The VRC introduced the 1800 Byerley Handicap to the July calendar in 2017 as a logical stepping stone for young horses looking for longer distances in their racing.
The story of the Byerley Turk has been told many times. This dark brown horse foaled in Europe more than 330 years ago is regarded as one of the three male progenitors of the modern thoroughbred, in company with the Darley Arabian and the Godolphin Arabian.
He was both a war horse and a racehorse. The tale is that he was captured by Englishman, Captain Robert Byerley (1660–1714) when the so-called Holy League besieged the Turks at Buda in Hungary in 1686. Some historians discount this part of the story but don’t dispute that Captain Byerley rode the horse as a charger in the 1690 Battle of the Boyne in Ireland and won a race the same year in Northern Ireland.
The Byerley Turk later stood at stud in Yorkshire. His dominant ‘male line’ descendants included Herod (1758), sire of the unbeaten Highflyer (1774). This line of succession led to some of the earliest thoroughbred stallions and mares to make their mark in Australia, including through the British sire Rockingham (1781) and his descendants.
The Byerley is a name that Victoria Racing Club members now associate with the finest of dining in the Club Stand at Flemington. The VRC proudly speaks of luxury, service and style at The Byerley restaurant with its sweeping views over the home straight.
Whichever way you look at it, the Byerley name speaks of enduring thoroughbred quality.
