114 THE BREEDS OF LIV E-STOCK 
importation of one stallion and six mares into Virginia 
from England. Dutch horses arrived at New Netherlands 
in 1625, and in 1629 the first horses (Thoroughbreds) to in- 
habit New England arrived at Boston from England. As 
early as 1678, there ranged over parts of the Mississippi 
valley vast bands of wild horses, the descendants of those 
escaped or liberated from early conquests and expeditions. 
In view of the character of the early settlers of Virginia, 
New York and New England, respectively, it is not strange 
that the cradle of the Thoroughbred in America should 
have been in Virginia. Horse-racing was not consistent 
with the Puritan traditions of New Englanders, and the 
Dutchman’s horse in New York was essentially a beast of 
burden. It remained, therefore, for the cavaliers of 
Virginia, North Carolina and Maryland to become sponsors 
for this horse, which was later to play such an important 
part in American sporting and industrial progress. 
The first race horse imported to America is thought to 
have been Bulle Rock, son of the Darley Arabian, brought 
into Virginia in 1730. The first racing organization of 
which we have record was formed in 1760 at Charleston, 
South Carolina. Subsequently there were brought over 
many of England’s best horses, the most notable of which 
was Diomed, winner of the first English Derby. This 
horse, imported when twenty-one vears old, in 1798, by 
Colonel Hoomes, much against the advice of his counselors, 
is regarded as the real progenitor of the American race 
horse. In a regular line of descent from him come Sir 
Archy, the first truly American Thoroughbred; Boston, 
his grandson, conceded to have been the greatest American 
race horse; and, in turn, his son, Lexington, a scarcely 
less remarkable performer than Boston, and a most. in- 
fluential sire, especially through the female line, in the 
