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Lot Essay
The celebrated race mare, Brocklesby Betty, was bred in 1711 by Charles Pelham of Brocklesby Park in Lincolnshire and went on to have an illustrious career, never being defeated. She was by the Curwen Bay Barb, which had been presented to King Louis XIV by Muli Ishmael, King of Morocco, but was by then the property of Mr. Curwen of Workington in Cumberland, out of Hobby, a mare bred by Mr. Leeds of North Milford in Yorkshire; her sire was by the Lister Turk who was brought over by the Duke of Berwick after the Siege of Buda in the reign of James II.
Several of the known depictions of Brocklesby Betty differ. A portrait formerly in the collection of James Dutton, 6th Baron Sherborne, for example, showed her with a white star and small white sock and foot on the off hind, not seen in the present picture. Later images of the horse, like that published by Cheney and Butler between 1741 and 1754, showed her with a star but without a sock or foot, while in circa 1760, James Roberts published engravings of her without any marking.
Several of the known depictions of Brocklesby Betty differ. A portrait formerly in the collection of James Dutton, 6th Baron Sherborne, for example, showed her with a white star and small white sock and foot on the off hind, not seen in the present picture. Later images of the horse, like that published by Cheney and Butler between 1741 and 1754, showed her with a star but without a sock or foot, while in circa 1760, James Roberts published engravings of her without any marking.