Origins and career
It was claimed in the 19th century that Sir Robert Sutton (1671–1746), English ambassador to the Ottoman Empire in Constantinople from 1700 to 1717, had acquired horses there, including Alcock's Arabian, the Holderness Turk, and the Brownlow Turk, and had had them shipped to England in 1704. However, there is no evidence that Alcock's Arabian was among these horses. [2] It is more likely that he was bred in England. Lady Wentworth of the Crabbet Arabian Stud researched the foundation sires and found some confusion due to horses' names changing as they changed owners. She eventually concluded that every imported grey stallion she could find sufficient information to review was the same horse as Alcock's Arabian. While it is true that the horse may have been known under several different names, including Pelham's Grey Horse, and Bloody Buttocks, if he was bred in England, as now believed, he could not have been the same horse as one imported. It has been claimed that the horse was imported early in the 18th century, but there is no firm evidence to support this assertion. [3] The General Stud Book lists Sir Watkin Wynn's Spot, a horse now accepted as having been sired by Alcock's Arabian, as: "...by a son of the Curwen Bay Barb (which was out of Sir J. Parsons's Old Wen Mare, sister to Clumsey)...", which is strong evidence. The Old Wen Mare may have been the same mare as the exceptional broodmare Grey Wilkes, and if not was probably her full sister. [3]
The horse is reported to have been folded in 1700. [4] In any event, he was in England by 1704, ending up recorded in the General Stud Book in the hands of a man named Alcock who was a farmer and breeder in Lincolnshire. [3] He became an influential stud in the early 1700s, and in 1722 Alcock sold him to the Duke of Ancaster. [5]
Bloodlines and influence
The horse's sire line was significant through his son Crab (or "Old Crab"), who sired Ancaster's Grasshopper, Routh's Crab, Shepherd's Crab, Cumberland's Crab, Sloe, Rib, Wynn's Spot, Gentleman, Brilliant, Black and All Black, Imported Sober John, Berie's Ramper, and Spectator. The last of these was the sire of Sulphur, Damper, and Marc Anthony, who sired Aimwell (1782), winner of the Epsom Derby of 1785. Aimwell was the only winner of the Derby not in the sire line of one of the three great Arabian foundation stallions, the Godolphin Arabian, the Darley Arabian, and the Byerley Turk. [6] [7]
Although his recorded sire line is extinct among Thoroughbreds, Alcock's Arabian is considered the ancestor of all grey Thoroughbred horses through his female descendants. [1] [8] His status as the progenitor of all grey Thoroughbreds was the subject of a question on Episode 12 of Series H of the BBC comedy panel game QI . [9]
As Alcock's Arabian had a prominent sire line in the Thirteen Colonies - particularly Samuel Galloway III's Selim (b. 1759), the son of the Duke of Kingston's Othello, by Crab, out of Selima, by the Godolphin Arabian, a rival of Wilkins Spadille (b. 1762), a stallion by Janus II, also a grandson of the Godolphin Arabian - prior to the American Revolutionary War, but many breeding records were lost, it is remotely possible that unrecorded descendants of his sire line still exist. However, as these records were lost, it is impossible to verify or register any of these potential descendants as purebred Thoroughbreds. Wilkins Spadille was a "famous sire" of early American Quarter Horses. [10]
The Darley Arabian was one of three dominant foundation sires of modern Thoroughbred horse racing bloodstock. The other two founders were the Godolphin Arabian and the Byerley Turk. This bay Arabian horse was bought in Aleppo, Syria, by Thomas Darley in 1704 and shipped to Aldby Park in England, as a present for his brother.
The Byerley Turk, also spelled Byerly Turk, was the earliest of three stallions that were the founders of the modern Thoroughbred horse racing bloodstock.
The Godolphin Arabian, also known as the Godolphin Barb, was an Arabian horse who was one of three stallions that founded the modern Thoroughbred. He was named after his best-known owner, Francis Godolphin, 2nd Earl of Godolphin.
Eclipse was an undefeated 18th-century British Thoroughbred racehorse who won 18 races, including 11 King's Plates. He raced before the introduction of the British Classic Races, at a time when four-mile heat racing was the norm. He was considered the greatest racehorse of his time and the expression, "Eclipse first, the rest nowhere" entered the English vernacular as an expression of dominance.
Diomed, foaled in 1777, was an English Thoroughbred race horse who won the inaugural running of the Derby in 1780. He was subsequently a successful sire in the United States.
The title of champion, or leading, sire of racehorses in Great Britain and Ireland is awarded to the stallion whose offspring have won the most prize money in Britain and Ireland during the flat racing season. The current (2022) champion is Dubawi, who earned his first title after finishing runner-up multiple times.
Herod was a Thoroughbred racehorse. He was one of the three foundation sires of the modern Thoroughbred racehorse, along with Matchem and Eclipse. Herod was the foundation sire responsible for keeping the Byerley Turk sire-line alive.
Regulus (1739) was an undefeated British Thoroughbred racehorse who won eight Royal Plates in 1745.
Highflyer was an undefeated Thoroughbred racehorse and a very successful sire of the 18th century.
Selima was one of the most important Thoroughbred horses of the 18th century and became one of the foundation mares of the American Thoroughbred. She was imported to Maryland between 1750 and 1752 by Benjamin Tasker, Jr.
The Thoroughbred is a horse breed developed for horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are considered "hot-blooded" horses that are known for their agility, speed, and spirit.
Young Eclipse was a Thoroughbred racehorse that won the 1781 Epsom Derby. He raced until he was six years old, winning seven races and retiring to stud in 1785. He was not a successful sire.
Aimwell was a British Thoroughbred racehorse. In a career that lasted from autumn 1784 to spring 1786, he ran eight times and won five races. In 1785, he won the sixth running of the Epsom Derby as well as three races at Newmarket. He was beaten in his only race in 1786, and did not appear in any subsequent records.
Rafalca is a former dressage horse, co-owned by Ann Romney, that performed in the equestrian competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics, with rider Jan Ebeling. She was retired from competitions in 2014, and is now a broodmare.
Curwen's Bay Barb was a foundation sire of the Thoroughbred breed. A bay horse with a white blaze, he was imported by Henry Curwen in 1698 from France. He had originally been a present to Louis XIV from the King of Morocco. One of his early sons, Mixbury, stood just over 13 hands high and apparently "there were not more that two horses of his day that could beat him under light wrights". He also sired Tantivy, Brocklesby, Brocklesby Betty, Creeping Molly and the top stallion Hip. It has also been suggested that he may have been the sire of Alcock's Arabian.
Crab also known as Old Crab and Mr. Panton's Crab was a British Thoroughbred racehorse. After retiring from racing he became a successful stallion and was British Champion sire in 1748, 1749 and 1750. He was owned by the 1st Earl of Portmore until purchased by Mr. Cotton and then Thomas Panton.
Hollandoise, or alternatively Hollandaise, (1775–1782) was a grey British Thoroughbred mare that won the 1778 St. Leger Stakes, the first horse to win the event under its formal title. Raced sporadically from 1778 to 1782, Hollandoise won eight races in 14 starts. She died suddenly shortly after her last race in 1782 before producing any offspring.
Black Allan or Allan F-1 was the foundation sire of the Tennessee Walking Horse. He was out of a Morgan and Thoroughbred cross mare named Maggie Marshall, a descendant of Figure and the Thoroughbred racing stallion Messenger; and sired by Allandorf, a Standardbred stallion descended from Hambletonian 10, also of the Messenger line.
Australian was a British-bred Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. He was exported to the United States where he had modest success as a racehorse but became a very successful and influential breeding stallion.
Janus (1746–1780), also known as Little Janus, Young Janus, and Janus II, was an English Thoroughbred stallion imported to Colonial America, which would later become the United States. Noted for his quickness and compact conformation, he has subsequently been acknowledged as a foundation sire of the American Quarter Horse.
