| Name. | Year foaled. | Year died. | Standard performers. | Producing sons. | Producing daughters. | Standard performers produced by sons and daughters. | Performers produced in two generations. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mambrino Patchen | 1862 | 1885 | 25 | 51 | 90 | 259 | 284 |
| Woodford Mambrino, 2:21½ | 1863 | 1879 | 13 | 23 | 24 | 172 | 185 |
| Mambrino Pilot, 2:34¾ | 1859 | 1885 | 9 | 17 | 15 | 71 | 80 |
| Clark Chief | 1861 | 1871 | 6 | 12 | 25 | 43 | 49 |
| Ericsson, 2:30½ | 1856 | 188- | 6 | 4 | 15 | 25 | 31 |
| Mambrino Chief Jr. (Fisk’s) | 1861 | 189- | 5 | 6 | 14 | 34 | 39 |
Mambrino Patchen was the best son of Mambrino Chief and was brother to Lady Thorn, 2:18¼. He was foaled 1862, after the death of his sire, and was bred by Levi T. Rodes. His dam was by Gano, a running-bred son of American Eclipse; his grandam was a pacing mare by a colt of Sir William, but what Sir William is not known; his great-grandam was an inveterate pacer and never was known to strike any other gait. Mambrino Patchen was so much smoother and handsomer than his sire, and was so much of a failure as a trotter, that a very strong conviction prevailed among the friends and neighbors of his owner that he was not a son of Mambrino Chief, nor a brother of Lady Thorn. To this story that he was a Denmark and not a Mambrino Chief I never have given any shadow of credence. The attempt of his owner, Dr. Herr, to make him a trotter was patient and persistent, extending through several years, but with all his skill and experience he failed. Nobody was ever able to “catch” him a mile, but it seems to have been conceded that he might go somewhere in the “forties.” While this persistent and long-continued training failed in its original purpose of giving the horse a record of reputable speed, there can be no doubt, under the law that governs, that this development did great good to the horse, as a progenitor of trotters. The conditions being a handsome horse, with the banner constantly flying over him, “full brother to Lady Thorn,” an industrious and very capable owner, in the heart of the greatest breeding region in the whole country, it is easy to account for a very wide and lucrative patronage. Still, as a getter of speed he was not a great success, and as a getter of high speed he was a failure. With all the facilities for development, only twenty-five of his progeny have found a place in the 2:30 list, the fastest of which has a record of 2:20½. Of his sons, fifty-one are the sires of one hundred and twenty-six trotters, and of his daughters, ninety have produced one hundred and twenty-nine standard performers. He has proved himself a very great sire of brood mares, and when his daughters are bred to horses of stronger inheritance, they stand among the best.
Woodford Mambrino.—This son of Mambrino Chief was a large brown horse, foaled 1862. He was bred by Mr. Mason Henry, of Woodford County, Kentucky. His dam was also the dam of other trotters, was got by Woodford, son of Kosciusko, and her dam was a farm mare without any known breeding. Woodford was a large, strong horse used only for farm work, to which he was well suited. After spending a good deal of time and labor on his pedigree I am constrained to say that while he may have been a son of Kosciusko, his dam’s breeding is worse than unsatisfactory. Woodford Mambrino made a record of 2:21½, and placed thirteen of his get in the 2:30 list. He left twenty-three sons that were the sires of standard performers, and twenty-four daughters that produced twenty-seven standard performers. His son, Princeps, owned by Mr. R. S. Veech, of Indian Hill Farm, near Louisville, Kentucky, was in the stud far and away the best of his sons, and although he had no record of his own he placed in the list forty-four trotters and four pacers, many of them with fast records.
Mambrino Pilot was a very large and very coarse horse. He was a brown, got by Mambrino Chief, foaled 1859, dam Juliet, by Pilot Jr.; grandam by Webster, son of Medoc; great-grandam by Whip. He was bred by Thomas Hook, of Scott County, Kentucky, and after passing through the hands of Dr. Herr and others he was sold to C. P. Relf, of Philadelphia, and, I think, remained in his family till he died, 1885. He had a record to saddle of 2:27½. He put nine of his get into the 2:30 list, and seventeen of his sons left fifty-one performers and fourteen of his daughters produced twenty performers.
Many others of the descendants of Mambrino Chief might be noticed, but it is not the purpose of this volume to dwell upon matters that are accessible in the current literature of the trotting horse. The foundations of breeds and the leading heads of tribes must command my labor. The table shows the rank of the other sons of Mambrino Chief that achieved any degree of success, and of these clearly the best was Clark Chief, that died at ten years old.
CHAPTER XXIV.
THE CLAYS AND BASHAWS.
The imported Barb, Grand Bashaw—Young Bashaw, an inferior individual—His greatest son, Andrew Jackson—His dam a trotter and pacer—His history—His noted son, Kemble Jackson—Long Island Black Hawk—Henry Clay, founder of the Clay family—Cassius M. Clay—The various horses named Cassius M. Clay—George M. Patchen—His great turf career—George M. Patchen Jr.—Harry Clay—The Moor, and his son Sultan’s family.
This family is no longer prominent in trotting annals and its blood has been practically absorbed by other strains that have proved themselves more potent in transmitting and more uniform and more speedy in performing. The name “Bashaw Family” is a misnomer and it should never have been used, but as it has represented, for many years, the oldest line of developed speed, it seems a necessity to recognize it here. A branch of this family, designated as “The Clay Family” has perpetuated itself in some strength and will be considered in this chapter.