HENRY AND DIOMED. 259 



the elements that constituted Seely's American Star, and that give to 

 the Hambletonians of the Star cross their very remarkable peculiarities, 

 which we have noticed in the foregoing pages. We clearly recognize 

 the Duroc element in the elongated thigh, and the wide, open gait of 

 the entire Star family. From the Messenger and Bellfounder blood 

 came all the trotting quality which the Stars possessed; for although 

 I sometimes speak of the trotting quality of the Duroc blood, I refer 

 only to a conformation of physical proportions that adapted them to 

 the trotting gait. I think this is all the trotting quality that Duroc 

 had, or could transmit. As to the Henry blood, which was a very near 

 and positive controlling element in Star, I do not believe there was 

 one particle of trotting quality in it, except the transcendent power 

 of muscle which was the great propelling power of the animal; the 

 form or manner of whose going, however, was regulated and controlled 

 by the operation of the two other blood forces that entered into the 

 combination. Henry stood for the most of his life, after his racing 

 days were over, in the vicinity of New York, and left, in that State 

 and New Jersey, many descendants, but never produced a trotter, or a 

 sire or dam of trotters, without the aid of other crosses, from which 

 the trotting inclination was derived. 



We often hear of the great value of the blood of Diomed in the 

 trotter. I do not think there was a particle of trotting blood in any 

 member of the Diomed family except in this — that this family, like 

 other thoroughbred families, was full of courage and stamina, and of 

 such a nervous temperament and organization as to compel speed at 

 whatever gait they chose. I here recur again to the words of the 

 writer before referred to: 



Are we to believe that all this concentrated King Herod blood in the sire of 

 Dexter's dam was neutralized by one cross of Messenger in Star's grandam ? 



No, sir; if there was any neutralizing, it was the blood of Henry that 

 neutralized all other. But it did not neutralize the other blood forces; 

 it asserted its predominance in certain places in the outward form, in 

 the diminished stature, in the defective feet and legs, and in the mus- 

 cular conformation of the quarters, and in many other particulars. 

 But Duroc rarely relinquishes his right to insert a long thigh and a 

 wide, open gait, in any combination whatever; and the trotting quality 

 of the Messenger and Bellfounder blood — that which imparts a ten- 

 dency or inclination to trot — refused to yield, in the first and second, 

 and even in the third crosses, to that of the almost invincible Henry; 

 and, in my opinion, the question as to which of these two will be 



