CANADIANS, TOM HALS AND PILOTS

In previous issues we have acknowledged the debt that the Morgan owes to the Old Canadian (see “The Mystery of the Morgan Horse,” EQUUS 469). Canadian horses continued right up to the end of the 19th century to contribute to the Morgan, American Saddlebred, Tennessee Walking Horse and American Standardbred. The Tom Hals and Pilots also have linkages to the American Quarter Horse.

St. Lawrence (1840) also known as January’s or Perkins’ St. Lawrence, or as the Simmard horse. A handsome seal brown, he did not actually have a blue eye (a convention of 19th-century racing art was to give the horse a “wild looking” eye). Apart from the eye, tiny ears, and a head shorter and smaller through the muzzle than it actually was, this engraving shows the horse’s conformation realistically, conveying especially that he had a relatively short neck carried high (similar to the Blue Bulls), powerful hindquarters, and clean but very substantial limbs. Standing about 14:2 hands and weighing 950 pounds, he competed from 1848 to 1856, winning 14 races. He is by the Québec stallion Francis Lareau, tracing in sireline to Justin Morgan and out of Faragone, a Canadian mare.

Brown Hal (1879) By Gibson’s Tom Hal, a.k.a. Tom Hal F-20, a foundation sire of the Tennessee Walking Horse; he is also considered a Morgan progenitor. Brown Hal is out of Lizzie by John Netherland, a sire-line descendant of the Justin Morgan son Tom Hal. Lizzie’s tail female traces to obscure short-pedigree Thoroughbreds, American Saddlebreds and Morgan. A pacer, Brown Hal posted a speed record of 2:12 ½. He is a full brother to Little Brown Jug, a gelding, after whom the famous harness race is named. Brown Hal sired many Standardbred horses of record, as well as a dozen Tennessee Walking Horses and a few American Saddlebreds. He presents the chunky, level-backed conformation that is frequently found in pacers.

Star Pointer (1889) was the first Standardbred pacer to break 2:00 when he went 1:59 ¼ as an eight year old in 1897. By Brown Hal, Star Pointer is out of Sweepstakes, who traces multiple times to Tom Hal and also traces within five generations to Old Pacing Pilot, another Justin Morgan grandson. Her tail female is Thoroughbred through Stump the Dealer. This stallion is a nice blend who, like his sire, presents the “horizontal” conformation that is typical of Standardbred pacers.

Jay-Eye-See (1878). This useful-looking black was the world’s first 2:10 trotter, a record which he set at the hippodrome in Providence, Rhode Island in 1884, beating the time of the famous mare Maud S by ¼ second. However, the very next day in Cleveland she reduced the record to 2:09 ¾, thus retaining her trotting championship. Jay-Eye-See, however, had something else to offer as he was double-gaited and made a pacing record of 2:06 ¼, only a second off the thenworld record. By Dictator, a RH son, Jay-Eye-See was out of the productive mare Midnight by Pilot Jr. by Old Pacing Pilot. Her tail female traces to the excellent Thoroughbreds Lexington, *Glencoe, Sir Archy and Sir Peter Teazle.

Earnhart’s Brooks (1875), a loudly marked bay roan, is a foundational sire of the Tennessee Walking Horse, but also produced a number of fast harness horses who are counted as American Standardbreds. He was by the Brooks horse by Brown Pilot tracing back to Tom Hal and Justin Morgan, and out of a mare by Young Pilot by the Brooks horse. Despite the spots, it’s easy to pick up on the similarity this horse bears in conformation to the Morgans and Blue Bulls.

Bonesetter (1871). Not only is this horse’s name appealing to me, but I absolutely love this kind of conformation—representing the best that is to be found in the American Saddlebred. A big horse by any standards, Bonesetter stood fully 16 hands and weighed 1,200 pounds. The coloration is bay sabino, with the characteristic “lightning mark” running up the front of one hind leg and a bald face. Bonesetter competed in harness races from 1878 through 1881, winning 30 races and marking a very respectable record of 2:19 at the trot. By the Brooks horse, he was out of Jenny Davis, a sireline descendant of Sir Archy with tail female to Tom Hal and Justin Morgan. (Tragically, this stallion perished in one of the barn fires that were all too common in the 19th century.)

Maud S. (1874). This mare is by Harold, a RH son who was moderately popular in the 19th century, and out of Miss Russell. Bred by R. A. Alexander, she was purchased as a yearling by Captain George N. Stone, an executive in the nascent telephone industry whose hobby was driving. Maud S. proved difficult to train; Stone observed that she was “inclined to mix gaits and rack and do anything but trot.” He and trainer W. W. Bair used an old technique— driving through deep plough—where the mare eventually found her trotting gait. What worked physically did not, however, endear her to harness work and in her first competition as a 3-year-old she stopped dead and then tried to bolt back to the stable. Bair got her under control and pointed in the right direction and then, from far behind the field, she steadily overhauled them one by one to win the heat. This attracted the attention of railroad tycoon William H. Vanderbilt, who offered $20,000 to buy her if she could best a 2:20 mile. Stone reported, “She finished in 2:17 ¾ and the country went wild. It was the fastest mile up to that time that had ever been trotted by a 4-year-old.” Maud S. thus passed into Vanderbilt’s hands, but he soon turned her over to Robert Bonner for twice what he had paid. The possibly apocryphal story goes that the tycoon sold the famous mare because he did not want people saying, “There goes Maud S. with Vanderbilt!” Standing a little over 15 hands, Maud S. was “queen of the turf,” the fastest mare of her era. She lowered the world record seven times in five years, finally setting a world record of 2:08 ¾. Conformationally very similar to her dam (we see her in this image looking svelte because she is in racing form), Maud S. presents a little more refinement, with a longer neck and back and slightly less substance of limb while retaining the big, speed-adapted pelvis and correct joints. The head is superb. Unlike her dam, however, Maud S. was not brought to any stallion and her line died with her.