2O T'he American "Thoroughbred 



horse and fit to go into a class with Sir Bevys, Amato, Merry Hampton and Phos- 

 phorus. All the rest have been a case of "Eclipse first and the rest nowhere." Yet 

 the man who reviews the pedigree of Eclipse and that of his most distinguished great- 

 grandsons, Whalebone, Whisker and Woful (full brothers) will find that the Godolphin 

 Arabian is nearly four times as prominent a factor in those three great brothers as 

 was the Darley Arabian ; and the same is true, but in a much smaller degree, of 

 Eclipse himself. My own idea of the three great cardinal lines has always been, Eclipse 

 for speed, Herod for quality and Matchem for substance. 



In 1715 Mr. Childers had a favorite mare called Betty Leedes, by Careless, which 

 he mated with the Darley Arabian, the produce being the horse called Flying Childers 

 or sometimes "Devonshire Childers." This was by long odds the fastest horse seen on 

 the British turf up to that time. In the following year she was mated with him 

 again and produced "Bartlett's Childers," which was never trained, but proved to be 

 the best sire of any of his get. Bartlett's Childers got Squirt (foaled 1732) from a sister 

 to Old Country Wench by Snake. Squirt got Marske (foaled 1750) from a daughter of 

 Blacklegs (foaled 1725) and Marske got Eclipse (foaled 1764) from Spiletta (1749) 

 by Regulus (1739) he by the Godolphin Arabian. Eclipse's tabulation will be found 

 complete in the chapter headed the "Three Cardinal Lines." 



Nearly contemporaneous with the importation of the Darley Arabian, was that 

 of the horse known as the Leedes Arabian, purchased from his importer by Mr. Leedes, 

 of North Milford in Yorkshire, who was the breeder of Tartar, Careless and other 

 good ones. This horse got many good ones but the best were Dyers' Dimple and 

 Leedes, the latter's dam being by Spanker and of a Morocco Barb mare, she being also 

 the dam of Charming Jenny, who produced Betty Leedes, she being the dam of Flying 

 Childers and Bartlett's Childers. Queen Anne had an enormous breeding establish- 

 ment at Hampton Court and was herself a great patron of racing but no official racing 

 record was published in those days. In 1714, a great racing meeting was being held 

 at the Rawcliffe Ings, on the bank of the river Ouse, near York; and Orton, in his 

 chronicles of that day, states that one hundred and fifty-six carriages were on the 

 ground, filled largely with representatives of the nobility. There were two races run 

 that day, both at four-mile heats, one a plate of 40 for aged horses, won by Her 

 Majesty's b. h. Star, he taking the third and fourth heats from Hon. Mr. Cecil's ch. h. 

 Creeper, who won the second, and the Lord Chamberlain's Merlin, who won the first. 

 The other race was also run in four heats and was for a gold cup of 100 value, the 

 gift of Her Majesty. It was won by Mr. Childers' bay mare Duchess, ridden by R. 

 Hesseltine, she taking the first and fourth heats. Mr. Pierson's bay horse Foxhunter 

 won the second, and the third heat was decided, on account of some bad riding, to have 

 been "no heat" and the horses were ordered to run again. The races were barely con- 

 cluded when a messenger arrived at the course with the unwelcome news that Her 

 Majesty was dead; and that the privy council had declared Prince George, of Hanover, 

 as the nearest rightful heir to the vacant throne and had proclaimed him King of 

 England under the title of George I. 



Queen Anne did more towards fostering the breeding interests of England than 

 all other British sovereigns combined, as during her reign, were imported twenty-four 

 Oriental horses, consisting of nine Arabians-, eight Barbs, six Turks and one Persian 

 horse. The total number of importations, since the beginning was ninety Arabians, 

 forty-six Barbs, thirty-two Turks, four Persians and two "foreign horses'' whose 

 origin could not be well authenticated, one being owned by Sir Thomas Gascoigne and 

 the other by Sir W. Goring, and are always alluded to as such, in pedigrees wherein 

 they may occur. In all, up to the accession of George I, the first of the Hanoverian 

 dynasty that ended with Victoria, the only bright spot in the Hanoverian reign, there 

 had been brought into England a total of 174 importations, of which the Arabians 

 comprised over 50 per cent. Of these 174 horses, so imported, the male lines of only 



