FIGURE’S PREPOTENCY

pedigree I present is correct, it is merely an example of a pattern frequently carried out by 18th-century Thoroughbred breeders in England. This pattern is the “conservation of Hobby blood,” in other words a conscious effort by breeders to maintain the Hobby fraction within a pedigree at between 15 to 25 percent. The purpose of this was, as I have already pointed out, to ensure that the horse so bred would have speed as well as stamina. Thus, the pedigree I propose makes True Briton (see “A Tale of Two ‘True Britons,’” page 46) a seven-eighthsbred, by half-bred Traveller by Lloyd’s Traveller put to a three-quarters-bred mare. True Briton Jr.’s dam---the mare imported by the De Lancey family “for racing”---was by True Briton Sr. (a fullblood) out of a half-bred mare by imported Wildair, whose dam was a Narragansett Pacer. This is exactly the sort of horse that could be expected to win in high-stakes contests on the Colonial short track.

Figure’s “short” speed thus came to him, as did his short back, long hips, and extraordinarily long, deep shoulder, through the Thoroughbred part of his pedigree. Yet should there remain any doubt as to Figure’s descent from Narragansett horses as well, we have Linsley’s description of the stallion as “a very fast walker,” which is an oldfashioned way to say that Figure was an ambler. The great stamina shown by Figure is yet another characteristic of the Narragansett Pacers, though early Thoroughbreds were also remarkable “stayers.”

This “formula” for Figure may, unfortunately, de-legitimize him in the eyes of some breed fanciers, who think that prepotency derives from homozygosity