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Breed histories of the Thoroughbred often focus on the three foundation sires -- the Byerley Turk, Darley Arabian, and Godolphin Arabian -- who were brought to England in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries and crossed on English and imported mares. While it's true that all modern Thoroughbreds descend in tail-male line to one of these stallions, upwards of 200 stallions, Arabians, Barbs, Turks, and others, were imported into England and are so noted in the General Stud Book.
History has managed to overlook many of these early sires, despite the fact that some wielded an even more profound influence on the breed than any one of the three foundation sires. Some, such as the Darcy White Turk had male lines that survived five and six generations and produced many important runners and sires before becoming extinct in directmale descent. Others, such as Fairfax's Morocco Barb, survive in pedigrees through a single son or daughter, but their blood still runs deep in the Thoroughbred.
This section focuses on the early foundation sires of the Thoroughbred. It includes a chronological chart of the stallions imported into England, listed in a close approximation to the order of their arrival. This list is derived from entries in the General Stud Book in addition to C.M. Prior's Early Records of the Thoroughbred Horse(London: Sportsman Office, 1924) and other sources. It also includes the few stallions imported in utero, that is, within the pregnant womb of their imported dam, and foaled in England, and some first generation English stallions whose sires and dams were imported. The section also includes an alphabetical listing of 17th and 18th century stallions, imported and native.
Biographies and portraits, organized alphabetically by page and accessible via the quick links to the left, or the alphabetized index, are provided wherever possible to present more detailed information about the names that have become icons in the Thoroughbred world.
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