The Byerly Turk's Line. 35 



or to take up too much space, and I will only add, in 

 conclusion, that I think the blood of this line is more 

 valuable through the mares than through the horses. I 

 do not mean to say that individual great horses may 

 not appear as they have before, but that as the best 

 blood is on the female side, and was originally derived 

 from the female side, the horses may not be always 

 capable of handing down their own individual excellences. 

 On the other hand, the mares having so much of the 

 Darley Arabian blood in their veins put to his male 

 descendants may be most valuable. 



One great feature in this line is that it has been bred 

 up to excellence. Herod was a great landmark, if the 

 expression may be allowed ; he may almost be said to 

 have been a grand starting point, for in him the nature 

 of the Eastern blood handed down to him was raised 

 and vivified by a strong infusion of true Arabian 

 blood ; thus the character of the breed was materially 

 changed. Whether it reached its zenith in him or in his 

 great-great-grandson, Sultan, I will not pretend to say, 

 for although I think the excellence was abated for two 

 generations, it was revived in the third, and more so in 

 the fourth, which was in Sultan, but I think the greatest 

 benefit that will be derived from this line at the present 

 time and in future will be from its daughters and the 

 daughters which may come from the young sires now at 

 the stud. 



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