The History of the Thoroughbred in America

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The flag is low'red--they're off--they come!

The squadron is sweeping on!
There's a sway in the crowd--a murmuring hum,
They're here--they're past--they're gone.
They came with the rush of the southern surf
On the bar of the storm-girt bay;
And, like muffled drums on the sounding turf,
Their hoof-strokes echo away.


--Gordon


The wonder and mystery of the racing horse have captivated men and women for thousands of years. The "Sport of Kings" has gathered followers around the world, and has created a culture that crosses gender, race, and class lines. It was the love of the sport of racing that originally led to the development of the Thoroughbred, a horse designed specifically for the racetrack and its glory. And today, the sport that created this magnificent animal exists to ensure that the breed continues: "Racing is at every level about the pursuit of quality and a striving for excellence. The notion of improving the breed permeates every aspect of the sport (Bowen, 18)." It is because of this integration of sport and player that a discussion of the Thoroughbred cannot be accomplished without a simultaneous study of the history of horseracing. This essay will introduce the Thoroughbred as a breed, but it will go further, and will place the Thoroughbred in its proper context of racing and sport in both England and the United States.

The Thoroughbred
What is a Thoroughbred? From such a seemingly simple question comes a multitude of responses. Different authorities in Thoroughbred racing and breeding, in particular the Jockey Clubs of both England and America, have set criteria for determining a pure Thoroughbred. In the Stud Book of 1949, the English Jockey Club declared:

Any animal claiming admission to the General Stud Book (which
registers all Thoroughbreds) from now on must be able to prove
satisfactorily some eight or nine crosses of pure blood, to
trace back for at least a century, and to show such performances
of its immediate family on the turf as to warrant the belief in
the purity of its blood. (Montgomery, 43)
An American writer put the definition of a Thoroughbred into slightly simpler terms in 1905 when he said that a Thoroughbred must be "of Oriental extraction and an animal developed through centuries of cultivation by enlightened nations (Merry, 15)." In both definitions, the ancestry of a horse, and the purity of his family tree, are the primary factors which designate him a Thoroughbred. Careful breeding between select family lines has made the Thoroughbred what he is, and, in fact, every modern registered Thoroughbred can trace his roots back to one of three eighteenth century stallions. Most Thoroughbreds share several physical attributes, including strong, muscular hind quarters, and a high withers. But these attributes cannot designate a horse as a Thoroughbred, as they are not characteristics unique to the breed, nor are they shared by every one of the 50,000 Thoroughbreds foaled each year around the world. It is also impossible to determine a Thoroughbred by the color of his coat, for the Jockey Club "recognizes black, dark bay or brown, bay, chestnut, gray, and roan (Evans, 27)." Romantic chroniclers of the horse claim that it is "heart. . .a special combination of competitiveness and determination" (Patent, 4) that makes a Thoroughbred unique as a breed. However, heart, too, is elusive, so it is in the end only the ancestry of a horse that conclusively makes him a member of that elite racing breed, the Thoroughbred.


From the Beginning: England
Racing has existed far longer than has the breed of horse developed for the sport. Horse-drawn chariot races were popular amusements in Ancient Egypt and Greece, and in medieval times, jockey-ridden horses raced through village streets in England and all over Europe. By the seventeenth century, a Scottish breed of pony, the Galloway, had proven itself superior in informal racing contests throughout England. If racing was already so well established by the seventeenth century, what was it that persuaded English breeders to try to develop a new breed of horse?

In the early seventeenth century, the Stuart Kings James I and Charles I hunted around Newmarket, and had set up a royal palace and stable nearby. Both attended the popular races held on the fields at Newmarket, but it wasn't until 1660, when Charles II began attending Newmarket races, that the royal family became actively involved. Charles, an avid rider and race horse owner, made Newmarket the official center of horse racing in England. The monarch also provided purses, marked out courses, and laid out rules, arbitrating disputes whenever necessary. With the prestige of the royal court behind it, racing began to expand, and gentlemen horse owners searched endlessly for the champion that would earn them one of the new "King's Plates."

Two elements of seventeenth century British agricultural history collided with this new search for an unbeatable horse to provide the ideal atmosphere for the seeds of the Thoroughbred breed to flourish. Hunting in England had long been a popular amusement for upper class gentlemen, but with the heavy deforestation taking place to make way for increased cultivation, the face of hunting was changing. The sturdy, surefooted horses perfect for dense woodland hunting were unsuited for the new hunt over open fields. New mounts were needed, who could meet the demand for a faster, lighter, more agile hunter. Horse breeders, too, were affected by the increase in agricultural production. A population explosion was stretching the available food supplies. To alleviate this demand, breeders of all types of livestock were beginning to experiment with selective breeding techniques that would provide the most favorable traits in offspring. Once presented with the new demands for better hunters and faster racers, horse breeders were able to draw on new scientific breeding practices to meet those needs with a new breed of horse.

To complement the speed of native Galloway horses, breeders in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries began importing stallions from both the Near East and from Spain1. Andalusian horses, native to Spain, were imported heavily in the seventeenth century. The height, size, and agility of these horses made them ideal for inbreeding with the speed of the small, heavy English mares. Stallions imported from Eastern countries, in particular Arabia, Turkey, and the Barbary Coast, offered still more to the mix. Races in England were held over long distances, and were often run in heats. Heats, usually one to four miles each, were repeated until one horse had won twice and proven himself the best of the field. In this system of racing, a horse could be expected to run up to twenty miles in one day. Imported stallions from the East were known for their incredible stamina and strength, two traits essential in the heat style of racing. Eastern stallions, too, were purebred horses. Unlike English breeds, which were indiscriminately mixed by constant cross breeding, Eastern horses were carefully bred to maintain the same characteristics in each new generation. This purity of breeding would add genetic stability to the new breed being developed.

Between 1690 and 1730, over one hundred stallions were imported from Arabia and Turkey to the breeding farms of England. Three of these, the Byerley Turk, the Godolphin Arabian, and the Darley Arabian 2, proved to be incredibly important as the foundation sires of the modern Thoroughbred. Although every one of the imported stallions produced offspring, only the lines of these three remain active today.


Darley Arabian
Imported to England in 1704, this stallion is known as one of the three foundation sires of today's Thoroughbred.

By 1750, the Thoroughbred was recognized as a distinct breed of horse, and the English had found their first brilliant Thoroughbred racer in Flying Childers. These two events cemented an interplay between racing and breeding that survives today. Breeders searched for the perfect combination of genetic traits to meet the ever-increasing demands of the race goer, and the race acted as the proving ground for those same breeders' accomplishments. To ensure that this proving ground remained honest and organized, the English Jockey Club was founded to act as the final authority in creating and applying rules, and in settling disputes over bets and race results. Gradually, the Club gained control of the English turf; weigh-ins for jockeys, handicapping to equalize horses' chances, and in 1762 ordering the use of private colors for each owner in each race.

The first public Thoroughbred auction took place in 1766. This sale, run by Richard Tattersall, gave breeders a new market for their 'product', and attracted more owners into racing. However, racing in the late eighteenth century remained a denizen of the upper crust. Race meetings were observed from the height of elegant carriages, and became excuses for exclusive parties and balls. Racing gave rise to gambling of all kinds, including dice and cards. Cock fights, boxing matches, and an occasional foot race became popular adjuncts to a day at the races. To keep the attention of tempted racegoers, meetings began making longer, more exciting race cards. Long four or five mile heats between two horses gave way to dash races of a mile involving a larger field of competitors. Several courses created Classic races to serve not only as the ultimate test of ability for each new crop of Thoroughbreds, but also to attract large audiences.

For breeders, the change from long distance racing to sprints meant focusing on new genetic characteristics. The champion racehorse of 1750 had stamina and power to endure through the grueling match races. But by the end of the century, it was quick speed and agility that would mark a successful Thoroughbred. Breeders, as they developed the fast sprinter, were also being faced with an economically driven demand. Owners had traditionally raced their Thoroughbreds at five and six years old, but were realizing that financial resources were stretched too tight before they saw any return on their investment. By training horses to race at two and three years old, stables could see a profit earlier. For breeders, the end result was a horse that was not only fast, but also matured early.

This precocious horse rocketed into the nineteenth century with a longer stride and more height (approximately six inches) than its eighteenth century Arabian and English ancestors. During the first half of the century, the number of Thoroughbreds tripled and the number of racecourses doubled. Young horses captured more and more of the spotlight at these tracks as the century wore on. Newmarket alone held over a hundred races a year for two year olds, and fifty percent of all horses actively racing were two and three years old. Priam, The Flying Dutchman, and St. Simon became enduring champions of this youthful turf.

Weigh-in Chair
This nineteenth century scale, like earlier ones, ensured that jockeys carried the appropriate weight in each race.

The nineteenth century English turf saw more than youthful speed explode on its courses. Gambling and bookmakers proliferated everywhere, and with the advent of trains, so too did fans of all classes. Corruption abounded as more horses entered each race, and more money could be made. Owners registered various silks under several names to be able to enter a race with more than one horse. Horses were switched at the last minute. Jockeys and starters were bribed to create confusion and false starts at the beginning of a race, to throw off the concentration of a favored horse. In an attempt to halt these practices, the post parade, the numbers board, and the starting signal were introduced onto race tracks everywhere as the century came to a close.


Post-parade
A Victorian innovation, the parade allows spectators to see each horse and its behavior before a race.
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