Sire Line

Lonsdale Arabian

Monkey b c 1725 (Lonsdale Arabian - Mare, by Curwen's Bay Barb). Sire Line Lonsdale Bay Arabian.

He was bred in England by the Earl of Lonsdale from purely Oriental ancestors. His pedigree was unconfirmed until 1929 when the then Lord Lonsdale verified that his family papers in keeping at Lowther Castle recorded Monkey's sale to America, probably in 1737. He raced only twice before entering the stud.

Fairfax Harrison describes Monkey's impact on early American bloodstock: "It was thus the fate of Monkey to perform chiefly the humble office of breeding up a native stock. The interest in him today is two fold, that he performed that function well, imparting something magical to his filly foals which made of them the foundation stock for the successful quarter racers which it was the privilege of Janus ultimately to galvanize: and that he is the only horse imported into America before the Revolution of which a contemporary portrait has come to light."

Probably imported by Colonel Nathaniel Harrison of Brandon, in Prince George County, Virginia, Monkey stood there for about a decade before moving on to North Carolina. He is said to have sired more than 300 foals in the two states. One of Monkey's unnamed daughters became the taproot mare of American Family A31, and another, the daughter of the Harrison of Brandon Mare contributed to American Family A10. He is a popular cross in old Virginia pedigrees.

Monkey died in North Carolina in 1754 at the age of twenty-nine.

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Pedigree