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| History of Horse Racing, Part II |
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| The Arrival of Thoroughbreds |
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| In this section you can find the origins of thoroughbreds, the Triple Crown breed of choice. |
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| Like the Crusaders, Charles found a way to import North African horses, although instead of war he utlized marriage--to a Portuguese princess whose dowry included the city of Tangier (that's right, the city). With access to all the Barbary Coast horses he wanted, Charles purchased the North Africans' excess stallions. Charles and his mistress then became popular figures at the Newmarket races (see Part I), where Charles not only established racing rules but jockeyed his own horses. It was Charles' active involvement in racing that made it England's "Sport of Kings." |
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| By Charles' death 21 years later, a horse that was "thorough bred" for racing had developed from England's stud farms. The Royal trend continued after Charles with William III and Queen Anne. Under their throne more tracks sprouted along the English countryside, including Queen Anne's own Ascot course near Windsor Castle, which opened in 1711. Also by 1700, aristocrats and businessman had begun competing to produce pedigreed champions. Although George I, a distant German cousin who inherited Anne's throne, was unfamiliar with the country's new pastime, the place for thoroughbred horses was firmly rooted in English society. |
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| It is regarded as historical fact that all thoroughbreds trace their lineage to Barbary Stallions brought to England after 1662, when horse racing begin to prosper in England. Of these horses, who came from North Africa via France and southeastern Europe, the following three were the best: |
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- The Byerley Turk
- The Darley Arabian
- The Godolphin Arabian
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| The Byerley Turk |
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In 1668 a Captain Byerley captured a Turkish officer's horse in Hungary. After riding the stallion throughout the Battle of Buda the Captain sent the horse to stud, producing Herod and through Herod, the horse Diomed, the first winner of the Epsom Derby, a grandfather race of the Kentucky Derby. |
| The Darley Arabian |
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At twenty years younger than the Byerley Turk, the Darley Arabian nevertheless also found his way to a government official, a Thomas Darley of the North African port city of Aleppo. After Thomas sent the horse to his Yorkshire horse breeder brother, the Arabian went on to sire Bartlett's Childers, who sired the horse Squirt, who begot Marske, the sire of the famous Eclipse, for whom the Horse of the Year award of today is named after. Another son of Bartlett's Childers was Bulle Rock, the first thoroughbred shipped to colonial Virginia. |
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| The Godolphin Arabian |
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Foaled in Yemen around 1724, the Godolphin Arabian was then exported via Syria to Tunis, then sent to Louis XV of France, whose royal stable master rejected him. There is a long romantic tale surrounding the Godolphin, but for our purposes only the following is relevant. The Godolphin was purchased by Edward Coke of Derbyshire, who brought him to England. He was sold again, this time to the Earl of Godolphin for whom he is named. Beyond the folklore surrounding the horse is what remains as the last great names of the Godolphin line, two of the most amazing horses ever: the legendary Man o' War, and Man o' War's son, War Admiral, who won both the Kentucky Derby and Triple Crown in 1937. Finally, a link from the history of Arabian stallions to the Kentucky Derby! |
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| Although thoroughbred racing lost most of its ties to the Crown in the 1700s, one important exception remained. The three champions born between 1748 and 1764 "stamped thoroughbreds with the mark of greatness:" Matchem, from the Godolphin, Herod and Eclipse. Remarkably, the only member of the royal family active in 18th Century racing was the Duke of Cumberland, who bred both Herod and Eclipse. |
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| About the Duke of Cumberland, and the Last Step for Thoroughbreds: |
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| William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, third son of George II, became a national hero when he defeated the Scottish rebel leader Bonnie Prince Charlie at the Battle of Culloden in 1746, although he lost most of the reputation when he allowed his troops to rape and pillage Scottish villages. Forced into resigning, he retreated to horse breeding, racing his horses at the nearby Ascot course and becoming the official head of the Jockey Club. Before his disgrace, however, the explorer Dr. Thomas Walker passed through a scenic natural gap in the Appalachians where Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky meet. This area, know now as the Cumberland Gap, was the gateway into Kentucky for many settlers.
| | Eight years after Cumberland's death and two years after Eclipse began to sire crop after crop of champions, thoroughbreds reached their final stage of legitimacy. In 1773, the Jockey Club authorized James Weatherby to publish an annual calendar of racing events. Eighteen years later he produced a history of thoroughbred pedigrees--called an Introduction to a General Stud Book--that made them a breed of their own. A revised thoroughbred "Who's Who" was made in 1793, and the log has been kept up-to-date by the Weatherby family ever since.
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| Cocktails with the Sport of Kings | The Arrival of Thoroughbreds | Into the Colonies and America |
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| Foundations: Bluegrass and Lexington | The Move to Louisville |
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| Churchill's Colonel | Derby Growing Pains | The Legacy of Matt Winn | The Home Stretch: Into Modern Times |
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