Spanker is described in the GSB as the Best horse at Newmarket in Charles II's [1660-1685] reign, although there is no record of any of his races. The GSB says he was bred by George Villiers (1628-1687), 2nd Duke of Buckingham, and later acquired by the elder Charles Pelham of Brocklesby Park, Lincolnshire [in whose ownership he becomes known as Pelham's Bay Arabian].
Spanker sired the top class racehorse [Old] Careless (1692), the sire of Betty Leedes, dam of Flying Childers (one of the best racehorses of the first half of the 18th century and Champion Sire 1730 and 1736) and Bartlet's Childers (Champion Sire 1742); and the sires Young Spanker and St. Martin.
Spanker sired a number of mares which breed on, including Charming Jenny, an early mare in the lineage of Family 6; an unnamed mare which is the dam of Jigg, sire of Croft's Partner, grandsire of [King] Herod through which the Byerley Turk sire line extends into the 19th and 20th centuries and (barely) to the present day; and the Foundation Mares of Families 27 and 42.