In 1811 he was put in the stud and made the season at Huntington, Long Island, in charge of Ebenezer Gould. It is not known where he made the season of 1812, but probably in Orange or Dutchess County. The years 1813-14-15 he was in charge of my late highly esteemed and venerable correspondent, David W. Jones, on the borders of Queens and Suffolk counties, Long Island, where he covered about two hundred and fifty mares. In 1816 he was in one of the river counties, in 1817 at Fishkill, and 1818 at Townsend Cock’s, Long Island. In later years he changed hands many times, at from two hundred to two hundred and fifty dollars, and there is no published trace of him till we find that he made the seasons of 1825 and 1829 at Pleasant Valley, Dutchess County, and he died the property of Benjamin Germond, on the farm of Azariah Arnold in Dutchess County, about 1831.
He took his beautiful color from his dam and transmitted it with great uniformity. His general structure was after the Messenger model, especially in the large bones and joints of his limbs. His head was long and bony and his ears were large and somewhat heavy. He was too high on his legs and his general appearance was coarse, all of which he transmitted. In speaking of his offspring Mr. Jones remarks: “When young they were somewhat leggy and lathy, but spirited, stylish and slashing in action. When matured, he must indeed be fastidious who would crave another.” With regard to his gait Mr. Jones uses the following very emphatic language: “I have been the breeder of some, and the owner of many good horses, and with the best opportunities of judging, having ridden him (he was never driven) many, many miles, I say, with entire confidence, he was the best natural trotter I ever threw a leg over. His walk was free, flinging and elastic; his trot clear, square and distinct, with a beautiful roll of the knee and great reach of the hind leg.” In the absence of actual training and timing, it is hardly possible to get better evidence that Mambrino was a natural trotter that might have been developed to a considerable rate of speed. It would be interesting to know just why the horse “never was driven.” Did he show an unconquerable aversion to harness, and did Abdallah inherit this aversion? This description of Mambrino’s gait was written in 1866, and the writer had spent a long lifetime in an intimate personal knowledge of many, or indeed most, of the best early trotters that this country had produced.
The only one of his immediate progeny that attained distinction as a trotter was the famous Betsey Baker. This mare was very prominent among the best of her day, and was able, on one occasion at least, to beat the great Topgallant, and in tandem with Grey Harry when she was old she trotted in 2:41¾-2:43¾. Others of his progeny were trotters of some merit, but none of them especially distinguished on the turf. His three sons, Abdallah, Almack and Mambrino Paymaster, are the bright links in the chain extending from Messenger to the two-minute trotter that will keep his memory green as long as there is a trotting horse on the earth. Abdallah at the head of the Hambletonians, Almack at the head of the Champions, and Mambrino Paymaster at the head of the Mambrino Chiefs embrace the major portion of the great trotters of this generation.
Winthrop, or Maine Messenger.—Perhaps no son of Messenger, not excepting Hambletonian and Mambrino, produced a more marked effect upon the stock of any part of the country than this horse did in the State of Maine. The impress he there made was not only remarkable at the time, but it is still felt and acknowledged in his descendants to this day. There have been many conflicting statements made to the public about him and his history, but I think I am now able to give, in authentic and reliable form, all that is really known of his origin and history. He was foaled about 1807 and was among the last colts by the imported horse, but unfortunately we know nothing of the blood of his dam. Mr. Alvan Hayward, for many years a citizen of Kennebec County, Maine, but more recently of York, Livingston County, New York, says his dam possessed some imported blood; but as all his records and memoranda were burned up in 1845 he is not able to give the pedigree of the mare that produced him.
Mr. Hayward bought the horse about 1817 or 1818, in the village of Paris, Oneida County, New York, of a man by the name of Rice or Wright, but did not remember which. He took him to Winthrop, Maine, where he was first known as “Messenger,” then as “Kennebec Messenger,” or “Winthrop Messenger,” and when he became old, as “Old Messenger.” The earliest contemporaneous account I have of this horse is his advertisement for the season of 1819, which I copy from the Hallowell Gazette of May 12, of that year, and is as follows:
“THE VALUABLE HORSE MESSENGER.
“The subscriber hereby recommends to the public and all who feel interested to improve in the breed of good and serviceable horses, the good horse Messenger, that stock so well known and approved of on Long Island, New York, and Pennsylvania. Said horse was raised on Long Island, and owned by Mr. Rylander, a gentleman who has taken the greatest pains to import the best breed of horses that came to his knowledge. Said horse is a silver grey, well proportioned, of a large size, and a good traveler. Gentlemen who are desirous of raising good horses will do well to call and see for themselves.
“The Messenger will stand for the most part of the time in the village at Withrop Mills.
Alvan Hayward.
“Winthrop, May 1st, 1819.”