Page 36 - August 2019

SPEEDLINES
The English Parliament gave Helmsley to Lord Fairfax. This is when Old Bald Peg was bred to the Old Morocco Barb. The Old Morocco Barb can also be known in a pedigree as Fairfax’s Old Morocco Barb. The mare produced was Old Peg also known as the Old Morocco Mare.
We will rely on Mackay-Smith to describe what happened next. “In 1657, the Second Duke of Cumberland, then 29, secretly stole back from exile to the Fairfax residence, Nun Appleton, and married Mary, the General’s heir and only child, thereby recovering his inheritance, Helmsley and its livestock. When the Old Morocco mare was bred by Buckingham to the D’Arcy Yellow Turk,
she produced Spanker whom the General Stud Book calls “the best because he was the leading winner of 4 mile multiple heat King’s Plates. Spanker was also the leading British- bred sire of the seventeenth century, the first registered horse whose pedigree contained
all three speed strains, and therefore the first Thoroughbred.” Spanker was foaled in 1670.
James D’Arcy was another breeder who helped maintain the influence of the Royal Mares. He owned D’Arcy Yellow Turk.
Ann Peters in the Thoroughbred Heritage biography of this horse tells us that the horse was imported by James D’Arcy in 1675. He was imported from Damascus, Syria. He
would stand at D’Arcy’s Sedbury Stud, also
in North Yorkshire, to sire such horses as Spanker and Brimmer. Peters points out that D’Arcy Yellow Turk appears in the pedigrees of Matchem, Herod and Eclipse. Matchem and Herod carry four crosses to D’Arcy Yellow Turk and Eclipse has six crosses to him.
Here is an interesting side note: When we look at the history of the Byerley Turk, we see that one theory says he was sired by Place’s White Turk. Some have reported the theory that D’Arcy Yellow Turk may have been a son of Place’s White Turk.
Now that we have put the three ingredients together to build the Thoroughbred, let’s look at how they came to the American Quarter Horse. The best place to start would be with Janus. Janus was the foundation sire of the Celebrated American Quarter Running Horse. As we go through this pedigree, we will come across a number of mares simply called Royal Mare and/or Sedbury Royal Mare. These are the mares that were from the Royal Stud or one of the breeders that preserved the blood
of these mares. Many of these mares were from the Hobby strain or were predominantly Hobby blood, as well as some Running-Horse bloodlines. It was Sedbury Stud under James D’Arcy that collected these mares.
Janus was sired by Old Janus, a son of the
Godolphin Arabian. The dam of Old Janus was Amorett by Bartlet’s Childers by the Darley Arabian. Bartlet’s Childers was out of Betty Leedes by Old Careless by Spanker. The dam of Betty Leedes was Cream Cheeks by Leedes Arabian, and he could have been a Barb but
his pedigree is unknown. Cream Cheeks was reportedly out of a daughter of Spanker and her dam was the Old Morocco Mare by Fairfax’s Morocco Barb and her dam was Old Bald Peg. Some sources question the pedigree of Cream Cheeks, but accept she was sired by Leedes Arabian. The dam of Amorett was Flying Whigg by William’s Woodstock Arabian. The dam of Flying Whigg was Points by St Victors Barb and out of Grey Whynot by Whynot
and out of a Royal Mare. Whynot was sired by Fenwick Barb and out of a Royal Mare.
The dam of Janus was a Fox Mare, who was sired by Fox by Clumsey by Hautboy by D’Arcy White Turk. The dam of Hautboy was a Royal Mare. The dam of Clumsey
was Miss D’Arcy’s Pet Mare, who was out
of Sedbury Royal Mare. The dam of the
Fox Mare was a Bald Galloway mare. She was sired by Bald Galloway, a full brother to Points - the dam of Flying Whigg. The dam of this Bald Galloway mare is unknown.
As we come down the line, the influence of the three original foundation sires is reinforced through Herod (representing the Byerley Turk line); Matchem (representing the Godolphin Arabian line) and Eclipse (representing the Darley Arabian line). Now, let’s take a closer look at these three stallions and how they share the common blood of the three original foundation sires as well as some of their Hobby, English Running-Horse, Turcoman and Barb crosses that make up their pedigrees.
Herod, foaled in 1758, was sired by Tartar by Croft’s Partner by Jigg by Byerley Turk. The dam of Tartar was of Meliora by Fox. Fox, also found in the pedigree of Janus, was sired by Clumsey by Hautboy, and Clumsey was out of Miss D’Arcy’s Pet Mare. The dam of Fox was Bay Peg by Leedes Arabian, and she was out of Young Bald Peg by Leedes Arabian and out of the Old Morocco Mare.
When the Old Morocco mare was bred to the D’Arcy Yellow Turk, she produced Spanker in 1670 whom the General Stud Book calls “the best because he was the leading winner
of 4 mile multiple heat King’s Plates. Spanker was also the leading British-bred sire of the seventeenth century, the first registered horse whose pedigree contained all three speed strains, and therefore the first Thoroughbred.”
The grave marker and an old advertisement for Janus, the foundation sire of the Celebrated American Quarter Running Horse.
34 SPEEDHORSE, August 2019