DUROC-MESSENGEB BLOOD. 215 



versally successful in uniting with any and all other bloods — in 

 imparting richness to them, and in receiving all their good qualities — 

 as this same union of Duroc and Messenger. The Bellfounder blood 

 was a coy element. It had no readiness for other strains, and it was 

 not until it was filtered through distant aad remote crossings that its 

 dross was so far ehminated as to give us its pure gold, but when that 

 state was reached, no gold of Ophir or the Sierra Nevada ever shone 

 with such a radiance and enduring lustre. 



The strong Duroc-Messenger caste of the dam of Administrator 

 was the field of more than alluvial fertility to the pent-up excellences 

 of Hambletonian. 



The excellence of the union of the blood of Duroc and Messenger 

 for trotting purposes was seen at an early day in the Eastern States. 

 Duroc was taken to Long Island at a time when the daughters of 

 Messenger were very abundant. The success of American Eclipse as 

 a race-horse justified the opinion that they would excel on that branch 

 of the turf. The larg^e number of such mares that were sent to Duroc, 

 and the early promise of the union for road purposes, served to make 

 the cross a popular one. Stevens' Messenger Duroc, and Stockholm's 

 American Star, were both used for racing purposes at an early age, 

 and both gave evidence of special adaptation to the trotting gait 

 and of great excellence for road purposes. The former stood in the 

 central portions of the State of New York, and gave us the dam of 

 Mambrino Chief — a matter of which there can be hardly any reasona- 

 ble doubt in the mind of the student of horse breeding, who carefully 

 and fairly considers the matter of locality, chronology and blood 

 qualities in the respective families. 



The latter, known as the first American Star, from a daughter of 

 the little Diomed horse, Henry, son of Sir Archy, gave us Seely's 

 American Star. The grandam being by Messenger, the essential Duroc 

 characteristics are in this family slightly modified, both by the Henry 

 cross and the increased Messenger, but the Duroc-Messenger caste 

 and type in the family prevails in such strong degree as to give the 

 whole or predominant character to the family, even to the descendants 

 of Hambletonian, that have come from Star mares — they are essentially 

 Duroc-Messenger in their tyi^e qualities, both in matter of gait and 

 blood traits. 



The high trotting quality of the Duroc-Messenger blood is displayed 

 in eminent degree in the various branches of the families thus 

 descended. They are bold and free drivers, going with a ready, ojDen 



