ABDALLAH. 167 



fnl influence each had on their distinguished ofi"spring, are facts that 

 are eminently suggestive to the student in the breeding of trotters. 



We are now brought to consider the question of the respective 

 shares or influence each had in the composition of Hambletonian. 



Not overlooking the positive caste and strong in-breeding of Abdal- 

 lah in the blood of Messenger, as already indicated, we must also keep 

 in view the fact that the grandam. One Eye, and the great grandam, 

 Silvertail, were of the same famous and all-prevailing blood — leaving 

 the one cross of the blood of Bellfounder in the dam of Hambletonian 

 to contend with tremendous odds, if there was any conflict in the ten- 

 dencies or operations of the two blood forces. 



That the Kent mare was a trotter, all accounts establish; that she 

 was steady, level and kind, is also true, while the same can not be 

 said of her own dam. One Eye. For the purpose of detracting from 

 the merits of Bellfounder, it has been found convenient to assert that 

 One Eye was a wonderful trotter — one of the greatest mares the 

 country has possessed — that she was a regular Lady Thorn, only 

 lacking the training and development. Such distinctive greatness 

 was not discovered by any of those who owned or knew her in her 

 own day; and while it is undoubtedly true she was a good mare, the 

 discovery of her great qualities as a roadster was reserved for a sub- 

 sequent generation. The excellence of her daughter, and the great- 

 ness of her grandson, brought the fact to light. While the Messen- 

 gers had ready impulses for trotting, they had a nervous temperament 

 of a high order; and the Bellfounders were as noted for their kindness 

 and docility of temper. 



The Bellfounder blood did not impart its trotting quality to all bloods 

 alike. From Lady Alport, by Marabrino, a mare of blood constituents 

 very much like One Eye, two foals came to Bellfounder, both males, 

 neither possessing the trotting quality displayed by the Kent mare. 

 They were not impressive or controlling sires in any great degree. 

 The Kent mare, with her slight cross of Bellfounder blood, produced 

 a son that became the founder of the greatest family of trotting horses 

 we have ever seen, and instead of yielding all to the magical and 

 prepotent influence of Abdallah in the composition of her son, she 

 scarcely left enough resemblance to the sire to found an honest claim 

 to kinship. 



The head, which is not Bellfounder, could readily be credited to the 

 Messenger blood in the grandam; while every other important outward 

 or physical characteristic is essentially Bellfounder. 



