2 JUNE 1984, Page 19

Before Newmarket

Sir: It might be unconscious, but there is in Simon Blow's amusing article on Newmarket ('Newmarket's old brigade', 12 May) a slight whiff of anti-Arab patronage. That the Arabs are back in force on the English turf is no more than poetic and genetic justice. The English thoroughbred's founding fathers were the immortal trinity of the Darley and Godolphin Arabians and the Byerley Turk. As a Newmarket trainer recently and truly remarked, the Arabs were breeding racehorses before the English tribes began painting themselves blue.

W. E. Armstrong

16 Rue Thiers, 64100 Bayonne, France