SIRES & DAMS

From a biologist’s point of view, the crucial formative event in Thoroughbred history occurred in the second half of the 17th century: the invention of regularized performance testing by the English king Charles II. While horse racing had been practiced in all horsebreeding countries since time immemorial, the distances run, the terrain, the weights borne and other crucial factors were not uniform---certainly not on a national level. Under Charles’ influence, England became the first country in the world to possess not only a set of written rules for racing, but numerous racetracks to accommodate the sport, all built to the same basic specifications.

By the King’s rules, the work required of the horses was not only uniform, it was physiologically demanding---meaning that only a few horses would have what it took to succeed. Specifically, Charles promoted heat racing, a form that demands strong, sound horses possessed of great stamina and “heart.” His rules mandated that horses complete at least two, and possibly as many as four, courses in a single day, each heat being more than four miles long. Further, every horse carried some 160 pounds---well beyond theth weightsi ht borneb b by modernd fl flat-trackt t k racers. Contests were initially open to mature horses of any breeding, because no one knew exactly which strains would be able to “hold speed over a distance of ground.”

Heat racing predates the modern concepts of pedigree and breed registration; the King and other early breeders did not care what bloodlines the horses came from as long as they proved capable of doing the job. In short---like good biologists---they were letting the test tell them which horses, and which bloodlines, they should prefer. It took about 50 years to identify an array of consistent winners; all of them turned out to derive from crosses of Turkmene sires upon Hobby, Barb or Hobby x Barb mares. Other early contenders, including the Spanish Jennet, crosses on Chapman horses (Cleveland Bays) and