THE FIRST AMERICAN “SPORT HORSE” BREED

The very name of the American Standardbred reflects the performance requirement established at the inception of the breed. Here’s how genetics, conformation and training came together to create horses that could trot a mile in 2:30 or less, or pace it in 2:00 flat.

Rarely do those involved in events of major historical significance realize just how far-reaching their actions will turn out to be. When in 1867 the famous Morgan stallion Ethan Allen was matched against Dexter, the Hambletonian speed merchant, the contest captured the public imagination. On June 21st, more than 40,000 people turned out to see the two harness racers, both of whom had previously set world records, battle it out at the Fashion Course on Long Island, New York. The fans were boisterous, opinionated and ready to lay money on their favorite; more than a quarter of a million dollars in wagers reportedly changed hands that day.

The match was set for

$2,000, best three out of five heats. Odds ran two to one in favor of Dexter, who, it was believed, had more “stick”--the old word for stamina.

Such a spectacle would never be allowed today. Without question it was an uneven contest because while Dexter pulled his high-wheeler singleton, Ethan Allen went in double harness with a “running mate” who was allowed to gallop. But in those freewheeling years just after the Civil War, there were no rules or regulations to prevent such a contest. Further, most people in the 19th century were not trained in physics or engineering and the equestrian press was filled with endless arguments concerning the nature of horse gaits as well as the supposed advantages of various styles of hitching. Slow-motion film did not exist in 1867 and the photographic studies of Eadweard Muybridge, which helped to resolve most of these controversies, were still a decade in the future. Today, most people would recognize that

the galloper, trained to go just slightly faster than his trotting harness-mate, took almost all the weight of the vehicle, allowing the trotter to go in a floating frame that both relieved him of the work of pulling while also encouraging him to trot faster than normal in order to keep up.

This is not to disparage the Morgan champion, because it takes special talent to work at racing speed in this kind of hitch. It goes against almost any horse’s grain not to match strides with a companion in harness or when running in a herd. But Ethan Allen was by all reports an exceptionally intelligent, sweet-tempered and highly trainable stallion. He had the further advantage of being in the experienced, skillful and sympathetic hands of Dan Mace, his co-owner, trainer and driver.

Mace picked out a young Thoroughbred mare, Charlotte F., and trained her to run evenly in harness with Ethan Allen and at just the right speed. Mace made sure that Ethan Allen got plenty of experience trotting fast in double harness. This was not difficult, because contests between teams of two hitched double to a wagon were quite common at the time. A month before the match with Dexter, Ethan Allen and Charlotte F. had gone against a horse called Brown George and his runner, beating them in three heats---the third in the very fast time of 2 minutes, 19 seconds. “This,” averred Dexter’s owner Hiram Woodruff in recalling the circumstances, “led to the match with Dexter.”

The temperamental opposite of Ethan Allen, Dexter was high-strung and had been gelded as a 2-year-old because of aggressive behavior. A

“man-eater” in the stable, he had a hard mouth and a tendency to pull. But he was fortunate, too: Not long before the match with Ethan Allen, Dexter had been placed in the hands of the young and highly talented Budd Doble, who was destined to become the greatest of all American harness men. In Doble, Dexter found a friend he could trust and with Doble’s guidance his performances became much more consistent.

Woodruff reports that on the day of the race, Ethan Allen’s team “paid forfeit, Charlotte F. having strained a tendon. But a new match was made for $500 a side, and they came up to the post. The runner substituted for the mare was the one that had gone with

Brown George, a black gelding captured in the [Civil] War…In the first heat, Dexter drew the pole. They went off at amazing speed, and at the quarter the double team led two lengths in 32 seconds. They maintained the rate, and went to the half-mile in 1 minute, 4 seconds, three lengths ahead. They were four lengths in the lead at the head of the stretch, and won by five lengths in 2 minutes, 15 seconds.”

Woodruff concedes that this was “a wonderful performance all around,” but as Dexter’s owner and chief booster, he could not help but feel that it was exceptional “especially for Dexter, who …. pulled his own vehicle and driver [and despite losing the heat] unquestionably beat [his previous world record time of] 2 minutes, 17 seconds.”

The odds dropped to even money while the horses were being rubbed down for the second heat because it was now evident that the contest might be closer than anticipated. Yet many people still believed that the team would give out before the end of three heats, while Dexter was expected to “stick.”

Near the start of the second heat, Ethan Allen broke gait and Mace had

The spectacular duels with Dexter were Ethan Allen’s swan song. Despite being a great harness racer and beating his rival, he was considered by many as the old and antiquated model.

to bring his horses almost to a halt to get the stallion back into proper stride.

As a result, Woodruff reports, “Dexter led a length on the turn, where he was trotting close to the outside. He took the pole before he reached the quarter, and went on with the lead to the half-mile, where his time was 1 minute, 6 seconds flat. But now the runner and the trotter had got to his wheel, having come through the straight work of the back-stretch at a very high rate of speed.

“The pace was so hot that Ethan Allen once again broke on the Flushing turn; but, when he caught, the runner whirled him along at such a

rate that they overhauled Dexter, and beat him by three lengths in 2 minutes, 16 seconds.”

Woodruff expressed no disappointment with his gelding’s losing performance. Dexter, he observes, “must have trotted this heat in 2 minutes, 17 seconds [or a fraction more]; and it affords the most notable example of constancy and courage that ever was seen; for, after he had trotted the first half-mile in the amazing time of 1 minute, 6 seconds, and had kept the lead for three-quarters of a mile, he never [broke gait] when the team, like a

storm, came rushing by, but trotted out to the end.” Then---tersely and rather begrudgingly---Woodruff admits that “the team won the third heat in 2 minutes, 19 seconds.” The stamina of the 18-year-old Ethan Allen, it was evident, was greater than Dexter’s owner and fans had anticipated.

As if still unconvinced---or perhaps because they anticipated that the money would ultimately favor them ---Woodruff agreed to a rematch two weeks later. This race duly occurred at Middletown, New Jersey on July 4th, 1867. The result, however, was the same; the team beat Dexter in straight heats, with times of 2:20 1/2, 2: 20 1/4, and 2:20 flat. It is significant---and a

credit to both trotting contestants---that they finished close to each other in each heat, while making each in increasingly faster time.

No doubt Woodruff favored Dexter, but he concludes his report with the plain truth. “The trotting of Dexter in this race,” he observes, ”settled three things in the minds of thoughtful and reasoning people: First, that high as his powers had been estimated, they had been underrated; second, that no trotter going on equal terms with him had any chance to beat him, barring accidents; third, that a race between a trotter in single harness, and another trotter in double harness with a running-mate, was no fair match. The

conclusion was that the running-horse beat Dexter.”

In his admiration for Dexter, Woodruff---who had once also owned and driven Ethan Allen---was more prophetic than he knew, for the spectacular duels with Dexter were Ethan

Allen’s swan song. Despite being a great harness racer in his own right, having set track records while winning 33 of 55 official races and despite beating Dexter, Ethan Allen was considered by many as the old and antiquated model. In 1870, at the age of 21 years, he was sold to Col. Amasa Sprague, Jr., who sent the old horse to his partner Benjamin Akers at their stock farm in Lawrence, Kansas. There Ethan Allen stood as the crown jewel of the establishment and was bred mostly to Thoroughbred mares, producing a large

number of quality saddle and show horses. He died in 1876 in the autumn of his 28th year, the victim of severe dental disease (see EQUUS 482 to 484, and EQUUS 486 for a complete review of Ethan Allen’s skeletal remains).

Unbeatable in single harness, Dexter almost single-handedly elevated the sons of his sire, Rysdyk’s Hambletonian, to the fashionable ideal. Dexter’s fame helped establish a new breed---the American Standardbred ---in which the Hambletonian sireline quickly became overwhelmingly dominant. So immediate was their popularity that the knife was spared for most of Dexter’s many brothers and

half-brothers---over 150 of them are recorded out of the 1,331 foals Rysdyk’s Hambletonian is known to have sired. Today, all Standardbred horses trace back in sire-line to this single stallion.

Standardbred horses are not bred like Morgans and they rarely look like Morgans, despite the fact many Standardbred broodmares trace back to Justin Morgan. Once you become aware of their unique silhouette, Standardbreds are identifiable at a glance: They have a “boxy” silhouette---are short-backed, somewhat short-necked and leggy.

The head, while showing quality, is often rather large. In part these features are due to the fact Standardbred pedigrees contain significant contributions from certain bloodlines originating in England and Continental Europe--breeds that now fall under the heading of “Warmbloods.” Standardbred pedigrees also regularly contain a dash of blue-blooded “Asil” Arabian, which became part of their ancestry in the early 19th century, long before major

Arabian importations were made to the United States.

The mixture of ancestry in Standardbred breeding qualifies them as America’s first so-called “sport horse.” The very name of the breed reflects a performance requirement which was established with the inception of the breed’s registry: In order to gain registration, the horse must trot a mile in 2:30 or pace it in 2:00 flat. It was not the European Warmblood verbands who first required performance testing for horses seeking registry status but the American Standardbred, whose registry requirements were established by the National Association of Trotting Horse Breeders in 1879.

As we begin our new series highlighting the history of this interesting breed, let’s begin by making a full-on comparison of Dexter with Ethan

Allen. Was it genetics, conformation, or training that conferred upon Dexter his enormous prowess in harness? In upcoming installments, we’ll take this question even further by diving deep into Dexter’s ancestry and that of his sire, Rysdyk’s Hambletonian.

Standardbreds rarely look like Morgans, despite the fact that many of the breed’s broodmares trace back to Justin Morgan.