M INFLUENCE OF THE TURF 



when a Mr. Markham, a London merchant, 

 imported an Arab stallion from Constanti- 

 nople, which he sold to the king for £150, 

 a large sum for those days. The Duke of 

 Newcastle, considered the best judge of a 

 horse at the time, describes it as a " little 

 horse, of a bay colour and no rarity of 

 shape." He proved a great disappointment, 

 neither he nor his progeny being fast enough 

 to race. Matters more absorbing than horse- 

 breeding now supervened to engage the 

 attention of the Stuart kings, and nothing 

 more was done until the Protectorate, when 

 Mr. Place, who was stud-groom to Oliver 

 Cromwell, introduced an Eastern horse, which 

 appears in the stud book as Place's White 

 Tu7'k, but history records no more of him. 



A real start was made, however, a few 

 years later, when Charles II. imported four 

 Barb mares from Tangiers. These Royal 

 Mares, as they were called, crossed with 

 horses belonging to the Duke of Buck- 



