152 SELECTING BREEDING STOCK. 



mare or fifty, as every foal carries one-half of the blood of his 

 sire. Consequently, in order to make horse-breeding, of what- 

 ever variety, a success, much depends on the selection of the 

 stallion. It should be remembered that the stallion carries one- 

 half of the blood of his dam ; some say more ; some breeders 

 assert that the foal carries 60 per cent, of the blood and 

 characteristics of his dam, but of this I will treat later on. 

 Admitting that your stallion carries 50 per cent, of the blood 

 of his dam, one of the first things to be looked after is to what 

 his dam was as to breeding and individual merits, and in 

 nowise overlooking her disposition. 



Some of our most successful trotting sires are out of dams 

 whose breeding cannot be traced, but in all such cases they are 

 out of mares of great individual merit, and possessed of great 

 speed and endurance. 



Noticeably among such sires may be mentioned Alexander's 

 Abdallah, claimed to be the best son of Hambletonian, and the 

 sire of one of the greatest campaigners of the world, Goldsmith 

 Maid, 2.14, etc. Also another noted son of Hambletonian, the 

 great George Wilkes, with sixty-eight trotters and six pacers in 

 the list, out of that very gamy and enduring mare, Dolly 

 Spanker, whose pedigree could never be satisfactorily estab- 

 lished. 



The greatest campaigning trotting stallion of the world, 

 Ethan Allen, by Black Hawk, and whose dam, although un- 

 doubtedly a Morgan, has not been clearly established. "Wood's 

 Hambletonian, by Alexander's Abdallah, the sire of twenty 

 trotters, was out of a good mare said to be a Morgan, but of 

 whose breeding no one knows. 



Hambletonian Mambrino, 2.21J, with five in the list, whose 

 dam was Topsy, an untraced mare, is another example. Magna 

 Charta, the sire of five trotters in the list and the dams of 

 twenty trotters and one pacer whose dam was an Indiana 

 mare, pedigree untraced, is another good one. Smuggler, by 

 Blanco, and who once held the stallion trotting record of the 

 world, 2.15J, and who sired eight trotters and one pacer, was 



