346:. The custom at the time was to allow any person that could afford it to breed their mare with the horse as he toured around the new country. An ad from 1788 in a Philadelphia paper announces Messenger's arrival and availability in the area to the local mares as, "JUST IMPORTED, The Capital, Strong, Full Blooded English Stallion MESSENGER, To cover Mares this season...at the very low price of Three Guineas each Mare, one Dollar to the Groom..." which appears along a sketch of the grey horse. Due to the rarity of Thoroughbred horses in the area at the time and the success of the horse's offspring, Messenger's stud fee spiked at around $ 40 (about $ 2,900 in 2022).
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435:, who was sired by Engineer, who was sired by Sampton, who was the sire of Bay Molton, a racing horse. His dam was Turf; grand-dam was Regulus, who was closely related to Leviathan, a racing horse. Messenger was inbred to Cade in the third and fourth generations of his pedigree. Mambrino also traced straight back to Blaze, the father of trotters. Messenger has crosses to all three of the Thoroughbred foundation sires, particularly
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Messenger won 10 of 16 races run in
England early in his career, with his best racing years being 1783, 1784, and 1785. Messenger's races, usually less than two and half miles, were mainly "match" races in which the side bets far exceeded the purse. His major career win at five years old, when he won
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Messenger's appearance gave an impression of solidity and power. He had large and always active ears, a large and bony head; his nose had a decided Roman shape, the nostrils large and flexible. He had a large windpipe and short neck, but not coarse or thick, low withers and around the shoulders,
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by ship. Legend goes that the eight year old horse ran down the gangplank "so rambunctiously that it took two men to keep him under control," when the rest of the horses were too weary to move after the long voyage.
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Messenger died on
January 8, 1808, at the age of 28 at Townsend Cook's, near Oyster Bay, New York. He was buried with military honors under a boulder memorialized with an inscribed plaque on Duck Pond Road in
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Messenger was a highly virile stud, once serving 126 mares by natural cover in one season. Like the other three
English stallions, and as was the custom of the day, Messenger was bred throughout
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3 x 4 to the stallion Cade, meaning that Cade appears once in the third generation and once in the fourth generation of his pedigree. Messenger is also inbred 4 x 4 to
Godolphin Arabian.
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This horse was not particularly talented at racing, but "deserves recognition as an outstanding producer of thoroughbreds," according to John Hervey, a horse historian in the 1960's.
275:, the father of all American Standardbred horses. Though he did not have a long racing career himself, he was a common ancestor in many successful racing horses into the 20th century.
365:, American Eclipse did indeed turn out to be a champion. He was not only a great sire of Thoroughbreds, he was also the founding father of the harness breed, or modern-day American
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heavy and upright. Messenger had superior hips and quarters. The bones of the limbs were strong and large. He always stood prompt and upright on all four legs. He was 15.3
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the King's Plate race. He was "a crack at the sprint distances of a mile and a mile and a quarter." Although his sire was a trotter, Messenger never ran a trot race.
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428:), Messenger provided the type of foal that was needed for the era of long-distance (stamina and speed) racing popular in the early days of the American sport.
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1037:
Facsimile edition of
Elliott, C. W. (1869). "Among our great farmers-The horse growers". Galaxy, vol. VII January to July, pp. 413-424.
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Facsimile edition of
Elderkin, J. (1868). "The Turf and the Trotting Horse in America". Atlantic Monthly, vol. XXI May, pp. 513-533.
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Messenger was more brutish than he was beautiful. Handlers would have to take care not to get injured when working with the horse.
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353:. Messenger's daughter, Miller's Damsel, also known as "Queen of the American Turf", gave birth to the horse his breeder named
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Messenger was a grey
Thoroughbred bred by John Pratt, Esq. of Newmarket, England He was most likely foaled at Oxford Stud in
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Though the mares he bred with were not of the highest quality, he sired a great many successful
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Harness Racing in New York State: A History of
Trotters, Tracks and Horsemen
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in the belief the foal would be as great as the famous
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breeds. Other notable descendants of Messenger include
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Along with three other stallions, (Medley, Sharp, and
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In May 1788, Sir Thomas Benger imported Messenger to
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United States Harness Racing Hall of Fame inductees
49:. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
1072:Racehorses trained in the Kingdom of Great Britain
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397:. He also provided genetics for the high cost "
902:"Asbury Park Press 08 Aug 1999, page Page 93"
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1077:United States Champion Thoroughbred Sires
968:"Middlebury Register 25 Sep 1891, page 6"
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736:"Middlebury Register 21 Dec 1869, page 4"
411:United States Harness Racing Hall of Fame
109:Learn how and when to remove this message
881:Harness Racing Museum & Hall of Fame
443:Pedigree of Messenger (GB), gr. h. 1780
216:January 28, 1808 (aged 27–28)
1027:Messenger's pedigree, with fine drawing
838:. London: Thomas Yoseloff Ltd. pp.41-43
790:TesioPower 2000, Stallions of the World
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306:. He was later sold to C.W. Van Ranst.
16:Late 18th century Thoroughbred stallion
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34:needs additional citations for
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615:Sister (1740) to Slipby (1)
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1019:Thoroughbred Bloodlines:
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996:www.allbreedpedigree.com
992:"Messenger Thoroughbred"
948:www.allbreedpedigree.com
944:"Joe Young Standardbred"
477:Mare by Young Greyhound
928:Thoroughbred Heritage:
379:Tennessee Walking Horse
285:Balsham, Cambridgeshire
701:. Arcadia Publishing.
58:"Messenger" horse
1062:Thoroughbred family 1
1057:1808 racehorse deaths
1052:1780 racehorse births
485:Mare by Curwen Barb
330:Offspring and legacy
43:improve this article
933:Retrieved 2010-4-17
523:Bolton Little John
518:Mare by Little John
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375:American Saddlebred
269:American Revolution
175:Turf Mare (Unnamed)
834:Berry, B. (1979).
610:Ancaster Starling
569:Ancaster Starling
535:Sister to Hyacinth
528:Durham's Favorite
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180:Maternal grandsire
836:The Standardbreds
708:978-1-61423-629-0
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593:Godolphin Arabian
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490:Mare by Cade
472:Mare by Hip
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367:Standardbred
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336:Pennsylvania
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258:Thoroughbred
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148:Thoroughbred
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41:Please help
36:verification
33:
877:"Messenger"
623:Note: b. =
395:Gallant Fox
300:Henry Astor
1046:Categories
1001:2023-01-01
977:2022-12-31
953:2023-01-01
911:2023-01-01
821:2023-01-01
774:2023-01-01
745:2022-12-31
669:References
607:blk. 1753
574:Miss Romp
537:blk. 1774
520:gr. ~1741
407:Matinecock
351:racehorses
344:New Jersey
287:in 1780.
69:newspapers
930:Messenger
627:, blk. =
588:ch. 1739
501:br. 1734
492:gr. 1751
459:br. 1755
454:gr. 1763
413:in 1964.
399:Joe Young
391:Man O War
387:Equipoise
383:Whirlaway
251:Messenger
164:Grandsire
124:Messenger
657:See also
640:, gr. =
638:Chestnut
636:, ch. =
631:, br. =
581:b. 1761
549:b. 1748
542:b. 1760
457:Engineer
451:Mambrino
433:Mambrino
420:Pedigree
340:New York
279:Breeding
261:stallion
192:Stallion
167:Engineer
158:Mambrino
886:Jul 11,
585:Regulus
546:Matchem
513:Roxana
462:Sampson
359:Eclipse
255:English
239:Breeder
221:Country
203: (
83:scholar
860:
705:
650:inbred
467:Blaze
426:Diomed
393:, and
377:, and
363:Diomed
198:Foaled
85:
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71:
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633:Brown
629:Black
464:1745
312:hands
229:Color
144:Breed
90:JSTOR
76:books
888:2020
858:ISBN
703:ISBN
642:Gray
554:Cade
540:Turf
497:Cade
448:Sire
439:.
342:and
233:Gray
213:Died
205:1780
201:1780
183:Turf
154:Sire
62:news
625:Bay
533:Dam
188:Sex
172:Dam
45:by
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