Thoroughbreds
QUESTION: I would like to know the story of
how Lord Darley acquired his Arabian in Aleppo.
Was he on duty there? Any source of this information
would be appreciated.
ANSWER: It appears that Lord Darley purchased
the Darley Arabian in Aleppo. From THE HISTORY
AND ROMANCE OF THE HORSE, by David Alexander,
"It was also during the reign of Anne (editor's
note: became Queen in 1702) that a man named Darley,
serving as Her Majesty's Consul for the Levant,
purchased the Arabian horse which was to be the
most prepotent of the ancient forbears of the
Thoroughbred line. He was originally known as
"Ras el Fedowi," which may be translated
as "The Headstrong One." He was a purebred
Anazah Keheilan from Nejd, the most desirable
and virtually unprocurable type of Arab horse.
He was a dark bay with a blazed face and three
white stockings and stood approximately fifteen
or 15.2 hands, according to which contemporary
report you read. The British government official
bought this animal in Aleppo. He became immortal
as the Darley Arabian. The history of his male
line ("the tail male," it is called)
is the history of ninety percent of today's racehorses."
From KNOW THE ARABIAN HORSE by Gladys Brown Edwards,
"The most famous Maneghi (editor's note:
a strain of Arabians) of all time, the Darley
Arabian was bay."
And, from the BOOK OF HORSES AND HORSE CARE,
by Judith Draper, "The Byerly Turk was captured
by Captain Byerley at Buda in the 1680s, ridden
by him at the Battle of the Boyne and sent to
England to stand at stud. His great-grandson Tartar
sired Herod, one of the most important sires in
Thoroughbred history. The Darley Arabian, foaled
in 1700, was acquired by Thomas Darley and sent
to England from the Syrian port of Aleppo. He
was responsible for founding the Eclipse line
-- Eclipse was one of the greatest racehorses
of all time. The Godolphin Arabian was foaled
in Yemen in 1724, exported to Tunis via Syria,
and later given by the Bey of Tunis to the King
of France, who subsequently sold him to Edward
Coke, from Derbyshire. He was eventually acquired
by Lord Godolphin and was responsible for founding
the Matchem line. The Herod, Eclipse, and Matchem
lines, plus the Highflyer (Highflyer was a son
of Herod) are the four principal tail-mail lines
of the modern Thoroughbred."
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