CHAPTER XX[L 



MAMBRINO CHIEF. 



This was a stallion whose renown was second only to that of Ham- 

 bletonian, and whose merits were undervalued by one laro-e portion 

 of the horsemen of America, over-estimated by a class ecjually as 

 numerous, and prop(M-ly understood by neither of them. To this day 

 the blood constituents which founded his greatness have never been 

 establisluHl by any pro])er analysis, and those who held to his stock 

 with admiring t(Miacity, had no mtelHgent reason for the faith that 

 was within them ; and those who rejected his blood, had no real ap})re- 

 ciation of its value, and no comprehension of its elements. 



He was bred in Duchess county, N. Y., and was foaled about 1845, 

 the property of Richard Eldridge, of Mabbettsville. As a three-year- 

 old he was sold to Warren Williams, and in 1851 he was again sold 

 to George T. Williams, all in the same county; and in the winter of 

 1854 he was purchasinl by Edwin Thorne, Esq., for Mr. James B. 

 Clay, of Ashland, and went to Kentucky. 



He lived only until July, 18G1, altliough coming from a long-lived 

 family. He made but seven seasons in Kentucky, and it may be 

 safely said now that he died long before he was sufficiently under- 

 stood to select mares that were suitable for the qualities which he 

 possessed, and that it was only the result of chance that he achieved 

 his greatest success. It is now quite easy to determine that if he had 

 lived in the present day, or until his ])lo(^d qualities had been uiuler- 

 stood, he would have left the impress of a remarkably successful 

 stallion. 



He was a natural trotter, but was never in the hands of a trainer; 

 Vet he could trot in 2:32, and, doubtless, in the hands of a proper 

 trainer' could have shown 2:20 far more easily that ur.iny of the great 

 trotters of our own day. Of this I have little doubt, if any whatever. 

 The sire of Mambrino Chief was Mambrino Paymaster, bred by 

 Azariah Arnold, of Duchess county, N. Y., and was foaled about 1821 



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