THE THOROUGHBRED IN AMERICA 53 



with them was a matter of course. And arriving 

 there they found that the native blue grass, which 

 grew plentifully even in the woods, was past- 

 urage upon which horses flourished mightily. 

 The advertisements in the Kentucky Gazette from 

 1787 to 1805 show that there were many Thor- 

 oughbred stallions standing in the neighborhood 

 of Lexington during those years, and not a few 

 of them were imported from England, the others 

 coming from Virginia, the noble pedigrees being 

 printed at full length, with references nearly al- 

 ways to the Newmarket Racing Calendar to sub- 

 stantiate the turf performances of the sires adver- 

 tised. So Kentucky was prepared with stock of her 

 own to take the place of the Virginia horse breed- 

 ers when the wasteful methods of agriculture, and 

 the costly habits of hospitality, had impoverished 

 the mother State and made racing a sport too ex- 

 pensive for the depleted purses of the gentlemen 

 who stayed at home. The Sir Archy blood was 

 what the Kentuckians seem to have been after, 

 and soon there was more of it in Kentucky than in 

 Virginia. Some six of Sir Archy's sons stood in 

 the neighborhood of Lexington at one time, and 



