Sleek, speedy, and spirited, thoroughbred horses arose from Arabian stallions more than 3 centuries ago. But who were the mares that birthed these noble steeds? A new genetic analysis suggests that thoroughbred foremothers hailed from Ireland and Britain.
In the late 1600s and early 1700s, three stallions imported by British aristocrats became the famous forefathers of today’s thoroughbreds: the Godolphin Arabian, Darley Arabian, and Byerley Turk. The three originated in the Middle East region but came to England through different paths: one was purchased in France, one acquired in Italy, and the third captured from a Turkish officer at the Battle of Buda in 1686. “We know their names and we have paintings of them,” says Mim Bower, an archaeogeneticist at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. Breeders also know a lot about the horses’ descendants, as they carefully recorded the lineages over the centuries.
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