The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1885-02-21
! TIE THOROUGHBRED.
A Chapter on the Arabian and English
Race Horse. ..a.r

n CnapB0r on the ArAtlab anu tInglSn
Race Horse. sn.
1t is not very far cry from Blunde-
will to the time when one.of the three
sires from which the race of English
thoroughbred horses have. sprung ar
rived in England. The. Byerley Turk
came to this country about 1859; the
Godolphin Arabian, himself pony of
fourteen and half hands, though his
descendants were in every way greatin
the land, died at Gogmagog Hills, the
seat of the Duke of Leeds, in 1868.
From the third of this trio, the barley
Arabian; sprang Eclipse, whose son,
young Eclipse, won the second Derby
in 1T8l.. The Arab has always been
the favorite horse of fiction. He has
been described so pfteHthat a picture
of typical Arab, .descendent of
Bldndeyill's. Barbarian viii suffice.
Here is tic email head, the swelling
nostril, = the small sharp ear, the mild
and gentle eye, Gin repose, for he is
easily excited) 81 the arched neck, the
compact body2the Arab is rarely over
fourteen hands one inch in height
and carriage of the tail, ''carried out
with sweep like the curve of a palm
branch, an enthusiast has said, which
are characteristic of the desert born.
1t is not to be understood that the
three Arabs-to use the term literally
named above are the progenitors of
all English thoroughbred horses. This
is by no means the case; but the blood
OF these three enormously preponder-
ates. How it comes to pass that the
thoroughbred Arab from which the
English thoroughbred sprang, through
some intermixtures. Of what is supposed
to be an altogether poorer strain,
should be so much inferior in
speed and stamina to the Eng
fish horse, which at its best has an
existence of only some two centuries,
it is impossible to say. The fact I'M
questionably exists. Hardly any weight
will 'bring the two''-the Arab and the
English race together" that is
to say, carrying q very much heavier
/ burden, the English horse can, without
any sort OF effort out gallop the more
direct descendant of his Eastern ances-
tor. On Indian race courses the Arab
has an allowance of no less than three
stone against English bred horses,
which must be US rule far inferior to
the average competitor at Newmarket;
and the Arab very rarely wins q race
even with this advantage The cour1
age, docility and endurance of the Arab
must be recognized with every praise.
Omar Pasha, a bay horse belonging to
the Turkish General of that name, is
said to have galloped-at any rate to
have gone speodily-ninety miles-from
Siistria to Narna, without halt, car
ryipg a messenger who brought news
Of the Russian repulse. From the Cri-
inca Omar Pasha came to England,
/ having been presented to Sir Richard
/ Airey Ii has been said that the animal
was not Il true Arab, but he was prob
i ably true enough for purposes of argu-
/ ment. Over a Cup course, however,
4 that is to say, two miles and half of
/ gallOping grOund-ample, as the pace
1 races are run to test endurance
! the English race horse is unap-
proachable He has been not only
/ approached, but beaten, superficial
/ observer may say. by the French Gladi-
ateur and by the Hungarian Kisber,
J Derby winners; but these were in all
essentials English horses. The English
thoroughbred is, in fact, the glory of
his race. One longs to know what
Blundeyill would have said could the
good man have only seen Blair Athol
win the Derby-a sight that was denied
him, unless there is more in the PSYCHE
cal Society than the world supposes.
1t has been recorded that Eclipse,
whose descent is to be traced from both
the barley and the Godolphin Arabian,
galloped mile a minute, but this, or
anything approaching to this, is wildly
Incredible. At Brighton last year it
was said that horse called Drag, the
property of Mr.. Leopold de Rothsohild,
rama mile andf beat the Oaks winner,
Geheimniss, in less than one minute
and .thiTty-nipe seconds, but this again
4 is exceedingly doubtful. Probably the
! quickest time on record is that made
by the late Lord Stamford's Diophan-
tus, a son of Orlando, who, through
Eclipse and other horses, united the
great Arab strains. Diophantus won
the Two Thousand Guineas in one min,
ute and forty-three seconds. The
course is seventeen Yards 6Ver one
fmfle, and. this time, over the same
!. course, was equalled by Galopihi,, win.
nerof the Derby in 1875, in. his match
against Stray Shot, dam of gShetoyer
who won the great EPSON race for tht
Duke Of Westminster in 1882. 1T isss
singular Illusion to suppose, as the un,
instructed do, chat the English thor
oughbred horse is a slim and feeble.
what is called 4 weedy animal
There are weedy members of his tribe
no doubt, and when exposed on a race
course at two years old, which proba
bly, means some twenty months. thes'
bantlings may seem poor. These cal
no more truly be set down as typiea
race horses than can the ten year OLE
bQEnll "a FyI1yrs-Ta- example of tn,
R 81 h)ss ,ratcd Aagazine.
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