National Hunt origins: the male bloodline of the Byerley Turk

National Hunt racing bloodline patterns in Britain and Europe largely conform to those of the Flat, with three Foundation male lines from the 1600-1700s remaining. These are the earliest British arrival, the Byerley Turk (c.1680), the dominant Darley Arabian (c. 1700) and the Godolphin Arabian (c.1724), with the last-named stallion's line now being practically defunct under Thoroughbred jumping rules, though it strongly influences the sporting horse/eventing arena in Europe and the US.

Here I discuss the Byerley Turk, who has made a notable contribution to the National Hunt ranks through his early stallion lines of Herod and his son, Highflyer, themselves responsible for such historically important Flat names as The Flying Dutchman, Sir Peter Teazle, Tourbillon and The Tetrarch, among many others.

During the 1800s, descendants of the Byerley Turk made an impact at the highest level in jump racing, winning the Grand National no fewer than thirteen times, beginning with Pioneer in 1846 to Wild Man From Borneo in 1895. The Irish Grand National was won five times and the Grand Steeplechase de Paris nine times, including inclusive winners from 1875-1879, with Mambourget also scoring in 1881. In the United States, the prestigious timber chase, the Maryland Hunt Cup (inaugurated in 1894 and run over four miles) was won by The Squire in 1898 and Tom Clark in 1900 (both hailing from the Highflyer bloodline).

Even more prolific in the 1900s, the Byerley Turk's male line provided six Grand National winners, as far removed as Moifaa in 1904 and Royal Athlete in 1995. This enduring bloodline produced well-known jumpers such as Little Polveir, who won the National in 1989 and the great L’Escargot, who scored in 1975 (and twice won the Cheltenham Gold Cup. In Ireland the line fared even better in the equivalent National where it supplied the winners of nine renewals; Olympia and Fortria in 1960 and 1961 and Last Link (herself dam of 1985 Grand National winner Last Suspect) and Splash in 1963 and 1965, all by Fortina (from the French bloodline of the Derby and St Leger winner, The Flying Dutchman). Fortina himself sired many fine jumpers, including Bampton Castle, who won the American Grand National in 1966 and 1968, Fort Leney, the Cheltenham Gold Cup winner of 1968, Glencaraig Lady, who won that race in 1972 and Fort Devon, who took the Maryland Hunt Cup of 1976.

A steady supply of Cheltenham Gold Cup winners emerged from the Turk line during the later 1900s and included such names as Mont Tremblant in 1952, the aforementioned Fortina (in 1947) and his son Fort Leney and L’Escargot (1970-71), through to more recent names such as Alverton (in 1979), Little Owl (in 1981), The Thinker (in 1987), Cool Ground (in 1992) and Cool Dawn (in 1998).

In Europe, descendants of the Byerley Turk made an impression in Italy's important Gran Premio Merano. Horizon first won the race in 1936 and the Polish-bred Masini won as late as 2004 (along with dual wins in the Grand Steeple Chase di Milano over a similar distance in 2004 and 2007), before taking up stud duties. In France, the Grand Steeplechase de Paris was won numerous times by Turk descendants during 1904-1966, including a hat-trick of wins by Hyeres III (another Flying Dutchman scion) in 1964-66.

Back in the US, the American Grand National was won ten times between 1913-1981, most recently by Zaccio, a son of Lorenzaccio (grandsire of recently-deceased Derby winner and sire, Dr Devious). Continuing the good run of form in the Maryland Hunt Cup, two Turk-line runners scored hat-tricks in the early part of the century and more recently Tong struck twice in the 1980s.

As is so often the case in jump racing, the dearth of entire sons to carry on a stallion’s bloodline can be problematical, with so many quality male runners being gelded and therefore unable to reproduce. These days the European jumping branch of the line principally hangs on through the stallions Video Rock (1984) and Definite Article (1992).

Definitly Red claims victory in the Cotswold Chase @CheltenhamRaces! Watch LIVE on @ITV4 pic.twitter.com/kKIhLYUqTv

— ITV Racing (@itvracing) January 27, 2018

The former, a French son of Prix Lupin winner, No Lute, sired numerous winners and became a champion French jump sire. Among his notable offspring are the top-class chaser Hussard Collonges who won the Royal & SunAlliance Chase at Cheltenham in 2002 and the smart handicap chaser Nenuphar Collonges, who won the Albert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle in 2008. A less illustrious racehorse son, Kap Rock (2004), a half-brother to Nicky Henderson's Christmas Hurdle winner, Geos, was sent to stud in France and has shown promise with his early jumping crops, including with a winning trio over hurdles/fences at Compiegne on March 5^th this year.

In Britain and Ireland, the Irish Derby runner-up, Definite Article, sire of Irish St Leger hero Vinnie Roe, gained a foothold in the National Hunt sphere by siring some quality jumpers, his best being Definitly Red, a high-class Grade 2-winning staying chaser, Non So, a smart chaser who won the Racing Post Plate (Handicap Chase) at Cheltenham over two miles and five furlongs for Nicky Henderson in 2006, Pingshou, a smart hurdle winner around two miles, who took the Top Novices' Hurdle at Aintree for Colin Tizzard in 2017 and the useful Black Jack Blues (2003), who won numerous hurdle/chase races in Britain before crossing the Atlantic to win the American Grand National, where he was named Eclipse Champion Steeplechaser in 2011.

Although the golden heydays seem to be over, the Byerley Turk male bloodline still holds its own within the modern jumping sphere and should stay fairly prominent for a while, particularly in France and Britain, although the question of there being suitable, or enough, successors to propel the line forwards remains.

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