Godolphin Arabian

Godolphin Barb ( * ca 1724/1725, † December 1753 ), a Berber stallion who was long known as the Godolphin Arabian, because it was initially mistaken for a Arabian thoroughbred, is considered next Byerley Turk and Darley Arabian as one of the progenitors of the thoroughbred.

To his origins and his life is shrouded in numerous quite fairytale stories. The stallion was in any case originally named Sham and belonged to a group of horses. Bey of Tunis Louis XV presented. But Sham was clearly before the eyes of the French king no mercy and came into the possession of the Englishman Edward Coke, who took him as a stallion for his stud farm in Derbyshire. There, the mare Roxana was covered by the oriental stallion and threw the colt Lath, which should be one of the most famous racehorses of his time.

After Coke's death in 1733, the stallion came into the hands of Roger Williams, the 2nd Earl of Godolphin gave it to Francis Godolphin, to whom he owed the name Godolphin, under which he is known today. Godolphin Barb must have gone almost 30 years old. He died in 1753 at Christmas time, was buried next to his stall and received a commemorative stone which can be visited in Wandlebury ring today.

The life history of the animal served the American author Marguerite Henry as a novel of her book "King of the Winds". A detailed life history of the horse is found in the book " Stallion of the Sun ' by Franz Born, Sebald Verlag, 1961.

• Breeding stallion
• Arabian Horse