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SPEEDLINES
The family tree of QUARTER RACING
and The Thoroughbred Inflfluence by Larry Thornton
The Colonial Quarter Running Horse sire Janus was an early foundation sire that
gave the American Quarter Horse its start on the road to becoming a breed.
Ihave often started the Speedlines by stating the American Quarter Horse and the Thoroughbred have come down through
history together. We have seen how this close relationship started with the short races in Colonial America and has carried on to the Thoroughbred, influencing our modern Quarter Horse. We have traced back the origins of these two breeds and found common ground, or as we have called it a common bond through their ancestors. Let’s take a closer look at these common bonds and how they have traveled down through history together.
The first common bond we will look
at comes from Old Janus and Blank. The Colonial Quarter Running Horse sire Janus is an early foundation sire that gave the American Quarter Horse its start on the road to becoming a breed. He is by Old Janus, a son of the Thoroughbred foundation sire The Godolphin Arabian. Old Janus is
out of Amorett by Bartlett’s Childers by The Darley Arabian, another foundation Thoroughbred sire.
Old Janus is a full brother to Blank,
a key ingredient in some of the early Thoroughbred pedigrees. Here is an example of what we can see, as Blank is the sire of Horatia the second dam of Diomed, the
first English Derby winner. Diomed was later exported to America and he became
a foundation sire for both the American Quarter Horse and the Thoroughbred
in America. Diomed sired Sir Archy, another Quarter Horse and Thoroughbred foundation sire here in America.
Lexington, a phenomenal sire born in 1850, gives us a sample of the influence of these two sires on the Thoroughbred. Lexington was a successful racehorse, winning six of his seven starts. He then became the leading sire of Thoroughbred money earners for 16 years, including 14
We have seen
how this close relationship started with the short races in Colonial America and has carried on to the Thoroughbred, inflfluencing our modern Quarter Horse.
30 SPEEDHORSE August 2020
Diomed, the first English Derby winner, was exported to America where he became a foundation sire for both the Quarter Horses and Thoroughbreds.
Sir Archy, by Diomed,
is another sire of Quarter Horses and Thoroughbreds in America.