14 



delicate little creature, but every day he grew more and 

 more beautiful. There were no such lithe and sinewy limbs 

 on any of the yearlings of the stable. There was no such 

 gracefulness in every movement, and the attention of every- 

 body was directed toward the offspring of the despised 

 Arabian sire. At length he was trained and put into a race. 

 His owner thought he was a beautiful creature, but he had 

 no great hopes for him. But when he ran away from every 

 thing in the race and won from the best stock of old England 

 he became deeply interested. Race after race was won, and 

 there soon came a time when this colt was considered the 

 mightiest race horse that ever looked through a bridle. His 

 name was Lath and his fame was widespread. Inquiries as 

 to his breeding began to be made. 



Then, for the first time, it occurred to Lord Godolphin 

 that he had on his barren estate in Scotland probably the 

 greatest sire ever known. He sent a special ambulance by 

 a long and tortuous route into the Highlands, where the faith- 

 ful groom and his charge were quartered, and they returned to 

 the castle of the Godolphins in almost regal splendor. After 

 that Godolphin the Arabian grew and increased in fame 

 until a horse that did not have a strain of his blood in him 

 was not considered a race horse at all. He so far over- 

 shadowed the other Arabians of his time that they became 

 considered but of mediocre quality. 



The blood of this mighty horse courses through the 

 veins of all the best stock of America to-day and is the purest 

 of the line that leads to the purple. One might go over the 

 pedigrees of all the horses that are gaining distinction on the 

 turf to-day and find that they finally lead back to the blind 

 steed of the desert. He combined speed, endurance and 

 gentleness in his makeup, all the essential points in a first- 

 class thoroughbred. 



The sportsmen of America were quick to see that this 

 was a great horse, and it was not long until several of his 

 sons and daughters found their way across the ocean and 

 were quartered in the stables of the planters of the New 

 World. Here they thrived and produced a race that inherited 

 all the best traits of the illustrious sire. 



The Byerly Turk was taken from France to England 

 in about 1688 and was the founder of the famous Herod line. 



