106 THE GODOLPHIN BARB 



feated horse Bucephalus, belonging to Mr. Wentworth. 

 Two days afterwards he distanced a very good horse 

 named Pensioner, belonging to a Mr. Strode ; and in 

 the following August he won the great Subscription 

 Stakes at York. No horse could be found to run 

 against him, so he was allowed to walk over for the 

 King's Plate at Newmarket in October, 1770. He 

 was never beaten and never paid forfeit, and won 

 ^20,000 for his owner. 



As a stallion, he got the enormous number of 354 

 winners, which netted for their owners more than a 

 hundred and sixty thousand pounds, exclusive of plates 

 and cups. He died in 1789 at the age of twenty-five 

 years. 



The celebrated Godolphin Barb, the property of 

 Lord Godolphin, was picked up in France, where he 

 was drawing a cart. A son of his, named Lath, turning 

 out a marvellously good horse, brought him into great 

 request. He, though a Barb, was called an Arab, and 

 as a sire for the getting of thoroughbred stock was 

 preferred to the Darley Arabian. 



It is stated that the most curious affection existed 

 between this horse and a cat, which was always 

 either nestled on his back or somewhere near him. 

 When he died in 1753, being then twenty-nine years 

 old, the cat refused to eat, and pined away and died 

 from sheer grief. 



A somewhat similar story is recounted by a Mr. 

 Holcroft, who mentions a racehorse which was so fond 

 of a cat, that it would pick it up with its mouth 

 without hurting it and place it on its back. 



As regards our own original British breed of horses, 

 no account is extant prior to the Roman invasion. 



