their  Breeding  and  Management . 
35 
“ Sherman  Morgan,”  out  of  the  “ Howard  ” mare,  by  a son 
of  “ Hambletonian  ” ; his  dam,  said  to  be  by  “ Messenger,” 
a thoroughbred,  the  Adam  of  American  trotters  ; he  was  by 
Lord  Grosvenor’s  grey  horse  “ Mambrino.”  It  is  said  of 
“ Messenger  ” — 1786  : “ When  that  old  grey  came  charging 
down  the  gang  plank  of  the  ship  that  brought  him  over,  the 
value  of  not  less  than  one  hundred  millions  of  dollars  struck 
American  soil.”  After  a successful  debut  in  the  States,  “ Shep- 
herd ” was  brought  over  to  Europe,  and,  whilst  trotting  at 
Aintree,  caught  the  eye  of  Major  Stapylton,  who  happened  to 
be  on  the  look-out  for  a stallion  to  improve  the  breed  of  harness- 
horses  in  this  country,  and  particularly  for  the  use  of  his  tenantry. 
The  result  is  well  known  in  Yorkshire,  for  the  horse  set  his 
mark  upon  all  his  produce,  and  young  “ Shepherds  ” have  been 
sought  after,  and  have  commanded  long  prices.  His  extra- 
ordinary action  will  long  be  remembered  ; he  had  the  merit,  so 
uncommon  in  American  trotters,  of  possessing  legitimate  all- 
round trotting  action  ; indeed,  his  wonderful  hock  action  was  a 
chief  feature.  It  is  said,  however,  he  hit  himself  in  the  elbows 
by  reason  of  excessive  knee  action.  “ Shepherd  F.  Knapp  ” was 
never  known  to  be  beaten  in  this  country,  and  I here  append 
his  public  time  :• — Half  a mile  in  1 min.  10  secs. ; 2 miles  in 
4 min.  55  secs. ; 2£  miles  in  6 min.  14  secs.  ; and  3 miles 
in  8 min.  He  could  go  20  miles  in  the  hour,  and  do  the  last 
mile  in  the  same  form  as  the  first.  The  following  extract  from 
‘The  Trotting  Horse  of  America,’  by  Hiram  Woodruff,*  alludes 
thus,  in  a paragraph  relating  to  the  early  training  of  trotters, 
to  “ Shepherd  F.  Knapp  ” : — “ ‘ Shepherd  F.  Knapp  ’ and 
‘ Jessie  ’ were  another  pair  that  were  trained  early,  and  with  no 
ill  effect,  even  though  their  race  was  one  of  uncommon  severity. 
They  were  four  years  old,  and  trotted  five  heats,  the  best  of 
which  was  2 min.  40  secs.  It  was  the  second  heat,  and  was  won 
by  the  filly  after  she  had  previously  won  the  first.  Upon  seeing 
the  time  of  this  heat,  I concluded  that  the  colt  could  beat  her, 
and  he  won  the  three  subsequent  heats,  the  best  of  them  being 
in  2 min.  41  secs.”  The  public  have  lost  in  “ Shepherd  F. 
Knapp  ” the  services  of  the  most  noted  roadster  that  perhaps 
ever  returned  to  the  Old  Country.  The  nearest  English  prototype 
I know,  though  without  equal  breeding,  was  the  trotting  “ Marsh- 
land Shales,”  foaled  in  1802,  “the  best  in  Mother  England  up 
to  20  stones,  and  styled  in  Norfolk  “ a thundering  trotter.” 
* London  : Sampson,  Low,  & Co.,  18th  Ed.,  1876.  Hiram  Woodruff  appears 
to  have  been  as  clever  a man  as  ever  frequented  the  “ trotting  tracks,”  or 
“levelled  a horse  with  a thicker  shoe  on  the  short  side.”  A “three  minute 
trotter  ” is  said  to  be  as  scarce  in  England  as  a “ two-thirty  ” horse  is  in  America. 
Hiram  was  a wonderful  man  to  “ talk  horse  ” ! — C. 
D 2 
