32 Making the American Thoroughbred 



On other occasions he frequently rose on his hind feet 

 and walked twenty or thirty yards. 



FEARNOUGHT, prior to the day of Medley, was the most 

 famous of all the stallions in Virginia. He was foaled in 

 1755, the property of William Warren of England; his 

 sire was Regulus, his dam Silvertail who had the blood of 

 Darley's Arabian, Gresley's Arabian, the Helmsly Turk 

 and a Royal Barb mare. 



Fearnought was imported by Col. John Baylor, of 

 Virginia, and first stood as a stallion in 1765. He was a 

 bright bay, 15 hands one inch high. All his descendants 

 ran well and his sons and grandsons were noted for the 

 excellence of their get. He died in 1776. Of his numerous 

 offspring were: Apollo, out of an imported CuIIen Arabian 

 mare; Dandridge's Fearnought; Harris* Eclipse, out of 

 Baylor's imported Shakespeare mare; King Herod, out 

 of an Othello; Matchless, out of a Sober John; Regulus, 

 out of imp Jenny Dismal by Dismal; Whynot, out of 

 an Othello, and 



SYMMES' WILDAIR, out of a Jolly Roger, and who proved 

 to be best son of old Fearnought. 



Among Wildair's get were Commutation, Highflyer 

 and Chanticleer; the last named the sire of John Ran- 

 dolph's Gracchus. 



Other distinguished stallions of Colonial Virginia were: 

 imp Justice, imp Vampire and imp Merry Tom, all by 

 Regulus; imp Juniper by Babraham; imp Ranter by 

 Dimple, dam by Crab; imp Aristotle by the CuIIen 

 Arabian; Sterling by the Belsize Arabian and Selim by 

 Othello. None of these Virginia owned horses were more 

 than 15 \ hands in height. In their day Virginia was 

 famed for her saddle horses. 1 



1 To prove that the important thing in a horse was to have a well 

 organized frame, with plenty of sinew, rather than sheer height and 



