Mr. Mark Flanagan:

They are standardbred. The standardbred came from the thoroughbred. Messenger was one of the founding members of the thoroughbred, and all standardbreds can be traced back to the line through his son, Hambletonian. The only difference is the French trotter, which is 80% French trotter and 20% standardbred. All the DNA goes back to Hambletonian, which was a son of Messenger, which is one of the six founders of the-----