against the Duke of Somerset. The influential Tregonwell Frampton, known as the "Father of the Turf" was keeper of William's horses, and performed the same task for Queen Anne, George I and possibly Charles II and James II. He did much to improve the breed. The three foundation sires of the modern thoroughbred, the Byerley Turk, Darley Arabian and Godolphin Barb were imported to England in the late 17th and early 18th centuries and founded the lines which can be traced down to every modern thoroughbred racehorse. At this point, they weren't the only influential sires. Others, including the grey Barb donated by the King to a Mr Hutton, and known as Hutton's Grey Barb contributed importantly to the breed. The improvement of the breed was not purely for sporting purposes though. Warfare and conquest were also factors. As Whyte noted, "to the excellence of the British horse... may be ascribed much of our superiority over other nations, both in commerce and in war." 18th century In the early 18th century, Queen Anne kept a large string of horses and was instrumental in the founding of Royal Ascot where the opening race each year is still called the Queen Anne Stakes. The first published account of race results was John Cheney's Historical list of all the Horse Matches run, and all plates and prizes run for in England and Wales which dates to 1727. The Weatherby family succeeded Cheney as the keepers of the most complete set of racing records, and in a later work which came into their possession, published in York in 1748, the result is recorded of a race run in September 1709 on Clifton and Rawcliffe Ings, near York, for a gold cup of £50. In 1740, Parliament introduced an act "to restrain and to prevent the excessive increase in horse racing"; this was largely ignored and in the 1750 the Jockey Club was formed to create and apply the Rules of Racing. However, until the 1760s, individual horses seldom ran more than five or six times, due to the scarcity of prizes on offer, but this began to change with major race meetings expanding the prizes on offer. Newmarket and York led the way in this. Races were still generally for mature horses, and were typically run in matches, or in best-of-three heats over long distances. Three-year-old races were first run in 1731 and two-year-olds