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Foundation Sires Quick Links
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Foundation Sires of the Thoroughbred: D'Arcy Yellow Turk
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The General Stud Book notes that the D'Arcy Yellow Turk, often referred to simply the Yellow Turk, "was the sire of Spanker, Brimmer, and the great great grandam of Cartouch." As his name indicates, he was owned by James D'Arcy and stood at the famous Sedbury Stud in the region of Bedale near Richmond in Northern Yorkshire. He was an early arrival, imported c.1675 from Damascus, Syria. From his name, it has been speculated that he was a palomino, but more likely he was a light golden chestnut or sorrel.
The influence of the D'Arcy Yellow Turk cannot be underestimated all three foundation sires, Matchem, Herod, and Eclipse, each carry at least four strains tracing back to him, Eclipse having six.
Spanker
The D'Arcy Yellow Turk's best son was Spanker, a bay colt out of the Old Morocco Mare, bred by the Duke of Buckingham and was, per the General Stud Book "...said to have been the best horse at Newmarket in Charles II's reign". Spanker was purchased by Mr. Pelham of Brocklesby and was occasionally described as "Mr. Pelham's Bay Arabian", an accurate description since both his sire and dam traced back flawlessly to imported Oriental bloodstock.
Spanker was covering mares around 1689, and was the sire of (Old) Careless, one of the best runners of his era, considered the best since his sire and before the appearance of Careless' grandson Flying Childers. Careless (out of a Barb mare), was owned by Thomas, (1st) Marquis of Wharton, ran at Newmarket in 1698, and was retired from racing for lack of competition. He then became the property of Edward Leedes of Yorkshire, and sired Bay Pigot, Bay Pigot's sister, and Betty Leedes, the latter the dam of Flying Childers and Bartlett's Childers.
Spanker also sired St. Martin, which Prior notes "was foaled about 1695" and belonged to Lord Wharton. In April, 1701, he won 'an extraordinary fine match and for a good deal of money" against the Duke of Devonshire's Dimple, who is the earliest recorded winner of The Whip." St Martin stood at the Duke of Ancaster's famous Lincolnshire stud, and there sired the dam of the famous Old Lady Mare (by Pert), who established a strong family in that stud (Family 14).
He also sired a colt called Young Spanker, who is seen as a sire in Family 44, and is also probably the horse bred to Bay Peg in Family 6 (rather than Leedes Arabian or his sire, as the GSB indicates).
At least nine daughters of Spanker appear in the GSB.
One daughter of Spanker became the dam of Jigg (by the Byerly Turk), sire of Partner who was in turn the paternal grandsire of Herod and maternal grandsire of Matchem. The General Stud Book also says that Spanker produced an unnamed 1690 daughter out of his (Spanker's) own dam, who in turn produced the important mare Cream Cheeks (Family 6), the mare Betty Percival, and the stallion Leedes (c.1700). This in-breeding was called into question by C.M. Prior [Early Records of the Thoroughbred Horse.London: The Sportsman Office, 1924], who presented evidence that the dam of Cream Cheeks was "a famous roan mare of Sir Marmaduke Wyvill's," of unknown (to us) parentage.
Brimmer
Another son of the D'Arcy Yellow Turk to prove extremely influential was Brimmer, a colt bred by the D'Arcy Family out of a Royal Mare. Brimmer sired Burford Bull (out of the Layton Barb Mare), and 11 mares that appear with offspring in the GSB. They include the foundation mare for Family #70 who was the third dam of Squirrel and Smith's son of Snake, also Old Thornton, a Sister to Old Thornton, Appleyard's Brimmer mare, plus the fourth dam of Matchem, and the fifth dam of Eclipse.
A third important son of the D'Arcy Yellow Turk was the Oglethorpe Arabian, which the GSB says was "described as Mr. Oglethorpe's son of the Yellow Turk." The Oglethorpe Arabian was the sire of the very important early stallion Makeless, sire of Brown Farewell (granddam of Matchem), the dam of Bay Bolton, the dam of Hartley's Blind Horse, and the Scarborough mare.
The GSB also notes an anonymous Son of Brimmer as the sire of a mare known as "Sister to Ruffler", dam of Castaway and Woodcock, both by Merlin. This mare was the only recorded daughter of Dick Burton's Mare, which founded Family #31. Ruffler was a top racehorse in the first decade of the 18th century.
The D'Arcy Yellow Turk Daughters
Daughters of the D'Arcy Yellow Turk include a mare out of a Royal Mare (founder of the #13 family) and which became the dam of D'Arcy's Grey Royal (by the D'Arcy White Turk). Another is the "Sister to Spanker", out of the Old Morocco Mare, who became dam of Lonsdale's Counsellor (by the Shaftesbury Turk). Third is the mare to which the GSB refers to as the great granddam of Cartouche, whom no horse "in the kingdom" could beat "...carrying eight to twelve stone." Cartouche stood at stud in Wales, and later Yorkshire, and got a number of good racehorse and important broodmares, including the dam of Miss South (Family 5).
--Anne Peters and Patricia Erigero
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