32 THE VETERINARY DOCTOR. 
families will no doubt come forward with much more prominence for the 
furtherance of the trotting habit and the establishing of a breed of trotters. 
Therefore it must be plain that, according to the law that like begets like, 
if these examples thus show the tendency to either trot or pace, in time a 
breed of trotters must result, if such animals with this tendency are selected 
for breeding purposes as have the further capacity to reproduce numbers as 
well as individual examples. This brings us to the question, What has 
been done toward establishing a breed of trotters? 
In the early history of trotting in this country it was found that the 
blood of imported Messenger was frequently met with in the horses, so 
that it became very popular, and its best use has culminated in the descend- 
ants of his son Mambrino through two channels, the main one of which 
was through his son Abdallah, and through Abéallah’s son Rysdyk’s 
Hambletonian. ‘The other Mambrino branch came down through his 
grandson Mambrino Chief. 
The horse Hambletonian became popular in the stud because of the 
Messenger blood he inherited, and because he was a son of Abdailah, the 
popular trotting sire of his day. Then his son George Wilkes, by virtue 
of his performances, gave him great notoriety, quickly followed by Dexter 
and others, until now he has thirty-six representatives in the 2:30 list. 
Hambletonian heads the list as the foremost prepotent element in the for- 
mation of a breed. A great deal of writing and tabulation of statistics has 
been advanced to show his excellences, but that the arguments may not be 
one-sided, the following comparison is presented: The stud-books of Ham- 
bletonian show that he begot over thirteen hundred foals, thirty-six of which 
trotted in 2:30. Woodford Mambrino begot eighty-nine foals, ten of which 
have trotted in 2:30. This shows about three per cent. for Hambletonian 
and ten per cent. for Woodford Mambrino. This fact is attracting atten- 
tion, and the stud-books of other horses are to be investigated. 
To what extent a sire will attain to the perpetuating capacity 1s a ques- 
tion which deserves as much consideration as the rate of speed. That 
Hambletonian’s record will be far surpassed there can be no reasonable 
doubt. Other horses with like chances might perhaps have done as well 
or better, but this strain has in some way been forwarded, and has evinced 
a harmonizing and neutrally composing element which will be advanta- 
geous in a lasting degree. Next to George Wilkes, Volunteer is the most 
prepotent of Hambletonian’s sons, with twenty-three 2:30 performers, five 
of which have marked below 2:20, and one 2:114%. Dictator, brother to 
Dexter, has three trotters in 2:17 or better, and one in 2:103/. 
Harold has the fastest trotter of all the sons of Hambletonian, or any 
other horse, in the performance of Maud 8 in 2:10Y%, though a great 
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