Cover image, the late Byerley Turk depicted by John Wootton courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
In discussions about the genesis of the thoroughbred, few occur without mention of the Byerley Turk. The old horse, thought to have been foaled in Serbia in 1682, is credited as one of the three foundation sires of the modern thoroughbred.
By all accounts, he had a decorated, eventful life, first in Turkey and then in England and Ireland as a battalion horse under Captain Robert Byerley. In retirement, he covered casual numbers of mares from the Captain's home at Middridge Grange, then Goldsborough Hall in North Yorkshire.
The Byerley Turk died in his stable on March 16, 1703, with little official record of the mares he covered. He wasn’t a commercial stallion, Captain Byerley far too gentry to travel his horse the length of England with a stallion hand (as was the way of the era), so the Byerley Turk covered mares locally with tremendous results.
In 1701 he sired Jigg (GB), who later sired the four-time leading stallion Partner (GB). Partner sired Tartar (GB), who then sired Herod (GB).
From Herod, who was foaled in 1758, emerged one of the three foundation lines of the modern racehorse. The others are Matchem (GB) and Eclipse (GB).
Herod was champion sire of Great Britain and Ireland from 1777 to 1784, a horse recorded as ‘none better in all the land’. His sire-son branches were extensive, including the one that made its way to Australia in 1954 via Better Boy (Ire).
Better Boy was by Epsom Derby winner My Babu (Fr), who was by Djebel (Fr), and Djebel was one of the pointed modern descendants of the Byerley Turk.
Better Boy was a stakes winner in Australia before covering his first book of mares in Victoria in 1957 and, even though he sired 37 stakes winners of principal races like the Victoria Derby and Epsom H., it was his siring of Century, who in turn sired Rubiton, that made the greatest statement in this part of the world for the Byerley Turk.
The late Century at Mornmoot Stud
Through Better Boy
The Byerley Turk, who today would be 339 years old, is credited with plenty of spirit, at times described by his biographers as ornery in both attitude and temperament.
However, he was a fierce cavalry horse, and the Turkish breeds of that era were known as such.
On type, it is largely believed he was bigger than the Arabian and Persian horses that heavily influenced the earliest thoroughbreds. He was longer in the back and higher in the croup, and he was also very prepotent.
"On type, it is largely believed he (Byerley Turk) was bigger than the Arabian and Persian horses that heavily influenced the earliest thoroughbreds. He was longer in the back and higher in the croup, and he was also very prepotent."
Many of his offspring were just like him, brown or black in colour with few or no white markings, and both Better Boy and Century were dark bay.
Better Boy was 20 generations removed from the Byerley Turk, which was just over 300 years of refined breeding. He was imported to Australia by David Whiteside for just 1500 gns in 1954, ‘an obscure and lightly raced Irish-bred sprinter’ according to reports of the time.
The late Better Boy (Ire) at 22-years-old
Better Boy stood at Range View Stud, which was southeast of Melbourne at Carrum Downs. He covered just 124 mares in his first six seasons, of which only 80 survived to be yearlings.
Nevertheless, the stallion topped the sire table in 1965/66, defeating no less than Star Kingdom (Ire). He won four Australian General Sires' premierships and, at the age of 21, won both the General Sires' title and the 2-Year-Old Sires' premiership.
He passed away at the age of 25, having never covered a seasonal book larger than 62.
End of the line
Without doubt, Century was the greatest Australian-bred representative of the Byerley Turk line.
Better Boy from the Rego (Ire) mare Royal Suite, Century was born in October 1969 in Victoria, and sold to Bart Cummings as a yearling for £6750 in the old currency.
He was an exceptional racehorse, winning the now G1 VRC Sires’ Produce S., G1 Newmarket H. and G1 Lightning S., a sprinter of superb class and grit. He was masculine, deep in the girth and near-black, like his foundation sire, albeit roach-backed.
Under Cummings’ guidance, Century won seven stakes races before his retirement to stud in the spring of 1974. He was syndicated into 42 shares at $5200 apiece (Australia's currency reverted to metric that year).
He stood at Mornmoot Stud at an introductory fee of $1750, covering 52 mares. By 1979, his fee had risen to $5000.
Through the 1980s, he was the flagbearer for Victorian thoroughbred breeding, siring 44 stakes winners of 83 stakes races. His best son was Rubiton, winner of the 1987 G1 Cox Plate, but he also produced the G1 Sydney Cup winner and useful sire Double Century, as well as Centaine, who was an excellent sire of 58 stakes winners.
Here, however, the Byerley Turk line came to a thudding halt in Australia, because none of these sons of Century, who died in 1994 at the age of 25, bred on to produce significant sire sons.
Traits of the Turk
Florida resident Suzi Prichard-Jones is an author and scholar of thoroughbred breeding. Irish born, she has spent a lifetime in racing, and recently released an exhaustive book on the decline of the Byerley Turk male tail line.
Byerley: The Thoroughbred’s Ticking Time Bomb discusses the implications of the Byerley Turk line disappearing, with so few black-type stallions left around the world to perpetuate it.
In fact, Prichard-Jones believes there are only two since the passing of Melbourne Cup hero Dunaden (Fr), Notnowcato (GB), whose sprinting son, the gelding Redkirk Warrior (GB), was a star in Australia, and Scottish-based Orientor (GB).
They are Indian Haven (GB), winner of the G1 Irish 2000 Guineas in 2003, and Pearl Secret (GB), winner of the G2 Temple S. at Haydock in 2015.
“There was a minor stallion in the United States, and a minor one in South America, but they weren’t covering much,” said Prichard-Jones. “So the ones in the British Isles seem to be the ones to concentrate on, and they were the ones that had been the better racehorses and had won a Group race.”
"The ones (stallions) in the British Isles seem to be the ones to concentrate on, and they were the ones that had been the better racehorses and had won a Group race." - Suzi Prichard-Jones
Indian Haven and Pearl Secret stand in England. Prichard-Jones has put her faith in them being the only stallions commercial enough to keep the Byerley Turk line alive, and they should keep it alive for good reason.
“I think when you look at the three original foundation sires, the Byerley Turk brought spirit and courage to the thoroughbred,” she said. “The Godolphin Arabian, among other things, brought toughness and soundness. And those are the traits that appear to be carried on because the Byerley Turk horses tend to be a little on the hot side.”
The author suspects that speed has come from the Darley Arabian line and, with the other traits symbolic of the Byerley Turk and Godolphin Arabian, they combine in the overall health and well-being of the modern thoroughbred.
“I think that’s what we’re looking at now,” Prichard-Jones said. “It’s my theory that the real genesis of the thoroughbred occurred when the three male tail foundations all co-mingled in the emergence of Matchem, Herod and Eclipse. They created the perfect genetic cocktail, and that’s why all the other sirelines disappeared.”
Suzi Prichard-Jones
Putting stallions on the ground
Prichard-Jones wrote her book to warn modern breeding about the extinction of the Byerley Turk male tail line. It’s hard to imagine that a 339-year-old stallion could still be important, but he is.
“Without being sentimental about it, there could be repercussions down the road,” she said. “Maybe not now, but in 20 or 50 years' time, certainly. It still contributes to the gene pool.”
Prichard-Jones fears the modern thoroughbred will lose soundness.
“I think we’re going to compromise the integrity of the breed,” she said. “The thing people forget is that we’re not only losing the male tail line, but we’re also losing all the genetics from the mares that comprise Matchem and Herod.”
“I think we’re going to compromise the integrity of the breed. The thing people forget is that we’re not only losing the male tail line, but we’re also losing all the genetics from the mares that comprise Matchem and Herod.” - Suzi Prichard-Jones
Prichard-Jones admitted that her book was a theory, but her study of the pedigrees and genetics has convinced her of the respective importance of each of the male tail foundations.
When she carried her book across the British Isles on a recent tour, she found that few breeders were privy to the importance of these foundations names.
“A lot of them knew that these lines were there, but they didn’t necessarily know which lines go to which foundation sires, despite having this wonderful wheel that we all have,” Prichard-Jones said. “It’s not something on their radar. They are thinking about who’s going to be the next hot stallion, who they are going to breed to, and most of them are only looking five generations back, and in many cases only three.”
None of this surprised the author.
She said that breeding had become a social scene in itself, that the major sales were a buzz that was formerly attached only to the races.
“The sales are where the focus is,” Prichard-Jones said. “There’s as much glamour from the breeding, selling and speculating these days as there is on the racecourse, because the sales get so much attention.”
Pearl Secret (GB) | Standing at Norton Grove Stud
Her conclusion, in part, is that breeders won’t wait on pedigrees that require nurturing and salvation, like the Byerley Turk line. But it wouldn’t take long to resuscitate either, in her belief.
“We just have to make sure we’re putting enough stallions on the ground,” Prichard-Jones said. “We could have a stallion in five years’ time, for example. Hopefully some of the larger breeders and organisations can put one mare aside for a season, and give it a go that way.”
With the courage of her convictions, Prichard-Jones has six mares of her own on Byerley Turk breeding programs. They are by Galileo (Ire), Dream Ahead (USA), Indian Ridge (Ire), the sire of Indian Haven, New Approach (Ire) and Teofilo (Ire).
Three were bred to Pearl Secret, with a yearling and three foals on the ground, while five are in foal to Indian Haven this year.
“The idea being to double-up on the Herod line to see if it can make an impact,” Prichard-Jones said.
Indian Haven (GB)
Bullet points
It’s not conclusive, but it appears that no commercial Byerley Turk sire lines remain in Australia.
Rubiton, who produced 42 stakes winners through his stallion career, didn’t produce any sire sons of lasting note. He has, however, proved to be a magnificent broodmare sire, as has been the case with so many of the Byerley Turk line.
In 2003, Rubiton sired a horse called Bulleton, who went to stud in 2008 and, across seven seasons, has covered just 42 mares in books of single digits. But he is keeping on. Bulleton is now 17-years-old, and stands duties for the Coffs Harbour trainer Mick O’Neill.
He gave O’Neill his first winner as a licensed trainer in 2017, when Mr Spin ploughed through the mud at Randwick to land the TAB Highway Plate over 1600 metres. At the time, the trainer admitted he had landed Bulleton on happenstance.
“He came from South Australia to me via someone that couldn’t do anything with the horse,” O’Neill said. “I only put a few mares to him, and he has been sitting in a paddock for a few years. I was going to put a couple of mares to him last year (2016), but it was too late.”
Bulleton served six broodmares in 2018, and covered eight last season, having had no registered coverings in 2019. By definition, he is far from a commercial stallion, and the importance of his pedigree is likely lost on most people.
Hollow Bullet when racing
Nevertheless, he is a half-brother to Hollow Bullet (Tayasu Tsuyoshi {Jpn}), who was a terrific filly, winning the G1 VRC Oaks and G1 Arrowfield S., as well as the G2 Wakeful S. and two other stakes races.
Hollow Bullet is retired these days, but resides at Arrowfield Stud and is herself the dam of this year’s two-time stakes winner Reloaded (Snitzel).
To purchase a copy of Byerley: The Throughbred’s Ticking Time Bomb, contact the author directly at champagne017@yahoo.com, or head to Waterstones online at the below link.
