IDOL AND ELECTIONEER. 307 



third dam by Mount Holly, son of Messenger; fourth dam by Engi- 

 neer, son of Messenger. The dam of Chancellor was by Messenger, 

 hence the dam of this stallion had five close and direct crosses of the 

 l)lood of Messenger, all in four generations. 



This composes one of the strongest concentrations of the blood of 

 Messenger anywhere to be found. The dam of Henry Clay, the sire 

 •of Cassius M. Clay, was the Canadian mare Surry, as before stated, 

 and she would give an increase of leverage, and this tendency toward 

 an elongation there would meet with a further reinforcement in the 

 blood of Bellfounder in Hambletonian, but whether the elongation 

 could be maintained against such overpowering force of Messenger 

 blood, can only be told by an inspection of the animal. In the other 

 Clay Hambletonians, the length of leverage is reinforced by the Bell- 

 founder element and the combined force of the two whose tendencies 

 are in that direction show their force as against the opposing tenden- 

 cies; but in the later branches of the Clay family, the increased length 

 has in most cases disappeared. Such, I should apprehend, would be 

 the case with this stallion, and further, that like his sire he would breed 

 shorter in his produce than in his own measure. That he will be very 

 positive in his Messenger caste can not be doubted, and his success 

 will be greatest where he can find crosses that afford opposite qualities 

 from his own. 



He is a strongly in-bred stallion, and should excel in Duroc, St. 

 Lawrence and other Canadian crosses, and also with the daughters of 

 Sayer's Harry Clay. He and Knickerbocker would find in Kentucky 

 the class of mares in abundance best suited to their composition. 

 The Duroc- Messenger or Mambrino and Pilot mares will call out their 

 ■chief excellences. 



This stallion took a high rank with his produce at a recent State fair 

 in the State of New York, and his rich strains of the blood of Messen- 

 ger will make him very attractive. If, however, the superiority of 

 our trotters of Hambletonian blood depends upon the proper balance 

 •or equipoise between the respective blood forces that unite in them, 

 then the weight is too heavy in the Messenger scale, and his success 

 will depend on the quality of the outcrosses with which he is mated. 



IDOL AND ELECTIONEEK. 



Idol is a bay stallion 15 hands 2^ inches in height, with white 

 near front heel and white hind ankles; foaled in 1864 — bred by Gabriel 

 l^Vood, of Orange county. New York — by Hambletonian. First dam 



