THOROUGHBREDS IN RYSDYK’S HAMBLETONIAN’S PEDIGREE

1793: Ambrosio by Sir Peter Teazle by Highflyer (Herod sire line), out of Tulip by Curwen’s Bay Barb (a.k.a. the Taffolet Barb, also called the Lowther Bay Barb). His tail female goes back through Bartlett’s Bleeding Childers to Old Bald Peg and a mixture of Turk, Barb and Hobby. Standing only 14 hands, this horse exhibits the typical compact build of the ambler-galloper. 1797: Haphazard, by Sir Peter Teazle, out of Miss Hervey by Eclipse. Bred similarly to Ambrosio, Haphazard’s tail female composition is the same. He was, however, taller than Ambrosio and more of a distance horse, with a string of career wins at four miles and up. Like most Sir Peter Teazle get, he was an ambler-galloper and represents the very model of horse that gave rise to the American Saddlebred and that was preferred by Gen. John Cocke. 1811: William, by Governor, a sire-line descendant of Matchem, out of Elizabeth, a sire-line descendant of Highflyer by Herod. His tail-female goes multiple times to the Byerley and Lister Turks and to Old Bald Peg. William is not a famous racehorse and got few foals, but I include him here for three reasons: his pedigree, his relationship (half brother) to Sir Peter Teazle, and his conformation. On both the sire and distaff side of the pedigree, William descends from Highflyer who was a champion King’s Plate horse and afterwards the greatest stallion of his day. Highflyer’s name frequently appears in the pedigrees of Thoroughbreds, Saddlebreds, Standardbreds and Quarter Horses, especially through William’s half-brother Sir Peter Teazle. Conformationally, William is more compact than his sire and his build closely resembles that of Mambrino (compare my painting of William, based on a realistic study by George Stubbs, to Stubbs’ painting of Mambrino which is also reproduced here). Like Mambrino, William was probably a trotter-galloper.

1814: American Eclipse, by Duroc by *Diomed, out of Miller’s Damsel by Messenger. With this stallion we cross the line from “old type” ambler-galloper Thoroughbreds to horses that look and move like modern Thoroughbreds. I have based my painting of this horse on the portrait by Troye, but have removed the fashionable distortions of the real conformation that were characteristic of early 19th-century equestrian art. Artists of that day made the horse’s head look smaller, its neck longer and finer, and its limbs much finer than they really were. Modern style, non-ambling Thoroughbreds are longer backed, more narrow-bodied, and have straighter hind limbs than their ambling forebears. American Eclipse also has a rather upright shoulder, and his withers are not too prominent. At 15 hands, two inches, he is a full hand taller than most of the old-type Thoroughbreds. Entirely the product of American breeding, he posted 8 wins in 8 career starts over distances of from 2 to 4 miles. At stud he sired over a hundred Thoroughbreds plus a half-dozen harness trotters including Zenith and the triumvirate Virginia Eclipse, Ohio Eclipse and Indiana Eclipse. American Eclipse also appears in the pedigrees of Morgans and American Saddlebreds.