Note 7 — CHAPTER SEVEN THE CLAY AND CLAY-ARABIAN

It has been said that the Star mare, the dam of Dexter, was served both by Rysdyk’s Hambletonian and Harry Clay the spring before Dexter’s birth, and that it is more likely that Harry Clay was the sire of Dexter because of Dexter’s resemblance to the Clays rather than the Hambletonians, and also because of his stoutness of heart. As Dexter was a gelding and incapable of leaving progeny this question is more interesting than important. I have no opinion in the matter, but as I am convinced of the general inaccuracy of the records of the day, I am not at all prepared to believe that Dexter’s pedigree as put in the books is accurate. About the time he became famous the Hambletonian party was numerous and powerful and by no means scrupulous in claiming everything in sight.

The dam of the trotting stallion George Wilkes was also said to be by Henry Clay. The Hambletonian advocates—George Wilkes was sired by Hambletonian—were so bitter in their opposition to the Clay blood, that they refused to accept this and preferred that the breeding of George Wilkes’ dam should be set down as unknown. I have read a good deal that has been written on the subject and can only say that the statements pro and con are equally unconvincing and only illustrate over again the utter untrustworthiness of the early records, together with the partizan discourtesy of the disputants.