|
|
|
This section examines the art and science of breeding thoroughbreds. Foundation Breeders consists of a series of short, illustrated essays on the earliest breeders of running horses, most of whom were located in the north of England.
There are also five multi-page illustrated essays on influential breeders: one focuses on the third and fourth Dukes of Grafton, who bred and raced 25 classic winners over a span of 25 years, and who developed the principal branch of the thoroughbred female Family #1. Another looks at Irish breeder J.J. Maher, a multiple-time leading breeder of thoroughbreds in Great Britain in the early decades of the 20th century; he not only bred winners of the English and Irish classic races, he also bred two winners of the Grand National Steeplechase at Aintree. Two essays on France examine the one-hundred year plus Rothschild breeding dynasty and the highly influential Boussac stud of the mid-twentieth century. Another essay offers a condensed history of Georg von Lehndorff, first director of the Prussian state stud at Gradtiz, and then director of all German state studs, whose breeding theories and practice determined the course of both thoroughbred and warmblood breeding in Germany.
Thoroughbred Racing and Breeding in South Africa is a condensed illustrated history of that nation's development of the thoroughbred, and touches on how the wealth of The Rand signficantly influenced breeding in Great Britain.
Breeding in Australia is touched on in two essays. Excerpts from author and historian Keith Binney's book, Horsemen of the First Frontier, looks at the history of the East India Company and the influence of John Macarthur in early Australia, and Michael Ford, Keeper of the Australian Stud Book, provides a History of the Australian Stud Book and the men who shaped it.
Additional information on early breeders of thoroughbreds is embedded in various portraits, in the individual Foundation Mare family essays, and in the biographies and portraits in the Foundation Sires section.
|
RELATED OFF-SITE LINKS
Historical Overview of Yorkshire Racing and Breeding
|
|
