Messenger Begat Hambletonian
The English sire produced Father of Most of Harness Racing History
England's trotter, Messenger, grand-sired Hambletonian, and his progeny kept the harness racing bloodlines flowing. Dan Patch and No Pan Intended probably are relatives.
It all began with the English sire, Messenger. He begat Abdallah, who sired Hambletonian. In great demand, Hambletonian produced 1,331 foals. All of harness racing traces its bloodlines back to Hambletonian.
Hambletonian was foaled in 1849 in Sugar Loaf, New York. At the age of two, he covered four mares to begin his place in history as harness racing's greatest sire.
Champion Trotter
He also was the trotter of his time.
The owner of Abdallah Chief, another son of Abdallah, grandly advertised his trotter to be better than Hambletonian. The inevitable match race was set for Long Island's Union Course. Hambletonian won the challenge. Abdallah Chief's owner was a bad loser. Still insisting he had the better of the two trotters, he accepted a time trial race to prove it.
Hambletonian and Abdallah took the course in separate trots. Abdallah finished in time of 2:55-1/2. And Hambletonian rounded the track at 2:28-1/2. That was that.
Champion Sire
The match race did not go unnoticed. It gained for Hambletonian's owner the interest of harness breeders in the area and beyond. The trotter's genes were desired for the breeding of speed into the harness racing world.
The harness horse had become a major cargo transport system of his time. Old and young alike raced their cart horses against each other in the course of every day enterprise. Racing them in harness with a driver for the pure joy of it was a growing sport.
Hambletonian's speed launched his owner's breeding business. The trotter's stud fee was agreed to in the amount of $500 in many cases. Tagliabue, Maud S. Dexter, Greyhound, George Wilkes, and Lou Dillon are all Hambletonian offspring.
In 1876, Hambletonian breathed his last. His lifetime of 27 years was extended through the thousand and more foals that he sired.
It wasn't until 1924 that his achievement was officially honored. The Hambletonian Society came into being to promote trotting racers and to memorialize the greatest of trotting sires. The society was a forefather to today's United States Trotting Association.
By 1926, the first Hambletonian Stake race was set. It was held in Syracuse. Today, the Hambletonian Stakes is held at The Meadowlands in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
Named for Hambletonian's grandpa, Messenger, the Messenger Stakes serves as the final leg of pacing's Triple Crown. The first two pacing legs are the Cane Pace and the Little Brown Jug.
Pacing's greatest star at the turn of the 20th Century was Dan Patch. Foaled in humble surroundings in Oxford, Indiana, Dan Patch paced the mile in record times. Other pace horse owners would not drive against him, and at the age of seven he was sold to Minnesotan M.W. Savage for the sum of $60,000.
Traveling in a private train car, Dan Patch crossed the country to race in the Grand Circuit. Savage sponsored Dan Patch Day at all the circuit's state fairs. The promotional genius drew worldly attention to the pacer, and generated millions of dollars in revenue.
In 2003, No Pan Intended, from the Peter Pan Stables of Pepper Pike, Ohio, became the 10th winner of the harness Pacing Triple Crown. In the following season, No Pan Intended won the Breeders Crown, as well. He is the only harness horse ever to win both titles.
Dan Patch and No Pan Intended are likely descendants of the prolific sire, Hambletonian.
