga or of Dove. If Saratoga could pro- 

 duce such a horse as Dove, he has in him the best possible certificate 

 that he could also produce such a mare as Amazonia. That she was 

 a daughter of Saratoga is very probable — that she was a daughter of 

 Dove is still more probable. That she also had some crosses of high 

 racing blood, such as that of Sir Solomon or imp. Expedition, is also 

 probable. There was plenty of each in that exact locality at that 

 time. That she possessed a strong concentration of Messenger blood, 

 derived from channels used to road service, where the galloping 

 instincts of the Arab in Messenger had been overcome by the strongly 

 reinforced road instincts of Sampson, is manifest from her own char- 

 acter. It was this which made Abdallah the king of trotting stal- 

 lions — although he never trotted a race in his life. 



It is apparent that Abdallah derived more of his trotting quality 

 from Amazonia than he did from ]\Iambrino. Why should this be, 

 if this quality was the paramount and natural instinct of Messenger 

 and Mambrino? Can the diluted and divided currents, though they 

 be several, have more force and volume than the fountain-head? The 

 real fact is that, although Messenger and Mambrino each possessed 

 trotting instinct in strong degree, such was not their dominant or para- 

 mount trait. They had two contending forces in their composition, 

 and when crossed with racing or thoroughbred families, the galloping 

 instinct, by reason of reinforcement, became dominant; but in the 

 case of the part-bred and road stock, vise and employment invigorated 

 the trotting quality; and in Dove and Amazonia, so many currents of 



