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

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

) 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, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plate. ...

colt Colt(s) or COLT may refer to: * Colt (horse), an intact (uncastrated) male horse under four years of age People *Colt (given name) *Colt (surname) Places * Colt, Arkansas, United States *Colt, Louisiana, an unincorporated community, United State ...

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. 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 ( ar, الحصان العربي , DIN 31635, DMG ''ḥiṣān ʿarabī'') is a horse breed, breed of horse that originated on the Arabian Peninsula. With a distinctive head shape and high tail carriage, the Arabian is ...

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". 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 million yea ...

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

Eclipse An eclipse is an astronomical event that 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 ce ...

, he has had the greater influence of the three foundation stallions of the thoroughbred breed. His bloodline is said to be present in about 95% of today's thoroughbred racehorses.

Ancestry

References

External links

Darley Arabian

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