

'The Origin of the Thoroughbred 21 



three are now in existence those of the Darley Arabian, Byerly Turk and Godolphin 

 Arabian, claimed by many to have been a Barb, but I was never a believer in that 

 theory. I have not given a complete list of these Oriental stallions as I consider them 

 to have been sufficiently exploited in the works of Mr. Joseph Osborne (Beacon) and 

 Col. Sanders D. Bruce, the latter having enlarged upon them more fully than did Mr. 

 Osborne ; and to such readers as may desire their amplification I refer their works. 

 My book is to be more modern, if it can possibly be made so, and I have no time to 

 thresh over old straw. The reader of today is desirous of becoming more familiar 

 with the horses of today and few men are constituted mentally to become devout stu- 

 dents of ancient history. 



This becomes more evident as you converse with the younger classes of race-goers, 

 many of whom can tell you, to a fraction of a second, how fast Highball covered 

 Washington Park in the American Derby ; or whether the track was fast under foot 

 or muddy when Gold Heels won the Suburban, or when Irish Lad lugged .off the 

 Brooklyn Handicap. They can give you the names of the three placed horses in all 

 the more important annual American events, together with the weights carried, and 

 the sire and dam of each winner. But the grandsires and granddams, as well as the 

 cardinal lines to which they owe their origin, are "All Greek" to them. The reader 

 can therefore judge for himself why I have not expanded upon the Oriental importa- 

 tions of stallions into England up to the coronation of the first of the Hanoverian 

 Kings. The present generation cares but little for the history of honored antiques, es- 

 pecially for horses like Catton, Muley and Emilius (great ones in their respective eras, 

 to be sure), whose male lines have become wholly extinct. Emilius was the greatest 

 sire of England from 1832 to 1848, but his last male line descendant died in Eastern 

 Oregon a year or two ago. His name was Villard and he was by Lodi out of Rosa 

 Mansfield by Rivoli, son of Revenue. The fact that the lines of the Darley Arabian, 

 the Byerly Turk and the Godolphin have survived all others is the best proof of their 

 fitness. The more modern exponents of these great Oriental sires, are Eclipse, 

 foaled 1764, as the examplar of the Darley Arabian; Herod, foaled in 1758, of the 

 Byerly Turk; and Matchem, foaled 1748, of the Godolphin. It is easily seen why the 

 two first named should have outbred the last, for Matchem was sixteen years older 

 than Eclipse, for which reason he could have covered but few daughters of Herod and 

 none at all of Eclipse. The modern horse showed a superiority for Herod's line in 

 the two first generations for, as much scientific breeding as we have since done, Sir 

 Peter, foaled in 1784, is the only stallion in history to get four winners each of the 

 Derby and St. Leger, and two of the Oaks. Waxy, an Eclipse horse, foaled in 1790, is 

 the only other stallion in history to get four Derby winners and he never got one of 

 the St. Leger. After 1810 the Eclipse blood began to assert its superiority and it has 

 been in the stud as on the turf, "Eclipse first and the rest nowhere." No Herod horse 

 has won a Derby since 1879, nor a St. Leger since 1883. 



The Godolphin Arabian, the most noted of all the Eastern sires in his own day 

 and generation, was a dark bay horse, almost brown, and believed (from his teeth) 

 to have been foaled in 1724. It is said that he was rescued by a benevolent Quaker 

 from the cruelty of a drayman in the streets of Paris by purchasing him and sending 

 him over to England, where he became the property of a Mr. Coke, who then pre- 

 sented him to one Williams, keeper of a Coffee-House in London. Some claim that 

 he was a Barb but the Arabian groom who attended him all the time he was at Lord 

 Godolphin's stud (Gog Magog) said he had known the horse in Arabia, where he was 

 known as "Zenada" and sometimes called "Scham" (meaning the chief) by way of 1 

 compliment. Lord Godolphin made him a teaser to his stallion Hobgoblin, who was by 

 Aleppo (son of the Darley' Arabian) out of Mr. Brewster's "Old Hautboy" mare, 

 foaled about 1730. On Hobgoblin's refusal to cover Roxana (by the Bald Galloway) 

 the Arab groom let "Zenada" cover her and no further intercourse was necessary for, 



