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The Byerley Turk: Three Centuries of the Tail Male Racing Lines

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While this book contains a brief history of the Byerley Turk, the primary focus is on his direct male line over the ensuing 300 years. The Byerley Turk's own pedigree is unknown, but he arrived on a ship at Portsmouth naval base in 1688, as part of the spoils of victory in war. In 1690, he was used as a charger in the Battle of the Boyne. The author traces the history of the dynasty he founded through four main lines of descent via Herod, these being the Diomed / Lexington line, the Highflyer line, the Castrel line and the Selim line. Only the Selim line survives and it may not do so for much longer.

Of these, the Highflyer line started strongly in England but faded during the nineteenth century. The Diomed / Lexington line was strong in America for much of the nineteenth century but weakened quickly as Lexington's sons disappointed at stud. The Castrel line did better, yielding The Tetrarch early in the twentieth century. Unfortunately, he was unenthusiastic about stud duties although some of his progeny were very successful. He became a very influential sire, especially through his daughter Mumtaz Mahal (who also carried the blood of Lexington), but his male line did not survive more than a few generations. During the second half of the twentieth century, all these lines became extinct. Although the Highflyer line became extinct in Britain early in the twentieth century, it apparently survived in the Soviet Union until at least the 1970s, but understandably the author didn't unearth this fact.

So it is that the Selim branch offers the last hope for the Byerley Turk male line. It produced The Flying Dutchman, a champion racehorse of the 1840s. He was mainly regarded as a sire of steeplechasers in England, although he managed to sire the Epsom Derby winner Ellington, who was himself an unsuccessful stallion. Exported to France, The Flying Dutchman became successful as a flat-race sire, so much so that he ensured the continuance of the male line there. It eventually produced Tourbillon and his son Djebel, two French champions to revive the Byerley Turk male line, at least for a while. Among their descendants, Ambiorix and two other stallions were exported to America, but those lines died out eventually. Blakeney, a great-grandson of Djebel, won the 1969 Epsom Derby and became a successful stallion, but although several of his sons went to stud, I don't know of any that carried on the line successfully, but I`d love to be proved wrong.

The line that definitely survives comes down via three other stallions to Ahonoora, a sprinter that raced in Britain during the late seventies, who was much more successful at stud than was expected of him. The author picked out Don't Forget Me, the winner of the English and Irish 2,000 Guineas races in 1987, as the best hope for the future of the Byerley Turk male line, and I would have said the same in 1988. Subsequent events suggest otherwise, as Don't Forget Me disappointed at stud. Another son of Ahonoora, Dr Devious, won the 1992 Epsom Derby, long after this book was published, but also disappointed at stud. Two other sons of Ahonoora, Indian Ridge and Inchinor, were less successful racehorses but much better stallions than Don't Forget Me and Dr Devious.

For a long time, Indian Ridge seemed to offer the best hopes, but one of his best sons, Snow Ridge, suffered a serious racecourse injury and had to be put down. Maybe a son of Indian Ridge will keep the line going, but Inchinor also offers hope. His sons include Notnowcato, a middle-distance horse who won three Group 1 races. Now safely at stud, it remains to be seen whether Notnowcato is given a fair chance to prove himself.

I'm not confident that the Byerley Turk male line will survive much longer. Even so, the thoroughbred racehorse could not have become what it is today without the Byerley Turk. At every stage, the male line produced important mares (of whom Mumtaz Mahal was but one) who, when mated with stallions of other male lines, strengthened those lines in the process. One of Ahonoora's daughters, Park Appeal, herself produced Cape Cross, himself the sire of Ouija Board and Sea the Stars. It's also worth noting that Eclipse, now the direct male ancestor of the vast majority of today's thoroughbreds, is actually descended from the Byerley Turk in three different ways.

Yes, it's fun to look at male lines, but it would be wrong to assume that just because a line dies out, it's not important. One illustration of this, not covered here but in Grey magic, is the importance of the Byerley Turk male line in passing down the grey gene, without which there would be no grey racehorses today. Other invisible but more important genes are impossible to trace backwards, but horseracing would be a little duller if there were no grey horses.

The book is well-presented with the author telling us about many of the horses that carried on the line as well as some that might have done but didn't. There is also a good selection of pictures, some of them in color. On reflection, given that the Byerley Turk male line seemed already to be hanging by a thread in 1988, perhaps it is a miracle that there is still hope for it, whether via Notnowcato or anther stallion.