Byerley Turk

The Byerly Turk by John Wootton

The Byerley Turk (c. 1684 – 1706) was the earliest of three stallions that were the founders of the modern Thoroughbred horse racing bloodstock (the other two are the Godolphin Arabian and the Darley Arabian).^[1]^[2] The stallion is believed to have been captured by Captain Robert Byerley at the Battle of Buda (1686), served as Byerley's war horse when he was dispatched to Ireland in 1689 during King William's War and saw further military service in the Battle of the Boyne. The General Stud Book simply states, without reference to his origins, that both man and horse were in Ireland: BYERLY TURK, was Captain Byerly's charger in Ireland, in King William's wars (1689, &c.).^[3]

The Byerley Turk was reportedly a dark brown ("Turk" was another name attributed to Arabian horses.)^[4] He had a large frame, and Turk (Arabian) horses possessed large eyes, long and high-set on neck, and high carriage of the tail. The Byerley Turk helped form the modern Cleveland Bay. Many of his offspring were also noted to have been either bay or black.

Stud record

In 1692, Captain Robert Byerley married his cousin, Mary Wharton (sole heir to the estate of Goldsborough, near Knaresborough, North Yorkshire, England) and moved to live with her at her family home of Goldsborough Hall. After Byerley retired (as Colonel Byerley), the Byerley Turk retired to stud, first at Middridge Grange, then, from 1697, at Goldsborough Hall, near Knaresborough.^[5] The Byerley Turk died there in 1706 and it is believed he is buried close to the Hall. Goldsborough Hall is now a private family home that offers accommodation, which includes the commemorative Byerley suite.^[6]

The Byerly Turk was sire of Jigg, who in turn was sire of Partner, sire of Tartar who was the sire of the very good racehorse and influential sire, Herod (1738).^[1]

The most famous of his racing offspring was Basto, but he also sired the Byerley Turk mare, founder of Thoroughbred family 1; Bowes' Byerley Turk mare, the "Dam of the Two True Blues", the taproot of family 3; plus the Byerley Turk mare that was the taproot of family 41.^[7]^[8] There are 12 Epsom Derby winners, 10 St. Leger winners, and 14 The Oaks Stakes winners listed in family 1 as descendants of the Byerly Turk.

He did not cover many well-bred mares.^[9]

Relatively few modern Thoroughbreds trace their sire-line back to the Byerley Turk. The continuation of the male sire-line largely depends on the descendants of Ahonoora, several of whom are at stud in Europe.^[10]

Byerley Turk sire line

Byerley Turk 1680

| Jigg 1705

| | Partner 1718

| | | Sedbury 1734

| | | Tartar 1743

| | | | Herod 1758

| | | | | | | | | | Ion 1835

References

1 2 Ahnert, Rainer L. (editor in chief), “Thoroughbred Breeding of the World”, Pozdun Publishing, Germany, 1970
↑ Cunningham, E. P.; Dooley, J. J.; Splan, R. K.; Bradley, D. G. (2001). "Microsatellite diversity, pedigree relatedness and the contributions of founder lineages to thoroughbred horses". Animal Genetics 32 (6): 360–364. doi:10.1046/j.1365-2052.2001.00785.x. PMID 11736806.
↑ General Stud Book, Vol., I, p. 389
↑ http://www.bloodlines.net/TB/Bios/ByerlyTurk.
↑ Thoroughbred Bloodlines – Byerley Turk Retrieved on 2009-8-19
↑ Goldsborough Hall history Retrieved on 2009-8-20
↑ Wentworth, Lady, “Thoroughbred Racing Stock”, George Allen & Unwin Ltd, London, 1960, Warne & Co, London & New York, 1960
↑ Thoroughbred Bloodlines – Family 41 Retrieved on 2009-8-20
↑ Whyte 1840, p. 90.
↑ "Byerly, Back in Business". BloodHorse.com. Retrieved 2012-07-01.
↑ Morris, Simon; Tesio Power 2000 – Stallions of the World, Syntax Software
↑ Churchill, Jennifer, Australia and New Zealand – Sires for '87, Racetrack Magazine

Bibliography

The Byerley Turk by Jeremy James, publ. Merlin Unwin Books, ISBN 978-1-873674-98-7 is a fictionalized account of the life of the Byerley Turk. It describes the Battle of Vienna and the Battle of Buda (1686), with a Turkish perspective.
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.byerleyturk.org
International Museum of the Horse
Peters, Anne (2005). Byerley Turk Retrieved 2012-12-20

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Sunday, March 27, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.