Messenger (1780 – January 28, 1808) was an English Thoroughbred

stallion A stallion is a male horse that has not been gelded (castrated). Stallions follow the conformation and phenotype of their breed, but within that standard, the presence of hormones such as testosterone may give stallions a thicker, "cresty" nec ...

imported into the newly-formed United States of America just after the American Revolution. He is most famous for being the great-grandsire of Hambletonian 10, the father of all American Standardbred horses. Though he did not have a long racing career himself, he was a common ancestor in many successful racing horses into the 20th century.

Breeding

Messenger was a grey Thoroughbred bred by John Pratt, Esq. of Newmarket, England He was most likely foaled at Oxford Stud in Balsham, CambridgeshireTesioPower 2000, Stallions of the World in 1780. In May 1788, Sir Thomas Benger imported Messenger to Pennsylvania by ship. Legend goes that the eight year old horse ran down the gangplank "so rambunctiously that it took two men to keep him under control," when the rest of the horses were too weary to move after the long voyage. In 1793, Messenger was sold to

Henry Astor The Astor family achieved prominence in business, society, and politics in the United States and the United Kingdom during the 19th and 20th centuries. With ancestral roots in the Italian Alps region of Italy by way of Germany, the Astors settle ...

, the brother of John Jacob Astor. He was later sold to C.W. Van Ranst. Messenger's appearance gave an impression of solidity and power. He had large and always active ears, a large and bony head; his nose had a decided Roman shape, the nostrils large and flexible. He had a large windpipe and short neck, but not coarse or thick, low withers and around the shoulders, heavy and upright. Messenger had superior hips and quarters. The bones of the limbs were strong and large. He always stood prompt and upright on all four legs. He was high. One article described the way he carried himself as "perfect and striking." Messenger was more brutish than he was beautiful. Handlers would have to take care not to get injured when working with the horse.

Racing Career

Messenger won 10 of 16 races run in England early in his career, with his best racing years being 1783, 1784, and 1785. Messenger's races, usually less than two and half miles, were mainly "match" races in which the side bets far exceeded the purse. His major career win at five years old, when he won the King's Plate race. He was "a crack at the sprint distances of a mile and a mile and a quarter." Although his sire was a trotter, Messenger never ran a trot race.

Offspring and legacy

Messenger was a highly virile stud, once serving 126 mares by natural cove in one season. Like the other three English stallions, and as was the custom of the day, Messenger was bred throughout Pennsylvania,

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and New Jersey. The custom at the time was to allow any person that could afford it to breed their mare with the horse as he toured around the new country. An ad from 1788 in a Philadelphia paper announces Messenger's arrival and availability in the area to the local mares as, "JUST IMPORTED, The Capital, Strong, Full Blooded English Stallion MESSENGER, To cover Mares this season...at the very low price of Three Guineas each Mare, one Dollar to the Groom..." which appears along a sketch of the grey horse. Due to the rarity of Thoroughbred horses in the area at the time and the success of the horse's offspring, Messenger's stud fee spiked at around $40 (about $2,900 in 2022). Though the mares he bred with were not of the highest quality, he sired a great many successful

racehorse Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic pr ...

s. Messenger's daughter, Miller's Damsel, also known as "Queen of the American Turf", gave birth to the horse his breeder named American Eclipse in the belief the foal would be as great as the famous English

Eclipse An eclipse is an astronomical event that occurs when an astronomical object or spacecraft is temporarily obscured, by passing into the shadow of another body or by having another body pass between it and the viewer. This alignment of three ce ...

. By Duroc, a fine son of Diomed, American Eclipse did indeed turn out to be a champion.Montgomery, E.S, “The Thoroughbred”, Arco, New York, 1973 He was not only a great sire of Thoroughbreds, he was also the founding father of the harness breed, or modern-day American Standardbred through his great grandson, Rysdyk's ( Hambletonian 10). His genes have also contributed to the

American Saddlebred The American Saddlebred is a horse breed from the United States. This breed is referred to as the "Horse America Made". Descended from riding-type horses bred at the time of the American Revolution, the American Saddlebred includes the Nar ...

, and Tennessee Walking Horse breeds.Thoroughbred Heritage: ''Messenger''
Retrieved 2010-4-17 Other notable descendants of Messenger include Whirlaway, Equipoise, Man O War, and

Gallant Fox Gallant Fox (March 23, 1927 – November 13, 1954) was a champion American Thoroughbred racehorse who is the second winner of the American Triple Crown. In a racing career which lasted from 1929 to 1930, Gallant Fox won 11 of his 17 races includ ...

. He also provided genetics for the high cost " Joe Young" brand of horses that were sought after in the greater Kansas area at the turn of the 20th century. Messenger died on January 8, 1808 at the age of 28 at Townsend Cook's, near Oyster Bay, New York. He was buried with military honors under a boulder memorialized with an inscribed plaque on Duck Pond Road in Matinecock, New York. He was inducted into the United States Harness Racing Hall of Fame in 1964. This horse was not particularly talented at racing, but "deserves recognition as an outstanding producer of thoroughbreds," according to John Hervey, a horse historian in the 1960's.

Pedigree

Along with three other stallions, (Medley, Sharp, and Diomed), Messenger provided the type of foal that was needed for the era of long-distance (stamina and speed) racing popular in the early days of the American sport. He was sired by

Mambrino Mambrino was a fictional Moorish king, celebrated in the romances of chivalry. His first appearance is in the late fourteenth-century ''Cantari di Rinaldo'', also known as ''Rinaldo da Monte Albano'', ''Rinaldo Innamorato'' or ''Innamoramento di R ...

, who was sired by Engineer, who was sired by Sampton, who was the sire of Bay Molton, a racing horse. His dam was Turf; grand-dam was Regulus, who was closely related to Leviathan, a racing horse. Messenger was inbred to Cade in the third and fourth generations of his pedigree. Mambrino also traced straight back to Blaze, the father of trotters. Messenger has crosses to all three of the Thoroughbred foundation sires, particularly

Godolphin Arabian The Godolphin Arabian (–1753), also known as the Godolphin Barb, was an Arabian horse who was one of three stallions that founded the modern Thoroughbred (the others were the Darley Arabian and the Byerley Turk). He was named after his best-kno ...

. ''Note: b. =

Bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a Gulf (geography), gulf, sea, sound (geography), sound, or bight (geogra ...

, blk. = Black, br. = Brown'', ch. =

Chestnut The chestnuts are the deciduous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Castanea'', in the beech family Fagaceae. They are native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce. The unrelat ...

, gr. = Gray * Messenger is inbred 3 x 4 to the stallion Cade, meaning that Cade appears once in the third generation and once in the fourth generation of his pedigree. Messenger is also inbred 4 x 4 to Godolphin Arabian.

References

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External links