THE INTERNATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE HORSE


The Legacy of the Horse

Chapter Three

A Chronological History of Humans and Their Relationship With the Horse


Table of Contents

1680 - 1840
Racing in England - The Demise of the English Stage Coach






ORIGINS OF THE B BLOODED HORSE

Queen Anne Helps Establish the Thoroughbred, 1702 - 1714

Few monarchs could rival the enthusiasm for horsemanship of England's Queen Anne. During her reign from 1702 to 1714, she frequently hunted from horseback and gained the title of "the mightiest huntress of her age." When ill health prevented her from riding her horses any longer, she followed her hounds through Windsor Forest in a carriage, dashing down drives cut through the forest at her command. Queen Anne kept the Royal Foxhounds at Ascot, and in 1711 she also ordered that a race track be laid out there, Ascot remains to this day one of the most prestigious tracks in the world. She personally kept a stable of racehorses and instituted races for trophies. Queen Anne's encouragement of racing undoubtedly acted as an incentive for better breeding; and during her reign the Darley Arabian was imported to England. In fact, in 1704, Sheik Mirza II allegedly sent Queen Anne a letter complaining that British sailors had "foully stolen" the sheik's prize horse. (Actually, Mr. Darley had paid for the horse and the sheik was reluctant to hand over the animal.) Queen Anne's reign was short, but influence on horse racing and equine sports endured long after her death.



The Thoroughbred Foundation Stallions

The Byerly Turk

At the siege of Buda, Captain Byerley captured a horse from the Turks which would carry his name into history. The horse became known as the Byerley Turk and was the first of the three foundation stallions to come to Britain. Reputedly ridden at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690 by Captain Byerley, this horse distinguished himself as a sire although he was not bred to many mares. In spite of his name, he was probably an Arab. The Byerley Turk founded a line of Thoroughbreds, the most distinguished of which was Herod, who was foaled in 1758, and proved to be a very successful sire himself.

The Darley Arabian

The second of the three foundation stallions to be imported to England was the Darley Arabian. He was foaled in 1700 and bought by Thomas Darley in Aleppo (Syria) in 1704. The horse was shipped to Yorkshire, England where he was bred to numerous mares. The most successful matings were with Betty Leeds, which resulted in two very important colts: Flying Childers and Bartlet's Childers. Through the Childers line, the Darley Arabian was the great-great-grandsire of Eclipse who gained the description "Eclipse first, the rest nowhere." The Darley Arabian is the most important of the three foundation stallions in terms on his influence of the Thoroughbred breed.

The Godolphin Arabian

The last of the foundation stallions to come to England was a horse foaled in Yemen. After being shipped to Syria and then to Tunis, he was given to the King of France as a gift. One story tells of the horse pulling a lowly water cart in Paris. The cart horse was admired and bought by an Englishman named Edward Coke, who brought him to England. The second Earl of Godolphin acquired the horse and bred him to several distinguished mares. Mated to Roxana, he sired Lath, the greatest racehorse in England after Flying Childers: and another mating of these two produced Cade, the sire of the great Matchem who carried on the line of the Godolphin Arabian. In 1850 it was remarked that "the blood of the Godolphin Arabian is in every stable in England."



The Off-spring of the Foundation Stallions

Keeping in mind the fact that the foundation stallions were Oriental horses, it should be noted that the descendants of these sires were the first actual Thoroughbreds. They were the progenitors of the breed as we know it today. The foundation sires stand at the beginning of the Thoroughbred bloodline, but a number of generations were required to create horses which could consistently pass on the distinguishing characteristics of the Thoroughbred horse. Out of some 200 Oriental horses imported to England between 1660 and 1750, only the direct descendants of these three foundation stallions contributed to the breed's greatness.

Herod

The offspring which fixed the influence of the Byerley Turk as a foundation sire was named Herod who was foaled in 1758. He was owned by the Duke of Cumberland, the third son of King George II, who was an important breeder of horses at Newmarket and in Hanover. Although Herod was not an outstanding racehorse, he did prove to be a superlative sire. His descendants were extremely important in the development of the Thoroughbred throughout Europe and America. Among the most notable descendants of Herod were Diomed (winner of the first Epsom Derby in 1780), Sir Archie, the Flying Dutchman, and Epinard.

Eclipse

1764 was the year of a great eclipse and this astronomical event became the name of the horse who was a star in the history of the Thoroughbred. Eclipse, as we know him, was by Marske out of Spiletta and was bred for the Duke of Cumberland. He began racing in 1769 at age five, when he ran away from his competition in his first race at Epsom. It was at this race that the famous Denis O'Kelly remarked, "Eclipse first, the rest nowhere." Eclipse won 18 races in his career-and he was never whipped or spurred. He went on to a distinguished career at stud, siring Pot-8-O's who passed on his influence to such descendants as American Eclipse, Hyperion, Kelso, and Sea Bird. The list of Eclipse's distinguished descendants is virtually endless, and he is the reason for the predominance of the Darley Arabian line over the lines of the other two foundation stallions.

Matchem

Most racehorses are noted for their speed, but the speed often comes at the price of an excitable temperament, and even viciousness. The horse Matchem foaled in 1748 was the grandson of the Godolphin Arabian. Besides speed, he supplied an excellent disposition to his descendants. The horse Snap was compared to the gentle Matchem: "Snap for speed and Matchem for truth and daylight." (Snap was a grandson of the Darley Arabian.) When we consider Matchem's blood heirs, we find many even-tempered yet fast horses. Matchem's influence was not as widespread as his famous peers, but his offspring had a particular influence on American horses. Ten of Matchem's descendants were brought to America by the owner's son, Edward Fenwick, who emigrated to South Carolina in 1755. Brutus, one of Matchem's sons, dominated racing in South Carolina for some time.



First Steeplechase - 1752

As British agricultural land was enclosed in the eighteenth century, hunters had to learn to jump hedges, stone walls, and post and rail fences. Faster horses and faster hounds were also being bred at this time, which led to argument over the horses' abilities. To prove the owners' boasts, race matches were run across country. The first recorded match was in Ireland in 1752, when Mr. O'Callaghan raced Mr. Blake from Buttervent Church to St. Leger Church. Church steeples were prominent landmarks so matches were frequently from one Church to another and came to be called steeplechases. The first recorded race over a prepared steeplechase course with made-up fences was at Bedlam, England, in 1810. In 1837, the Grand National Steeplechase was established at Liverpool, England, and owners began to use professional jockeys.



The Fox Hunt

The sport of fox hunting in America can be traced back to 1650 when Colonel Robert Brooke brought hounds to Maryland from England. The sport grew to enjoy a great popularity in colonial times. Many of the founding fathers were avid foxhunters. George Washington, who hunted from the age of 16, kept a splendid pack of hounds and blooded hunters for the chase. It is recorded that Thomas Jefferson was as eager after fox hunting as Washington, himself. Although fox hunting has been pursued in virtually every region of America, it gained its greatest popularity in the middle-south, which maintained many of the traditions of aristocratic England and which had land favorable to the chase. A Kentuckian wrote in 1852: "Fox hunting in the middle and southern states is quite as much a subject of enthusiasm as it has been in England..." Among the most famous hunts in America, the Iroquois Hunt in Kentucky ranks as one of the finest. Founded in 1880 by Roger D. Williams, it is named after the first American horse to win the Epson Derby in England, Pierre Lorillard's Iroquois. The "Bluegrass" region of Kentucky offers particularly favorable land for fox hunting due to its fine turf and the absence of wire fencing, the anathema to fox hunters.



Colonial Travel in America

Before the construction of improved roads in the American colonies, both people and goods moved by horseback, because carriages and wagons could not negotiate primitive paths. Even travel in towns was difficult, as demonstrated by the fact that in 1761, Philadelphia - a major center of population and wealth - contained only 38 carriages. It was customary for travelers in colonial times to buy a horse at the beginning of their journey and then sell it once they reached their destination. One real difficulty of colonial travel was the limited amount of goods which could be carried on a pack horse. At most, a pack horse could carry only 200 pounds over a long distance, and therefore, individuals moving from one place to another were seriously limited in what they could bring with them. The inconvenience involved in travel by horseback added to the slow settlement of America's interior. It was difficult to carry even necessary goods over such rough paths. Once roads were constructed, westward expansion soon commenced in great earnestness.



Horses Were Crucial in Creating an Independent America

The rebel colonists used their own horses in the war, but the British had to steal theirs since it was very difficult to ship horses across the rough Atlantic from England. The British were particular about the horses they stole, too. One British commanding officer reported that his cavalry troop of some 400 men were, for the most part, mounted on "blooded horses which were quite uniformly kept by gentlemen in Virginia." Since the British fought in a formal European manner, the success of the outnumbered Revolutionaries depended on swift "hit and run" tactics. The horse provided the means of surprise, and cavalry forces under the command of men such as "Light Horse" Harry Lee and Francis Marion, "the Swamp Fox," contributed greatly to the Colonists' victory. At the Battle of Cowpens, for instance, the colonial cavalry cut off the British retreat and only 50 of the original British force of 500 escaped. Since horses represented a military advantage, the British were not kind to captured colonial horses. Reports show that the helpless horses were frequently shot or drowned in rivers to ensure that they would not again fall into the hands of the Patriots. Most historians agree that if the colonists had not had the fast-striking cavalry, the Revolution would have dragged on, perhaps ending in disaster and dashing the hopes for an independent America.

April 18, 1775 - Paul Revere's Walk

Few events in the history of America have received more attention than the famous ride of Paul Revere on the night of April 18, 1775. Certainly this ride also deserves a place in the history of the horse. Revere was dispatched to warn the Minutemen that British troops were coming to seize their stores of arms in Concord. Revere's mount was probably a Narragansett Pacer mare, borrowed from Deacon Larkin of Charlestown. Most of us have visions of Revere galloping through the countryside summoning sleeping villagers from their beds. But by Revere's own account, his ride really amounted to a walk and only occasionally did he spur on his horse. In fact, Revere and Samuel Dawes, another messenger, never reached Concord. They were captured by British sentries on the road to Concord and had their horses commandeered. Ironically, Dawes was captured after falling off his horse. They were told by the sentries to "hoof it" back to Lexington on their own. Luckily for the revolutionaries, Dr. Samuel Prescott - with whom Revere and Dawes were riding quite by accident - rushed on to tell the Minutemen of the oncoming British troops.

George Washington's Horse "Nelson," Hunter and Hero

Most portraits of George Washington show him majestically mounted on a brilliant white charger. But in fact, Washington's favorite mount was a chestnut hunter named Nelson who was a gift from the Governor of Virginia, Thomas Nelson, Jr. Washington rode Nelson to fox hunts for ten years before the Revolution and took his horse with him on his many campaigns during the war. Some of General Washington's other mounts died from exhaustion carrying him through furious battles. But Nelson survived the rigors of near-starvation at Valley Forge and relentless marches from Boston to the Carolinas. During Washington's term as first U.S. President, Nelson remained his favored horse. He too remained "first in war, first in peace..." - if not first in the memory of history.

June 1781 - Prince Charlie Foils King George's Men

Thoroughbred hunters are noted for speed and endurance. But few hunters could have matched the courage of the horse named Prince Charlie, ridden by Captain Jack Jouett of the Virginia Militia during the Revolution. In what one authority calls "probably...the most difficult feat of horsemanship known to history," Prince Charlie and Captain Jouett saved Thomas Jefferson from capture by the British! At a Virginia tavern in June, 1781, Jouett secretly overheard a British officer discussing a shocking plan. He and his cavalrymen intended to ride the 60 miles to Monticello to capture the Virginia Governor, Thomas Jefferson. As the British force set out on their mission, Captain Jouett proceeded cross-country to Monticello to warn Jefferson. Jouett and Prince Charlie traveled over very tough terrain and the dark night made their ride doubly dangerous. After crashing through dense forest, crossing ditches and fences, and falling twice, they covered the 60 demanding miles in time. Jouett awakened Jefferson, who took to the woods and eluded capture. Captain Jouett forever carried the scars, but he and Prince Charlie joined the gallery of American Revolutionary heroes.




THE THOROUGHBRED HORSE IN AMERICA

America's First Race Course - 1668

The New York Governor Laid Out America's First Race Course on Long Island

Only one year after the English captured New Amsterdam from the Dutch, the first English governor of New York laid out the first formal race course in America. The new race course was constructed two miles long on Salisbury Plain (later known as Hempstead Plain) on Long Island. In contrast to the dense virgin forest which covered most of the eastern seaboard, Salisbury Plain offered a tract of grass four miles wide and sixteen miles long. Governor Nicolls explained that the purpose of the race course was "not so much for the divertissement of youth as for encouraging the bettering of the breed of horses which through great neglect has been impaired." To induce competition in the importing and careful breeding of horses, Nicolls offered trophies at the spring and fall meetings.



Racing Reached Great Popularity by the 1700s

The population of Williamsburg, Virginia tripled during race week. Students at the College of William and Mary were prohibited from keeping race horses "under Pain of ye severest Animadversion and Punishment." Even the small colony of Maryland maintained some 20 racing centers before the Revolution. At the beginning of the Revolution, colonists were admonished to turn their attention from horse racing and to the matter of America's political future.



In the 1700s, Virginia Emerged as the Pre-eminent Horse Breeding Area

In 1765, a British officer noted that "there are established races annually at almost every town and considerable place in Virginia...Very capital horses are started here, such as would make no despicable figure at Newmarket." To supply the horses demanded for quality racing, a breeding industry steadily grew in Virginia. By the time of the Revolution, there were 27 important stud farms in the vicinity of the James, York, Rappahanock, and Potomac rivers.



The 1700s Culminated in the Establishment of an Independent American Breed of Blood Horse

In the years following the Revolutionary War, the United States became independent in the world of horse breeding as well as in politics. The improvement of the Thoroughbred breed progressed with cross fertilization of American and English stock, but American Thoroughbreds demonstrated such excellence that they came to hold a central position in the history of the Thoroughbred breed.

The Mount Airy Stud Farm of Virginia

The estate built by John Tayloe II, in 1747, and later maintained by his son, John Tayloe III, was among the outstanding stud farms of colonial Virginia. The Tayloes owned and raced such important horses as Childers, who was imported in 1751 and proved to be a sire of great mares. Childers returned to racing after six seasons at stud. At the ripe old age of 13, he carried 180 pounds, and finished a five-mile race in 12 minutes 27 seconds to win 500 pounds. Another Mount Airy horse was Leviathan, who was the first champion gelding in American turf history, winning 23 consecutive races. In 1802, he conceded 70 pounds to an opponent, yet won a five-mile "dash." The younger Tayloe bred his imported mare, Castrinira, to the great Diomed, and the resulting foal was Sir Archie, one of the greatest sires in American Thoroughbred history. The eminence of Mount Airy is evidenced by the fact that between 1791 and 1806, the farm's 141 entries won 113 races - a fantastic record.

1798 - Diomed, The Horse Nobody Wanted

The pedigrees of American Thoroughbreds rarely can be traced before the Revolutionary War. The War haphazardly scattered horses throughout the country and their pedigrees were lost. The future of Thoroughbred blood in America was largely based upon imported stock. Among the most important horses imported after the Revolution was Diomed, foaled in 1777. He was the winner of the first Epson Derby in England in 1780. A great winner in his youth, Diomed's career later floundered. He was bought by an American, Colonel John Hoomes, in 1798. Diomed had a reputation in England as "a bad foal-getter. " But Tayloe put a number of his mares to Diomed, and he liked the results. Diomed sired some of the most famous horses in American turf history. Among them were Haynie's Maria, who beat every horse until she lost one race as a nine-year-old. Andrew Jackson declared that Haynie's Maria "can beat any thing in God's whole creation."... Diomed also sired the undefeated Ball's Florizel, Potomac, Duroc, and greatest of all, Sir Archie, who became a singularly important influence in American Thoroughbred history. He sired the line which extended to Timolean, Boston, and Lexington. When Diomed died at the age of 31, one historian reports, "...there was as much mourning over his demise as there was at the death of George Washington."



Significant American Thoroughbreds

Bulle Rock

An event of central importance in the history of American horse racing was the importation of Bulle Rock to Virginia in 1730. A son of the Darley Arabian, Bulle Rock is remembered as the first Thoroughbred to reach American shores. He was 21 years old when he arrived, and had been a successful race horse in Britain in his youth. By 1800, Bulle Rock was followed by a succession of 338 other imported equine thoroughbreds.

Monkey, Janus, and Fearnought; Pre-Revolution Imports

Of the 63 identifiable Thoroughbred imports before the Revolution, the most important were Monkey, imported in 1747 at the age of 22, who sired some 300 colts in Virginia; Janus, imported as a ten-year-old by Mordecai Booth in 1756, who had a profound influence on the Quarter Horse; and Fearnought, imported as a nine-year-old by John Baylor in 1764. Fearnought had a stud fee that was five times the amount charged for other good sires, and he was the most important Thoroughbred sire in America until Diomed was imported after the Revolution.

Sir Archie

Described as the equine "hero of heroes," one of the great native Thoroughbreds of America was Sir Archie. The horse was originally named Robert Burns, but John Tayloe, III changed his name to Sir Archie in honor of his friend who owned a half interest in the colt, Captain Archibald Randolph. William Ransom Johnson, "the Napoleon of the Turf," once owned Sir Archie and described him as "the best horse I ever saw." After no more challengers could be found, Sir Archie's racing career ended and he went to stud. In 23 years at stud, from 1810 to 1833, he sired such magnificent horses as Timolean, Sir Charles, Henry, and Lady Lightfoot. Sir Archie was also the great grandsire of Lexington. One authority claimed that Sir Archie "filled the hemisphere with his blood."

Messenger

In May of 1788, another Thoroughbred was imported from England who put his stamp on the future of American racing. This horse was Messenger, who first stood at stud in Philadelphia. After having been sold to Henry Astor of New York and later to Cornelius Van Ranst, he sired a number of superior race horses. His greatest descendant was his great-grandson, known as Rysdyk's Hambeltonian who became the foundation sire of the Standardbreds.

Messenger's Stud Poster



Early Kentucky Horse Industry

Frontier Horsemen

In 1769, Daniel Boone brought some pack horses to Kentucky on a hunting trip. These were soon stolen by the Indians. Early settlers came to Kentucky through the Cumberland Gap on foot or by horseback, since the trails were not made wide enough for wagons until 1795. Harrodsburg was settled in 1774 and Boonesborough followed in 1775, with the site of Lexington named the same year. Racing the horses which brought them to Kentucky soon became a pastime of the frontiersmen. The Shallowford race track at Harrodsburg was established in 1775, and used a portion of the straight road from there to Boonesborough as the track. In 1780, the first circular race track was established by William Whitley near his home in Lincoln County, Kentucky. A staunch supporter of the Revolution, Whitley insisted that horses race counter-clockwise, as opposed to clock-wise as was the custom in England.

October 21, 1793 - Hold Your Horses in Lexington

Horses were an important commodity in the early Lexington, Kentucky area. The 1790 Fayette County tax rolls accounted for 9,607 horses, 56 stallions, 2,522 slaves, and nine taverns. The horses were not necessarily Thoroughbreds, but it is certain that many were raced. When arguments arose among early Kentuckians, they were usually settled by a horse race. Races were usually quarter-mile dashes on straight paths or a town street. By 1791, an annual three day race meet was already an October custom in Lexington.

In 1793, street horse racing threatened Lexington's peace. Therefore, it was proclaimed by the majority of the townsmen that "jockeys racing their horses through the streets" were troublesome. The trustees issued strict orders confining racing to "the lower end of the Commons (West Water Street) where stud horses can be shown."

Breeding for Quarter Horse Racing

The first evidence of horse breeding in Kentucky is an advertisement for a horse named Pilgarlick which appeared in Bradford's "Kentucky Gazette"of February 16, 1788. The appearance of another advertisement for Darius reveals the extent of Janus's influence in the area. Of course, this also reveals that the early Kentuckians were especially interested in raising horses for quarter racing.

The First Kentucky Thoroughbreds

By 1789, a race "course" had been laid out in Lexington. A notice in the "Gazette" of August 22, 1789, announced the running of "heat" races over a distance of three miles to be run in October of that year. Races of an extended distance created a need for Thoroughbred horses. To that end, we find that in 1797 an imported English Thoroughbred named Blaze, foaled in 1786 and imported to Virginia in 1793, was standing at stud in the Bluegrass. With the growing interest in distance racing and a growing supply of Thoroughbred horses, race courses were quickly constructed throughout Kentucky. By the end of the century, there were courses in Georgetown, Danville, Bardstown, Shelbyville, Versailles, Winchester, and Maysville. The future of Kentucky's eminence as a horse breeding and racing country was obvious.

For more information on the origin of the Thoroughbred in America, visit the National Museum of Racing's exhibit, "The History of the Thoroughbred Horse in America."


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