ABDALLAH (ALEXANDER’S).

A Great Son of Hambletonian.

Alexander’s Abdallah was the founder of one of the very greatest of the Hambletonian sub-families, and he stands in the records as a progenitor of the first rank. This was a stout bay horse, about fifteen and one-half hands high. Excepting a right white ankle he was a rich solid bay. The only reliable portrait in existence of this horse was a drawing by Herbert Kittredge, made from a photograph taken of Abdallah after he went to Kentucky. The picture of Abdallah published in this work is a faithful reproduction of the Kittredge portrait published in Wallace’s Monthly for March, 1881, and in the absence of any reliable detailed description of the horse this portrait must be taken as the best reflection we now have of his individuality. He was bred by Lewis J. Sutton, of Warwick, Orange County, New York, and was foaled 1852. Mr. Sutton had in 1851 a good road mare that he had got at Carl Young’s roadhouse in Third Avenue, New York. This mare, Katy Darling, had been quite a trotter, and had, it was said, won a match race on Union Course. Her reputation as a trotter and her fine form caused Mr. Sutton to buy her when, as he describes it, “she was standing on three legs,” in the hope of getting a foal from her. He took her home in March, 1851, and in August bred her to Rysdyk’s Hambletonian, then a two-year-old colt, and September 22, 1852, she produced the subject of this sketch. Two years later Mr. Sutton sold Katy Darling to James W. Benedict, of Warwick, from whom she was purchased by Hezekiah Hoyt, who took her to Muscatine, Iowa, where she produced a chestnut colt that was gelded, by Hector, son of La Tourrett’s Bellfounder. This gelding was her only foal other than Alexander’s Abdallah, and Katy Darling died at Muscatine, the property of a Mr. Stewart. A search was long kept up for the pedigree of this mare, and for the full details of what is known of her history the reader is referred to the different volumes of Wallace’s Monthly. The conclusion from all the evidence found is that she was probably by a son of Andrew Jackson.

As a foal by his dam’s side Alexander’s Abdallah attracted much favorable attention by his fine trotting action, and his persistency in cavorting around at that gait. Among those who took great delight in watching the little fellow trot was Mr. Hezekiah Hoyt, and when the youngster was seventeen months old Mr. Hoyt, acting for, or in partnership with, Major Edsall, bought the colt for five hundred dollars, a fine price at that time. Major Edsall kept him until he was seven years old, and I am under the impression that he won some local races during that time, when he was known as Edsall’s Hambletonian. He was accorded a fairly liberal patronage in Orange County, and his progeny showed so well that Major Edsall sold him for three thousand dollars in 1859 to Joel F. Love and James Miller, of Cynthiana, Kentucky. The Hambletonian family was just then becoming popular, and the price paid indicates that this horse was already regarded by good judges as one of Hambletonian’s best sons. That he was regarded, moreover, as quite a trotter is indicated by the fact that at the close of his second season in Kentucky—1860—Mr. Miller matched him against Albion, a competing stallion, for two hundred and fifty dollars a side. The affair caused quite a sensation at the time, the Cynthiana horsemen going in crowds to Lexington to back Abdallah. The latter was driven by “Jim” Monroe, and Albion by Warren Peabody, and Abdallah won in the hollowest fashion, distancing Albion in 2:46. As youngsters Abdallah’s first progeny in Kentucky showed very well, and in the spring of 1863 he was purchased by R. A. Alexander, and made the seasons of 1863 and 1864 at Woodburn. On the evening of February 2, 1865, Marion’s band of Confederate guerrillas raided Woodburn and took away a number of horses, among them Alexander’s Abdallah and the then famous young trotter, Bay Chief, by Mambrino Chief. Marion mounted Bay Chief and, crossing the Kentucky River, the band encamped on the farm of a Mr. Bush, in a rough, hilly region, twelve miles from Woodburn. Here the next morning the Federal cavalry, that were sent in pursuit after the raid, came up with the raiders, and after a sharp fight routed them. Marion, on Bay Chief, was a conspicuous mark for Federal bullets during the skirmish. Early in the fray Bay Chief was shot through the muzzle, through both thighs, and one hock. In this condition he carried his rider two miles in the retreat, when the horse was so weakened by loss of blood that a Federal cavalryman overtook them. His piece being empty, the soldier aimed a blow at Marion, but missing him, lost his balance, and fell from his horse. The guerrilla leader quickly saw his opportunity, jumped from Bay Chief, mounted the soldier’s horse, and escaped. Bay Chief died about ten days later, despite all efforts made to save him. Meanwhile, Alexander’s Abdallah had been found, safe and sound, by a Federal soldier in Mr. Bush’s stable. The soldier refused to give him up to Mr. Alexander’s men, and declared he would send him North and keep him until he got a large reward for his return. The horse was barefooted and in no condition for hard usage. And so they rode him off, and after going some forty or fifty miles he gave out, and they turned him loose on the road. He was found next day in a pitiable condition by the roadside, and brought back as far as Lawrenceburg on his way home, where he was taken with pneumonia and died a few days later.

Just how great a loss this was to the trotting breed was not realized until long after—until in fact Goldsmith Maid had conquered all before her, and made a record as a campaigner never equaled, and until his two great sons, Almont and Belmont, rose to pre-eminent places in the list of great sires. Other sons of this remarkable progenitor have taken rank as sires, and his daughters proved of the highest excellence as brood mares; but Almont and Belmont have each established such large, important, and popular sub-families that this work would be incomplete without some brief sketch of each.

Alexander’s Abdallah got Goldsmith Maid, 2:14, Rosalind, 2:21⅔, Thorndale, 2:22¼, Major Edsall, 2:29, and St. Elmo, 2:30. Fourteen of his sons have produced one hundred and fifty-five standard performers, and twenty-nine of his daughters have produced forty-four standard performers, among them being the noted campaigners, Favonia, 2:15, and Jerome Eddy, 2:16⅔, the latter also a successful sire. The following table gives the families of his most prominent sons:

LEADING SONS OF ALEXANDER’S ABDALLAH.

Name.Year foaled.Year died.Standard performers.Producing sons.Producing daughters.Standard performers produced by sons and daughters.Total No. produced in two generations.
Almont, 2:39¾18641884379572609646
Belmont18641889586348560618
Hambletonian (Wood’s)185818852412134973
Major Edsall, 2:29185918863638790
Thorndale, 2:22¼18651894108144757
Jim Munro1861188285173846
Abdallah Pilot186518813111720