THE AMERICAN TROTTING HORSE. 473 



Abdallah was closely inbred. He was a bay, and inherited much of 

 the plainness of his sire; but also inherited the trotting quality of 

 Messenger in great degree. He was trained at four years old, 

 and was considered the fastest young horse of his day. In the 

 spring of 1840 he was sold to Mr. John W. Hunt, of Lexington, 

 Ky. ; but, on account of the great value of his stock, he was 

 bought back the next year, at a high price, and died in 1852. 

 Besides being a progenitor, through his son, liysdyk's Hamble- 

 tonian, of that numerous and highly-distinguished family of trotters 

 of which Dexter, George Wilkes, and Mountain Boy are the most 

 eminent representatives, he is equally remarkable for the number 

 of mares of his get from whom very fast trotters have been bred. 

 To say that a horse is " out of an Abdallah mare," is pedigree 

 enough on that side with most horsemen. 



Of the other sons of Messenger it is not necessary to speak at 

 length, though we find many horses of the present day descended 

 from them, and inheriting the Messenger characteristics. When 

 the pedigree of any fast trotter can be traced far enough, it rarely 

 happens that Messenger is not found in it. Many horses that show 

 good trotting speed, and are considered by their breeders and 

 owners to be nothing but common stock, are found to be descended 

 from Messenger, when intelligent investigation reveals their pedi- 

 grees. 



Another imported horse that added something to the trotting 

 quality of our stock was Bellfounder, a stallion foaled about 1817, 

 and brought from England to Boston in 1823 by Mr. James Boot. 

 He was a bay of fine form, size, and action ; and these character- 

 istics were transmitted to his colts with great uniformity. Many 

 of them were very good and stylish carriage horses, with consider- 

 able speed, but only those infused with Messenger blood were very 

 fast. Nothing is known of his pedigree, though his appearance 

 indicated that he was nearly thorough-bred. It was said that he 

 had trotted in England 2 miles in 6 m. when three years old, and 

 10 miles in 30 m. at four years old. It was also asserted 

 that he had trotted 17 i miles in an hour; but these statements, 

 not being very well authenticated, are deemed apocryphal by 

 the best horsemen of this day. Many distinguished trotters are 

 in part descended from some of the many Thorough-breds that 

 have been imported from England at various times, and, indeed, 

 our most celebrated horses have a strong infusion of that blood, 

 derived from other sources than Messenger. Conceding the value 

 of good thorough-bred crosses in giving spirit and endurance to 

 trotting horses, and admitting that Diomed, Whip, Trustee, Glen- 

 coe, Margrave, and other imported Thorough-breds have eminent 

 trotters among their descendants, it may be safe to say that all 



