CHAPTEE XII. 



THE AMERICAN TROTTING HORSE. 



As a breed — Component parts constituting the breed — Establish the 

 American thoroughbred Trotter — As he should be bred — Breed for 

 beauty, brains, and business — Breeding the trotter a progressive 

 science — An American product — Chance trotters — Racing in early 

 days — The two-minute horse. 



THE American Trotting Horse as a breed, according to the 

 author's ideas of what constitutes a breed (see Breed, 

 Chapter I), may be said to be scarcely fairly established, and is 

 composed mainly of the following families, vis. : The Hamble- 

 tonian family, which is subdivided into many branches, em- 

 bracing the Electioneers, Abdallahs — descendants of Alex- 

 ander's Abdallah — Volunteers, Wilkes, Harolds, Dictators, 

 Egberts, Strathmores, etc. ; some of which are again subdivided, 

 as the Almonts, Belmonts. Nutwoods, Spragues, etc., yet all 

 grouped and classed as Hambletonians. And the Morgan fam- 

 ily, descendants of old Justin Morgan, and which are also 

 divided into other branches, embracing the Black Hawks, 

 Ethan Aliens, Lamberts, Morrells, Fearnaughts, Magna- 

 Chartas, Gold-Dusts, and Herods — all claimed as Morgans. 



Also the Bashaw family, which are descendants of the im- 

 ported Arabian horse, Grand Bashaw, and are subdivided 

 into and embrace the Clays, Patchens, and Bashaws of the 

 present day ; and the Blue Bulls, embracing all descendants of 

 that one of the most remarkable of all American-bred stallions, 

 as the sire of speed from common mares — Wilson's Blue Bull ; 

 together with the Mambrinos, also descended from Messenger 

 through Mambrino, who sired Mambrino Paymaster — the sire 

 of Mambrino Chief — (whose dam was a large, coarse, Western 

 mare, pedigree unknown) and who sired six trotters and 



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