MORE SIRES INFLUENTIAL IN AMERICA BEFORE THE CIVIL WAR
Glencoe (1831), imported 1836, was by Sultan, tracing in sire-line to Herod, out of Trampoline, whose sire-line goes to Eclipse. Her tail-female, however, goes to Highflyer and all three Thoroughbred foundation sires, the Godolphin, Byerly and Darley. A beautiful and refined animal, Glencoe looks like a modern Thoroughbred racehorse, rather than the more heavily built animals just reviewed. Glencoe had a career in America spanning over 20 years, during which he produced about 480 purebred foals—and untold numbers of halfbreds whose names pop up in all of the American registries. Before his exportation, Glencoe was the sire of Pocahontas (1837), said to be the all-time most valuable Thoroughbred broodmare. After arriving here, he became the sire of Reel (1838), likewise the most valuable American Thoroughbred broodmare of her time. His American sons are less famous, but the lines of Rataplan (1850) and King Tom (1851) both survived the Civil War. Like most of the other influential early 19th century imports, Glencoe’s services were available only in the Southern and border states— Alabama, Tennessee and Kentucky.
Black Hawk (1833) by Sherman Morgan out of Queen of the Neck, she by Captain Absolute by the imported Clavileno. The Queen’s own dam was a mare from New Brunswick owned by the Saunders family, by imported Lofty out of a mare by Wildair. None of the mares on the distaff side of her pedigree can be specifically traced, but they were almost
certainly Canadians. I include this brief introduction to Black Hawk here because he exemplifies the type of horse most widely admired and patronized in the pre-Civil War North, reputed to have sired over a thousand foals in a stud career spanning more than 20 years. With a coat of iridescent black, big shapely neck and lofty carriage, he cut a handsome figure in harness and is reputed to have been stylish, with great bottom, often being driven 50 miles in one day. In 1849 Black Hawk sired Ethan Allen 50, the most famous horse of his day and the last great harness racer of mostly Morgan derivation. That story to be continued!