Thomas Darley (born 19 May 1664) served as Her Majesty's Consul to the

Levant The Levant ( ) is the subregion that borders the Eastern Mediterranean, Eastern Mediterranean sea to the west, and forms the core of West Asia and the political term, Middle East, ''Middle East''. In its narrowest sense, which is in use toda ...

(

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

) during the reign of Queen Anne. He is famous for having bought an Arabian colt that became an important part of the history of the Thoroughbred breed. Darley was born in Aldby Park, Yorkshire, England. His father was Richard Darley, and his mother Dorothea was a daughter of the regicide Thomas Waite (Wayte). In 1702, Darley, while in

, bought an

Arabian The Arabian Peninsula (, , or , , ) or Arabia, is a peninsula in West Asia, situated north-east of Africa on the Arabian plate. At , comparable in size to India, the Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world. Geographically, the ...

colt from Sheikh Mirza for his father, Richard Darley. There are conflicting stories about how much Darley exchanged or paid for the colt; one proposed history is that a price of 300 gold sovereigns was set but after the sheikh withdrew from the deal, Darley arranged for British sailors to steal and smuggle the horse via Smyrna. Nevertheless, he had made arrangements to send him back to

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

. The colt was foaled in

, late March or early April in the year 1700. The horse, a bay, was tall for an

Arabian horse The Arabian or Arab horse ( , DIN 31635, DMG ''al-ḥiṣān al-ʿarabī'') is a horse breed, breed of horse with historic roots on the Arabian Peninsula. With a distinctive head shape and high tail carriage, the Arabian is one of the most easi ...

of the time was 15 hands when described by Darley in a letter to his brother dated 21 December 1703. The horse whose original name was "Ras el Fedowi," translated as "The Headstrong One", became immortalised as the "

Darley Arabian The Darley Arabian (–1730) 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 ...

". In Thomas Darley's own words, "he was immediately striking owing to his handsome appearance and exceedingly elegant carriage". Although he never raced, he covered mares at Aldby Park from 1705 until 1719 and lived until the advanced age of 30. His genes added speed to those of stronger English

horses The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 milli ...

of the time. Through his offspring, including his great-grandson, the famous and never beaten

Eclipse An eclipse is an astronomical event which occurs when an astronomical object or spacecraft is temporarily obscured, by passing into the shadow of another body or by having another body pass between it and the viewer. This alignment of three ...

, he has had the greater influence of the three foundation stallions of the

thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a list of horse breeds, horse breed developed for Thoroughbred racing, horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thorough ...

breed. His bloodline is said to be present in about 95% of today's thoroughbred

racehorses Horse racing is an equestrian performance activity, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its bas ...

Ancestry

References

External links

Darley Arabian

Year of death missing British racehorse owners and breeders 1664 births 18th-century deaths Arabian horse breeders and trainers Horse trader {{UK-horseracing-bio-stub