This book examines the semi-mythological status occupied by three foundation stallions of the Thoroughbred racehorse: the Byerley Turk, the Godolphin Arabian (or Barb), and the Darley Arabian. In the nineteenth century, it was pointed out that the winners of every significant British horse race were descendants of one of these three "Founding Fathers." This suggestion undoubtedly led to an increase in popularity of these stallions' descendants and encouraged development of their lines by wealthy and competitive racing enthusiasts. However, DNA research and historical investigations call the story of the "Founding Fathers" into question.
This book interrogates this narrative and its enduring popularity. It argues that this tale is, in essence, a constructed patriarchal myth that serviced the dominant biblical, biological, social, and political hierarchy of the period of its emergence.
Ch 1: The why of the Y(-chromosome).- Ch 2: In the beginning was the
book.- Ch 3: Horse racing in post-Roman Britain.- Ch 4: An alternative
history of horse racing: Scotland takes an early lead.- Ch 5: Magical
thinking: blood, breeding, and alchemy versus mechanics, environment, and
money.- Ch 6: Purity and politics.- Ch 7: The Byerley Turk: how to model a
myth.- Ch 8: The Darley Arabian: getting it in writing.- Ch 9: The Godolphin
Arabian: the element of aristocracy.- Ch 10: Views from abroad and the drama
of the blood.- Ch 11: The woman who: F.M. Prior and the H-B Stud-book.- Ch
12: Ad Infinitum Equinum: the heritability of horse, from gene to genome.- Ch
13: Patriarchy and posterity.
Miriam A. Bibby (PhD, FSA Scot, FRHistS) is an equine historian, author, editor, and broadcaster. She is co-editor-in-chief of Cheiron: The International Journal of Equine and Equestrian History, and an affiliate of the University of Glasgows School of Social & Environmental Sustainability.
