Who was I?

Paddy Lennon's depiction of The Byerley Turk, cover image courtesy of the Kenny Gallery, Galway

Today, the Byerley Turk would be 340 years old, so it’s extraordinary that he’s still popping up. However, when you consider that he’s one of the three foundation stallions of the modern thoroughbred, it’s easy to understand why his name is still bandied around by race clubs, syndicates and stud farms.

The Byerley Turk is thought to have been foaled in Serbia in 1682 and, by most accounts, he was a fierce cavalry horse.

In fact, it’s been written that he was many things, including a horse of the Privy Stables in Istanbul, a Ghazi horse and the charger of an Ottoman cavalryman. He was at the Siege of Vienna and the Siege of Buda and, later in life, at the Battle of the Boyne under Captain Robert Byerley, 'a leading figure among the High Church gentry in Yorkshire’.

It’s impossible to know if all of this is fact or legend.

However, we do know that the Byerley Turk was bred in the Ottoman Empire and that he ended up in England with Captain Byerley, probably as a war prize from an Ottoman officer. It was through Byerley that the horse got his name, and it was also through Byerley that he left his incredible legacy as a foundation stallion.

In the General Stud Book, the horse is listed simply; ‘Byerly Turk, was Captain Byerly’s charger in Ireland, in King William’s wars (1689, &c.).’ It’s a modest description, but the reality is that very little is officially recorded of the Byerley Turk’s life, and what we do know is often legend or speculation.

However, it's certain that the horse was a fine cavalry mount, possessed of great courage and superior speed. Some of this would have been his Ottoman breeding, with the Turkish horses known for being intelligent and fierce.

As a physical type, the Byerley Turk was reportedly bigger than the Arabian and Persian horses of the era. He was longer in the back and higher in the croup, and he was also very prepotent.

When he retired from cavalry duty and went to stud in England, many of his offspring proved just like him, brown or black in colour with few or no white markings.

Byerley’s horse stood as a stallion from the early 1690s. Yet again, the dates are not conclusive, but we do know that he began his stallion career at Middridge Grange in County Durham, and then moved to his master’s new home at Goldsborough Hall in 1697.

In those days, commercial stallions would walk to various estates, often covering hundreds of miles to visit mares. However, the Byerley Turk remained largely at home and, as a result, he didn’t cover exceptional books.

However, from small, ordinary numbers came extraordinary results.

In 1701 he sired Jigg (GB), who later became the sire of four-time leading stallion Partner (GB). Partner sired Tartar (GB) who then sired Herod (GB), and Herod, foaled in 1758, later emerged as one of the three foundation lines of the modern racehorse. The others were Matchem (GB) and Eclipse (GB).

Gallery: Three of the foundation sires of the modern racehorse, all descended from the Byerley Turk

Herod’s influence was brilliant and long-lasting. From 1777 to 1784, he was Champion Sire of Great Britain and Ireland, a horse largely considered ‘none better in all the land’, and his sire-son branches stretched globally, including the one that made its way to Australia in 1954 via Better Boy (Ire).

Through Better Boy, Australian breeding got Century, who in turn sired Rubiton. They were remarkable stallions, and even though Better Boy was 20 generations removed from the Byerley Turk, he had the same rich, near-black colouring, as did Century.

On March 16, 1703, the grand old Byerley Turk died in his stall at Goldsborough Hall. If the dates are correct, he was 21 years old.

It’s thought he was buried under a tree near the stables, on the estate that still stands splendid today, but it’s one of the many things we still don’t really know about this finest of old horses.