Who Was the Godolphin Arabian?

Foaled around 1724, the Godolphin Arabian has been the subject of romantic portrayals. One of the best known is King of the Wind by Marguerite Henry, the tale of a mute slave and his beautiful bay Arabian stallion named Sham on their hard-knock journey from the Moroccan Sultan’s stables to Gog Magog in England.

He was of beautiful conformation, exquisitely proportioned with large hocks, well let down, with legs of iron, with unequalled lightness of forehand — a horse of incomparable beauty whose only flaw was being headstrong. An essentially strong stallion type, his quarters broad in spite of being half-starved, tail carried in true Arabian style.

The Vicomte called the horse “Shami,” although he was sometimes called “Scham” in historical texts. The King of France was reported to be unimpressed with the Godolphin Arabian and his travelling companions, possibly because of their poor condition after their journey. The Duke of Lorraine probably got possession of the Godolphin Arabian and sold him to the Duke of Devonshire, Englishman Edward Coke. It’s unlikely that the horse pulled a water cart in France, as portrayed in King of the Wind.

Lord Godolphin's Lath, watercolor and pencil by James Seymour.

While in Coke’s ownership, the Godolphin Arabian (called “ye Arabian” in Coke’s records) covered the chestnut daughter of Bald Galloway, Roxana, known as the grey Lady Roxana in King of the Wind. The resulting foal, Lath, was an attractive bay who was called the best runner since Flying Childers, a legend in his own time. The climactic fight between Hobgoblin and the Godolphin Arabian as portrayed in King of the Wind probably never happened.

Coke died very young and left Roxana and Lath to his friend, the Earl of Godolphin, while “ye Arabian” was left to another friend, Roger Williams. The Earl of Godolphin purchased the horse from Williams and from then on he was known as the Godolphin Arabian. The Earl repeated the breeding of the Godolphin Arabian and Roxana, next getting the outstanding Cade. Although not as successful on the track as his full brother Lath, Cade left his stamp on the Thoroughbred breed through his son, Matchem, who was a competent runner and the sire of an amazing 354 offspring before his death in 1781.

In 1755, a Regulus son named Brutus was imported to South Carolina to stand at Fenwick Hall, where he introduced the influence of the Godolphin Arabian to the U.S. for the first time. Several other horses of Godolphin blood were brought to South Carolina in the mid- to late-1700s, establishing a strong foundation of Godolphin Arabian breeding in the American South.