STUD BOOK. 47 



"Having indulged in a few preliminary canters" with 

 the coursers of the earlier ages, to the era of James IT., we 

 wih 1 now draw near to the starting-post, from which we can 

 gain more extensive and authentic information concerning 

 pedigrees and performances, and thereby more satisfacto- 

 rily trace the progress which has been made in racing, and 

 breeding for that purpose. William HL, endowed with an 

 ardent desire to gain popularity by patronizing the tastes 

 and fashions of his people, became a decided patron of 

 racing. 



The principal ancestors of our earliest race-horses were the 

 Byerley Turk, ridden by Captain Byerley, as a charger, in 

 Ireland, about the year 1689. The Darley Arabian, in force 

 about 1712. Curwen's Barb, a contemporary; and the Godol- 

 phin Arabian, which celebrated sire died in the year 1753, 

 supposed to be in his twenty-ninth year. It is a moot point 

 whether he was an Arabian or a Barb, but, however doubtful 

 the land of his birth, it is an unquestionable fact that there 

 are very few horses of distinction without a cross of the 

 Godolphin Arabian: to him and the royal mares the highest 

 honors are due. 



As it is evident that our thorough-bred horses owe their 

 descent principally from Arabian, or other Eastern ancestors, 

 Barbs, or Turks, in theory it would appear that parents of 

 the same blood would produce stock of the highest value, 

 and the opinion has been very earnestly expressed that the 

 introduction of Arabian sires is absolutely required to infuse 

 vigor, constitution, stoutness, and endurance into the race- 

 horses of the present day. Practical experience confutes the 

 argument, and the reasons will become quite obvious when 

 the invariable unsuccessful examples of modern times are 

 brought forward. During the present century several Ara- 

 bians have been imported for the purpose of breeding, and their 

 stock has been found worthless compared with that which, 

 in the course of years, has become, so to speak, indigenous to 

 the country. With the exception of one mare called Fair 

 Ellen, an offspring of the Wenesley Arabian, none have evin- 

 ced even common pretensions to racing superiority; and here 

 it must be observed, that although the last-named horse came 

 from the East, his Arabian ancestry, like that of many others, 

 is disputed. Within the last twenty years several horses, 

 stated to have been of the pure blood of the desert, have 

 been brought to England and started for various races, but 

 they have been invariably beaten, although the leveling 

 power in turf calculations, a vast concession of weight has, 



