Mambrino (1768).{ Engineer{ Sampson{ Blaze.
{ Unknown.
{ Miner’s dam{ Young Greyhound.
{ D. of Bay Barb.
{ Daughter of{ Cade{ Godolphin Arabian.
{ Roxana.
{ Daughter of{ Bolton Little John.
{ Favorite.

It is worthy of note here, as a curious fact, that Mambrino had two pacing crosses. Roxana, the dam of Cade, was by Bald Galloway and Favorite was by a son of Bald Galloway. This horse Bald Galloway was a distinguished representative of the famous old tribe of pacers known as the “Galloways,” from the province of Galloway in Southwestern Scotland.

Mambrino was not put upon the turf till he was five years old, and he proved himself a great race horse in the best company and for the largest class of stakes. He was on the turf most of the time for five or six years and until he was beaten by Woodpecker in 1779, in which race he broke down. He was beaten, but four times, and paid four forfeits. He went into the stud in the spring of 1777, although he ran after that, at 10gs. 10s. 6d. to cover thirty mares besides those of his owners. In 1779 he was again in the stud, in Cambridgeshire as before, at the same price; 1781 he covered at 50gs. 10. 6d.; 1784 at 15gs. 10. 6d.; 1785 at 25gs. 10s. 6d.; 1786 he dropped back to 15gs. 10s. 6d.

We give these prices to show the variations in the estimated value of his services. As a sire of race horses Mambrino was not successful. Some fifteen or twenty of his progeny ran more or less respectably, but none of them was at all comparable with himself. While he was a comparative failure as a racing sire there was another qualification in which he attained great eminence and distinction. In the second volume of Pick’s Turf Register, published 1805, on page 266, we find the following paragraph appended to the history there given of this horse:

“Mambrino was likewise sire of a great many excellent hunters and strong, useful road horses. And it has been said that from his blood the breed of horses for the coach was brought nearly to perfection.”

This paragraph, considering its date (1805), the authority from which it comes, and the peculiar circumstances which prompted its utterance, has a most striking significance. After years of familiarity with Mr. Pick’s works we can say freely that we never have been able to find any allusion or reference to the qualities of any horse portrayed by him other than his running qualities. This reference to the adaptabilities of the progeny of Mambrino stands alone. The “blood that brought the breed of coach horses nearly to perfection” must have been blood that gave the “breed” a long, slinging, road-devouring trot, as well as size and strength. The very same qualifications were observed and noted in the descendants of Mambrino in this country forty and fifty years ago, and at no time in our history have we had such unapproachable coach horses as the great-grandsons of Mambrino. What has been said, therefore, by Mr. Pick of the “coach-horse” qualities of the descendants of Mambrino in England has been fully realized and verified in his descendants, through Messenger, in this country.

The question here arises whether Mambrino ever showed any remarkable trotting action himself that would seem to justify this estimate of the trotting action of his descendants? Several writers, and among them Mr. Lawrence, have spoken of this peculiarity of Mambrino’s incidentally, but the most tangible account we have of it is furnished by an English writer to the Sporting Magazine, who dates his letter from the “Subscription Rooms, Tattersall’s, 1814.” These “subscription rooms” were the very focus of sporting events, and this writer seems to be unusually intelligent on this class of subjects. The object and point of his communication is to prove that no thoroughbred horse could be developed into a fast trotter. “Hence,” he says, “no thoroughbred was ever known capable of trotting sixteen miles within the hour, and only one stands on record as having trotted fifteen miles within one hour. That was Infidel, by Turk, who performed it in the North, carrying nine or ten stone. Several race horses have been supposed capable of trotting fourteen miles in one hour, and it is reported that the late Lord Grosvenor once offered to match Mambrino to do it for a thousand guineas.” Now this writer does not say that Lord Grosvenor really made such an offer, but only that he was “reported” to have made it. This does not prove that the offer was formally made, but it does prove that Mambrino had a very remarkable trotting step or such a topic would not have been considered at Tattersall’s subscription rooms. As this writer seems to refer to Mambrino and Infidel only as exceptional horses for their trotting step among thoroughbreds, we may take it for granted that Mambrino was considered exceptional, in his day. It is not probable that he was ever trained an hour at the trot, and we must conclude, therefore, that whatever speed he showed was his natural and undeveloped gait. It will be observed that Mr. Pick’s paragraph was dated 1805, and the letter from the “subscription rooms” 1814, so that they could not have been mere reflections of theories advanced on this side of the Atlantic in relation to Messenger being a great source of trotting speed. These two facts were on record long before any “Messenger theories” were in existence, and those “theories” were formulated long before these two facts were known. The conclusions reached on both sides of the water are entirely harmonious, but they were reached in complete independence of each other.

Messenger, son of Mambrino, was a grey horse about fifteen hands two inches high, with strong, heavy bone and a generally coarse appearance for a horse represented to be thoroughbred. From the Racing Calendar, and not from the Stud Book, we learn that he was foaled 1780, and came out of a mare represented to be by Turf, and she out of a mare by Regulus, son of Godolphin Arabian, etc., as represented by Mr. Weatherby in his Stud Book. By looking back to the beginning of this chapter the form in which the entry appears in the Stud Book will be fully comprehended. The identity, history, and breeding of the dam of Messenger is the central point in this inquiry, and we must do our work carefully and thoroughly. From the form of the entry in the Stud Book, it will be understood that the breeder of each animal is supposed to appear opposite the foals of his own breeding, but this we have found in more than a thousand instances to be wholly imaginary on the part of the compiler. If the animal ran, the name of the party running him is far more apt to appear than the name of the breeder. It will be observed, also, that the Turf fillies of 1773 and 1774 appear without their color being known. These fillies seem to be put in there to partially fill the gap between 1771 and 1777. Mr. Pick says the dam of Messenger was black, but he gives no account of her further than that. Whether Mr. Pick was indebted to Mr. Weatherby, or Weatherby to Pick, I cannot say, but they both give the pedigree just as we have given it in this country. I am not inquiring whether these authorities agree on this pedigree, but whether they knew anything about it, and whether there is such agreement in details between them as will support each other.

The first question that arises in every man’s mind is, whether there is any further trace of this Turf mare, the reputed dam of Messenger, in the Stud Book, by whom was she bred and owned, and by whom was Messenger bred? Pick says the Turf mare was bred by Lord Bolingbroke, and Weatherby says she was bred by Lord Grosvenor. To test the question whether either is right, I have gone through the English Stud Book, page by page, and pedigree by pedigree, wherever I found the name of Lord Bolingbroke, or Lord Grosvenor, to see if any trace of the Turf mare could be found. I found no shadow of trace. The certificate of pedigree that came across the ocean with Messenger represents him to have been bred by John Pratt, and Mr. Pick, or rather his successor, Mr. Johnson, says he was bred and owned by Mr. Bullock. These clear and explicit declarations gave new hopes of finding something of the Turf mare, and at it I went again, and searched every pedigree that had the name of Mr. Pratt or Mr. Bullock attached to it, with no better results than before. Now, Lord Bolingbroke, Lord Grosvenor, Mr. Pratt and Mr. Bullock were all breeders, and if any of them ever owned the dam of Messenger and bred from her, none of her produce was ever recorded or ever started in a race.