in the pedigree - which is probably most QH and paint owners! I'd had someone state the he was not purebred from Britian. Since Arabs are pretty much the only thing I consider 'pure'bred and a ridiculous concept for the most part, I researched it. Very interesting!
What was the Jersey Act?
It was a measure introduced by Lord Jersey to the English Jockey Club in May of 1913. It passed unanimously and immediately became part of the General (English) Stud Book. The essence of this rule was the exclusion of any horse not completely traceable to the General Stud Book. This action automatically classified most American horses as "half breeds" and, therefore, impure for breeding purposes in other countries.
Prior to this decision, both the English and American Stud books had recognized the other’s registry since 1873. This unilateral reversal was aimed at excluding an anticipated influx of American stock into the English market.
During the 1890s and first decade of the 1900s, antigambling legislation had just about killed American racing. It came to a crescendo when New York banned racing in 1911. Racing and breeding were being abandoned in the United States in favor of Britain and the continent.
When racing gradually revived here, there was great resentment against this brand of illegitimacy of our native Thoroughbreds. One of the greatest owners and breeders in our history, John Madden, said in The Thoroughbred Record of January 1921, "Man o’ War has the finest qualities of a great Thoroughbred and ancestors cannot help or hurt him now, except in fancy. Let his lineage be as it is and his pedigree begin with his own great name."
Even Man o’ War was excluded by the Jersey Act. In later years, the act boomeranged as so-labelled "half-breeds" began to win the major English races at such a rate that the "pure" English stock no longer reigned supreme. The Jersey Act was quietly and wisely rescinded in 1949.
It was Lexington whose offspring could not trace back and gave them the excuse to ban the line. Mostly because he dominated the breeding stock with winners in the US, threatened the English, and so they elimated his offspring as breeding stock in England. A quote from this book: http://books.google.com/books?id=8-3Q5fDGa2cC&pg=PA125&lpg=PA125&dq=jersey+act+1913+Man+%27O+War&source=web&ots=df05Yv1i9q&sig=wirI7phBav5Yysx5Jycu5na2nl0&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=7&ct=result
should suffice as evidence.
http://books.google.com/books?id=8-3Q5fDGa2cC&pg=PA125&lpg=PA125&dq=jersey+act+1913+Man+%27O+War&source=web&ots=df05Yv1i9q&sig=wirI7phBav5Yysx5Jycu5na2nl0&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=7&ct=result
I
Interesting reading for those of you with Man 'O War
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