236 ALHAMBRA AND MESSENGER DUROC. 



the blood of Duroc. It was a blood of great value in the union witb 

 that of Messenger, but it will not in many cases bear to be closely in- 

 bred. The great defect with Alhambra and his produce was identical 

 with the case of this stallion Messenger Duroc, the Eclipse and Mam- 

 brino Chief blood brought out the infirm tendencies of the Duroc 

 blood in too ' great force. The result was, the family gained an un- 

 favorable reputation. 



Messenger Duroc has even more of the Duroc blood than Alham- 

 bra. It is so strong that in spite of the powerful and generally 

 prevailing trait of color in the family descendants of Hambletonian,. 

 Messenger Duroc produces a great many light chestnuts. 



I found it to be ray duty to call attention to the deep-seated cause 

 and origin of these injurious qualities in the first publication of my 

 sketches, and it is apparent that a great change has already been 

 wrought in the popular estimate of the value of this stallion as a sire. 

 It is but just that in thus speaking of the ill-founded rejDutation of 

 these two stallions and the decline of that fame, I should say a word 

 further. In the case of Alhambra he was owned by a gentleman of 

 means who went into the breeding business from a sincere love of it. 

 He had large means, and was an ardent admirer of the Eclipse blood, 

 and to his own enthusiasm in that direction, in great part, is due the 

 utter failure of his horse. His ill repute was greatly increased from 

 the fact that he had so many mares bred in the same blood. The 

 horse had so many excellent and truly admirable qualities that to a 

 man of such a genuine enthusiasm he was the ideal of equine great- 

 ness. He has seen the error, however, in the results. 



It must be apparent by this time to all intelligent breeders, that 

 the only objection that can be taken to either of these two stallions 

 which alike possess so much merit, is founded on the fact that they are 

 too closely bred in the Duroc blood. The blood itself shows its great 

 value in so many of the first horses we have ever bred, that it would 

 of itself carry in its own excellence the temptation to breed it too 

 close and strong. 



The success of the Volunteer family undoubtedly lay in the fact 

 that the Duroc strains so operated on the Messenger as to let out 

 the riches of the Bellfounder blood. The entire family of American 

 Star and the Star-Hambletonians, Gov. Sprague, and Rhode Island 

 his sire, the Thorndales and Almonts, and all of the families of 

 Mambrino Chief, Administrator, Blackwood and Swigert, all owe 

 their greatness to this union of the blood of Duroc and Messenger; 



