Darley Arabian
The Darley Arabian was one of three dominant foundation sires of modern Thoroughbred horse racing bloodstock, the other two being the Godolphin Arabian and the Byerley Turk. This bay Arabian horse was bought in Aleppo, Syria, by Thomas Darley in 1704 and shipped back to Aldby Park in England, as a present for his brother.[1]
There he stood at stud, usually private but sometimes open to outside mares. He was Leading sire in Great Britain and Ireland in 1722. By all accounts, the Darley Arabian stood about 15 hands high and was of substantial beauty and refinement.[2]
The Darley Arabian sired the undefeated Flying Childers. He also sired Bartlett's Childers, an unraced brother of Flying Childers, who was the great-grandsire of the extremely influential Eclipse. The Darley Arabian was to become the most important sire in the history of the English Thoroughbred.[2]
In 95% of modern Thoroughbred racehorses, the Y chromosome can be traced back to this single stallion.[3]
References
- ↑ Whyte 1840, p. 79.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Ahnert, Rainer L. (editor in chief), “Thoroughbred Breeding of the World”, Pozdun Publishing, Germany, 1970
- ↑ http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7941 "95% of thoroughbreds linked to one superstud" New Scientist. 6 September 2005.
Bibliography
- Whyte, James Christie (1840). History of the British turf, from the earliest period to the present day, Volume I. London: H. Colburn. Retrieved 1 May 2013.
External links
- http://www.tbheritage.com/Portraits/DarleyArabian.html
- http://www.bloodlines.net/TB/Bios/DarleyArabian.htm
- Thoroughbred Heritage: Darley Arabian Sire Line
- Sire line for 15 generations