166 HAMBLETONIAN-. 



this invigorated trotting instinct united — with the opposing force 

 either strongly subdued or entirely eliminated by the other elements 

 ■mth which it had been united and by the use and employment to 

 which it had been subjected, that the dominant and paramount im- 

 pulses of the horse were those of a trotter. Although Abdallah was- 

 not employed or used as a trotter or road horse to any degree that could 

 give him that character, he was the greatest trotting sire of his day, 

 and perhaps the greatest we have ever seen. It was discovered at an 

 early day that his impressiveness in the matter of trotting quality was 

 unlimited. 



Having given a full outline of Abdallah, the sire of Hambletonian, 

 I may return to his dam, the daughter of imported Bellfounder. 

 Mr. Jonas Seely, now upward of eighty years of age, has recently 

 given a succinct history of the breeding and ownership of this mare. 

 He says that One Eye, the daughter of Hambletonian, son of Messen- 

 ger, having been sold to his brother-in-law, Mr. Josiah Jackson, she 

 was taken to Duchess county, to be bred to Bellfounder. This shows 

 the estimation in which Bellfounder was held in Orange county. 

 That she produced a filly — the mare now under consideration; that 

 this filly was sold by Mr. Jackson, when three years old, for three 

 hundred dollars — a pretty round price in those days for a three-year- 

 old filly; that Peter Seely, the purchaser, sold her to Ebenezer Pray 

 for four hundred dollars; that Mr. Pray sold her to Mr. Chi vers, a 

 butcher in New York, for five hundred dollars, and Mr, Chivers sold 

 her to a banker for six hundred dollars; that while owned by the last 

 purchaser named, she was hurt and was lame and unfit for the road; 

 that she was then purchased by Charles Kent, and became thence 

 afterward known as the Charles Kent mare; that Kent bred her to 

 Tom Thumb, and the produce was a filly, which became the dam of 

 Greene's Bashaw. In 1844 Mr. Jonas Seely purchased her from Kent 

 for one hundred and thirty-five dollars — mare and foal; she was then 

 very lame. While in possession of Mr. Seely at this time, she produced 

 three foals — ^two fillies, and the colt Hambletonian by Abdallah. In 

 the spring of 1849 he sold the mare and her foal to Mr. Rysdyk, ta 

 be delivered in the fall. 



The prices at which this mare was sold while in condition for use on 

 the road, indicated her great superiority, although she was not kept 

 for racing purposes, and was simply a road mare as was Amazonia. 

 Aside from the blood and inherited qualities of each of these mares, 

 the long and continuous use of each on the road, and the very power- 



