This site is not, nor does it have links to, the official website of the Jockey Club, providing instead an academic study of the history of the Club.
Every effort has been made to contact copyright holders of material reproduced in this article, and if someone believes that they are the rightful owner where acknowledgement has not been stated, I would be pleased to rectify the omission.
(© John W Slusar 2021)

CONTENTS
1. Kings and Queens and their Palaces in Newmarket
2. The Probing Years 1665-1716
3. The Bonding Years 1717-27
4. Subscribers to the early Purses and Stakes races
5. Speculation on early Jockey Club Members
6. The Formative Years 1727-40
7. Was there a break between the 1727 Jockey Club and the 1750 Jockey Club?
8. The Challenging Years 1741-49
9. If not the Act then what?
10. The Early Years 1750-67
11. Sir Charles Bunbury (Perpetual President) 1768-1821
12. Newmarket Challenge Cup and Challenge Whip
13. The Further Development Years; Christopher Wilson 1822-35
14. The Lord George Bentinck Years 1836-46
15. The Admiral Henry John Rous Years 1847-77
16. The Final Years of the 19th Century, Sir John Astley 1878-99
17. Lord Durham, 5th Earl of Rosebery, 8th Earl of Jersey 1900-1928
18. Lord Hamilton of Dalzell 1928-52
19. 6th Earl of Rosebery, Lord Howard De Walden 1953-88
20. Lord Hartington, Preparing for the 21st Century 1989-99
21. 2000-2007 Modern Times
22. Post 2007 BHA

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I am grateful to Richard Nash, Professor Emeritus of English at Indiana University, who has provided copies of his work, shared his ideas, given freely of his time, and provided an insight into projects which he is currently undertaking on the History of the Jockey Club and the History of Horse Racing in general. Whenever Richard’s ideas have been used in some of the sections on this webpage, I have given appropriate acknowledgement. He has written numerous papers and articles on the subject, including:-
'Sporting with Kings'
'Turf Wars in Newmarket'
'Beware a Bastard Breed: Notes Toward a Revisionist History of the Thoroughbred Racehorse'
'Noble Brutes: How Eastern Horses Transformed English Culture'
'Honest English Breed: The Thoroughbred as Cultural Metaphor'
Further acknowledgements are given at the end of the article.

On Thursday 11th October 1666 the inaugural running of the Newmarket Town Plate took place.

Early race meetings were certainly staged at Clifton Ings, York (1530), Chester (1539), Carlisle and Doncaster (1559), Huntingdon (1602), Leicester (1603), Hambleton, near Thirsk (1612), and Killingworth Moor, near Newcastle (1621), and before all of these, the Kiplingcotes Derby has reportedly been run continuously since 1555, and each would have required an administrator to organise every aspect of the meeting, fixing a date and starting time, advertising the meeting, preparing the course and having a dispute mechanism in case of transgression of rules. But what rules? Did each have their own set of rules, did each reinvent the wheel, and, if so, which of them would emerge to provide the blueprint for a universal set of rules to govern all future race meetings? Would it be Kiplingcotes with its early Articles of 1619, or Malton, in the same county, with its Articles of 1634, or more likely York, capital city in the largest county in England and home to a cathedral on a par with Canterbury, or would one of the others become so influential that they would dominate horse racing throughout the United Kingdom? A year later, in a small town on the Suffolk and Cambridgeshire border, Newmarket, described by James I in February 1605 as a ‘poor little village’, staged a horse race match between Lord Salisbury and George Villiers, Marquis of Buckingham for £100 on Friday 8th March 1622, so launching their bid to become the centre of thoroughbred racing in the UK. For at least the next century a power struggle for supremacy was played out involving Noblemen and wealthy gentlemen, Royalty and Parliamentary members, racehorse owners and their skilful trainers, until the dominant members of each of these groups united to form the Jockey Club.
Of all the groups mentioned above, the most likely to vie for early supremacy would have been Royalty and MPs, but what was Charles II’s motive in 1665, when he presented his Articles for the newly created Newmarket Town Plate to be run on the second Thursday in October 1666, and the same day each year for ever? It is probably no coincidence that the date of the Articles, 1665, coincided with the opening of the Round Course at Newmarket. While James I and Charles I had some interest in the sport of horse racing at Newmarket, it was Charles II who brought a much greater level of interest and engagement, and during his reign it became a particularly favoured pastime of the royal household and the court. Charles II was a skilful rider who is thought to have partnered the winner of the Town Plate in 1671, and possibly for a second time in 1675, maintaining his interest in racing until his death on 6th February 1685. If the Town Plate at Newmarket, and the associated articles, was his opening bid to gain influence over racing, then the further stages of development would have been to extend the rules, introduce an annual group of races staged at a variety of racecourses throughout his kingdom, appoint his own group of officials to organise the races, ensure the rules were adhered to, and keep records of the results. Richard Nash makes a very important point, ‘Although Charles is identified as the monarch who established the Royal Plates, which are generally understood to be £100 plates, all the evidence indicates that the Royal Plates during Charles's reign were for lower amounts (£20 or possibly £40 in some instances).  And the plates that Charles won in 1671 and 1675 were not Royal Plates as we later come to understand them, but races that were limited to participants from the immediate royal court with a prize offered by the king, rather than a race open to all competitors. Therefore, although there was no specific ‘Jockey Club’ at this time, ‘the ‘Club was the Court’ and the monarch presided there, as he did at the court.’ Charles II appointed George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, to be Master of the Horse between 1668 and 1674, followed by Charles’s eldest illegitimate son, John Scott (Fitzroy) Duke of Monmouth from 1674 to 1679. The first Royal Plate, of sorts, had been run at Newmarket on Friday 14th March 1634 during the reign of his father Charles I, whilst during Charles II’s reign 6 Royal Plates, of sorts, were held, 5 of them in Newmarket, while a sixth, on 17th March 1681, was transferred to Burford, Oxfordshire for political reasons, Charles having moved his Parliament to Oxford. Within a year of moving the parliament to Burford there was significant unrest between the Tory Party and the Whigs which festered further when on Monday 11th and Tuesday 12th September 1682 rival race meetings were held in Wallasey, Cheshire and Delamere Forest, about 27 miles apart. The historian Mr J B Robertson wrote about the fixture clash, ‘The Whigs proved the craftier technicians, arranging that a smart animal, the property of the Hon. Thomas Wharton, already entered for the Tory Plate at Delamere, should run in the name of the Duke of Monmouth at the same time of the meeting at Wallasey. Mr Wharton’s horse won the Delamere race easily, while at Wallasey the Duke of Monmouth rode his own horse to victory in the £60 Plate, securing an across the card double for the Duke. On Tuesday evening much merrymaking took place in Liverpool, and after Wednesday’s racing the Monmouth party and the local Whigs returned to Chester in triumph to celebrate the Duke’s dual victory. At the banquet which followed at Mansion House, under the presidency of the Mayor, Lord Derby, Monmouth’s health was proposed and drunk before that of his father, King Charles II. He was arrested as he returned to London and was charged with fomenting rebellion, brought to trial and acquitted on 23rd October 1682. However, the King, who was fond of his illegitimate son, advised him to return to the Continent, although his racehorses continued to run in England under his name.’ Forty years later discussion took place about commemorating the event with a race at Wallasey. It would be a stretch to suggest that an early form of the Jockey Club was operational during the reign of Charles II, although some of the ideas he had initiated could well have laid the foundations of a Club for future monarchs, especially William III.
On his death on 6th February 1685 Charles II was replaced by James II who was less keen on racing, and had other more pressing concerns, with trouble on at least two fronts threatening his ability to remain in power. The aforementioned Duke of Monmouth led an unsuccessful rebellion, the Monmouth Rebellion, against his uncle between February and the summer of 1685 and was tried and beheaded on 15th July 1685. That did not end James II’s troubles; on 10th June 1688 his son, James Francis Edward, was born a Roman Catholic and became heir to the throne in front of his half-sister Mary, although within 6 months of his birth his father was forced into exile in France to be replaced by Mary, and her husband William of Orange, both Protestants. Despite James II not being particularly supportive of racing, an important race did take place at Newmarket in April 1688 during the Easter week celebrations. It was a contribution race restricted to the ‘nobility and gentry’ when each contributor had to put up £100 towards a Plate, a significant increase on all but one previous contribution Plates, the exception being a similarly priced contest at Quainton Meadows, near Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire organised by Thomas Wharton. Later in 1688 a second Plate, advertised for £80 a throw, was staged in October 1688, and an additional Plate for £60 a time the next year, with so called ‘gold tumbler’ races staged in April and October for the next two years. Three key points of interest about this series of Plates are the regularity of the Plates, the dignitaries who contributed, as many of them will be mentioned later as likely members of the early Jockey Club, and the restrictions of entry, mirroring similar restrictions imposed on the Jockey Club Plates two generations later. During the ‘joint reign’ of William and Mary a single Royal Plate was held, but William was keen to extend his interest in, and influence on, racing. Richard Nash comments’ ‘It is not Charles II, but William III, who established the value of a Royal Plate of £100 as we come to understand them, and who subsequently expanded the number of Royal Plates.  He does that in 1695, in conjunction with a Royal Visit to Newmarket at a time, following the death of Mary, when some of those who had supported him in 1689 were considering recalling James from exile; there is a clear link between the value he sets on the Royal Plates with that Noblemen and Gentlemen's Contribution Plate subscription of 1688.  And this is also linked to his creating at the same time the post of Keeper of the King's Running Horses for Tregonwell Frampton, who effectively serves as a "vice regent for racing."  Charles had been active in bringing the court to the turf; William wants to position himself as a proper successor to Charles (rather than a usurper of James), but he also wants to cultivate those supporters of protestant monarchy by proxy.  During the rest of his reign and the reign of Anne, there is an effective royal sponsorship of the sport, but one that operates more by proxy through the figure of Frampton than through the mechanism of the Club.’  William died on 8th March 1702 to be replaced by Queen Anne, famous for the part she played in Ascot’s history, and during her reign there were 46 Royal Plates, but she died on 1st August 1714 and was replaced by George I.  

George I visited Newmarket and within a year, in 1718, the Newmarket Match Book began recording all matches taking place at Newmarket. As early as February 1679 the London Gazette of 12-15 stated that Mr John Nelson kept a Register of all horse-matches, foot-matches, cock-matches and bets on the premises at the Groom-Porter’s Office in Newmarket. Even before then there were chroniclers of such matches mention by William Osmer in his book, ‘A Dissertation on Horses’. Although no copy of John Nelson’s books, let alone any earlier ones, have survived, and it may well have been a one-off, but could 1680 have been the date of the first Racing Calendar or an early version of the Newmarket Match-Book? Nelson certainly regarded it as a business proposition, detailing the benefits of purchasing a copy together with instructions on how to purchase one, ‘Benefit such as live far from London, and design to be at Newmarket Meetings, who may, by that means, know when the principal Matches are run. And if any person is desirous to have a copy of the said Matches sent at any time to any part of England, he may either have them from the said Mr John Nelson at Newmarket, or upon writing to him thither a letter for him at the Groom-Porter’s in Whitehall, with half a crown for the transcript, and the said copy shall be sent according to the directions of the party.’ Although little may have come of John Nelson's early attempt at a Racing Calendar, could the re-launch of the Newmarket Match-Book in 1718 have signalled the beginning of a bonding period when Royalty invited noblemen and prominent gentlemen of the Turf to form a Club, not only setting the rules by which race meetings were governed, but also realising the importance of laying claim to the ownership of the racing calendar and associated horse racing records which ultimately led to the publication by John Cheny in 1727 of the first Racing Calendar? Clubs were springing up all over the country, and the number of racing venues continued to increase, each with differing sets of rules. Richard Nash throws light on the subject, commenting ‘As I see the history, each race meet originally drew up its own set of articles, effectively meaning that there were multiple "clubs," though not formally established. But there would also be a natural tendency for meets to organize along similar lines as other meets, especially where the participants were common to both. And in that mode of operation, Newmarket would naturally be influential due to the money and status being greater; and that it would have drawn participants from the most regions. And there are signs that there was at least overlap between Newmarket and Yorkshire.’ After 1700 a number of county societies began formally meeting on a regular basis as Clubs in the counties of Derbyshire, Huntingdonshire, Lancashire and Oxfordshire. In Cornwall members began congregating at the Fountain Tavern, while in Herefordshire the meeting place was the Blue Posts, but arguably the most active at that time was the Yorkshire Club which met each market day at a public house at Smithfield. Members included horse-dealers and farriers, with horse racing and horse-trading popular topics of discussion, especially if they had one or two unsound horses to move on. Richard Nash comments further, ‘It's tempting to read those Clubs (which did wager on matches) as imitating the higher-class model at Newmarket. Leonard Childers of Doncaster, who bred Childers and was active in York racing is, in at least one year, identified as the contact person for an early Jockey Club subscription at Newmarket. Therefore, there is some reason to imagine that the early club forming around Newmarket racing is not unique, but more of a model of imitation to other venues.’
One indicator that the probing of ideas stage had moved into an action stage, when likely Club members began bonding, was the introduction of a very different Contribution race. Although the idea of a Contribution race was not new, indeed a Contribution Plate was in operation as early as 1688 which required subscribers to commit to an annual programme of races run in heats, this race differed from that previous model. The new race, in its early years called the 'Noblemen and Gentlemen's Contribution Purse', was a single 4-mile race for horses under six years of age, each carrying 9st, with subscribers committed to a five-year programme. The inaugural running of this new Purse took place in October 1717 and lasted until 1721, with a second phase between 1722 and 1726, later phases became known as the October Stakes. The race, restricted to subscribers, was similar to the Jockey Club Plates of a generation later which were restricted to Jockey Club Members. Although the subscribers had not, at this stage, formed a Jockey Club in name, many of them were very likely founder members of the Jockey Club which certainly existed by 1729. Equally, however, just subscribing to the race did not guarantee entry to the future Club, as some of the subscribers were ladies, including Dorothy Manners, wife of the 3rd Earl of Gainsborough, who later became Dorothy Noel. Another indicator of like-minded people bonding together in a Club was the support members gave to a programme of more regular Kings Plates for six-year-olds carrying 12st, which conveniently provided opportunities for the previous year’s winner of the Contribution Purse to build on their success. During the reign of George I the number of Royal Plates certainly increased significantly, totalling 97 Plates run on a range of racecourses throughout the land, although the figure excludes the one run in Ireland. Whilst the Match Book detailed all races, not just matches, run in Newmarket, Cheny’s work extended to all of the important meetings in England at that point, and gave him first run on ‘the Club’. After Cheny’s first publication, which became an annual summary of races in England, ‘the Club’ had to battle with John Cheny until he died in 1749 (although in places it is recorded as 1751). He was followed by John Pond and his ‘Sporting Kalendar’ between 1751 and 1758, which also began listing rules of racing operational at the time, while Reginald Heber, between 1751 and 1768, also published annual Calendars which included racing colours for the first time, and the Jockey Club got its first mention. Others followed before James Weatherby, initially in partnership with William Tuting and Thomas Fawconer, was appointed Keeper of the Match Book by the Jockey Club in 1770, and published his first volume of the Racing Calendar in 1773. Although in the beginning Weatherby’s were publishing on behalf of the Jockey Club, it was a further 29 years before the Jockey Club purchased and printed all future annual Racing Calendars. Maybe the foundations laid by George I did bear fruit, because a further 558 Royal Plates were staged during the reign of George II, and another 127 Royal Plates took place during George III’s time.

Subscribers to the 'Noblemen & Gentlemen's Contribution Purse'

Leading up to the inaugural running of the Noblemen and Gentlemen's Contribution Purse, George I visited Newmarket in October 1717 and, to mark the occasion, a number of dignitaries were invited to dine with the King; racing almost certainly being one of the main topics of conversation. Could it have been the occasion when the King sounded out individuals to determine their willingness to subscribe to the new Contribution Purse, or even to broach the idea of bonding together as a Club, although not yet called the Jockey Club? Known attendees at the dinner included 2nd Duke of Devonshire, William Cavendish, who was a subscriber; 2nd Duke of Rutland, John Manners, who was a subscriber; the Earl of Halifax, George Montagu, who was a subscriber, as well as 1st Duke of Kent, Henry Grey, 2nd Duke of Montagu, John Montagu, 1st Duke of Roxburghe, John Ker, 1st Duke of Portland, Henry Bentinck, 3rd Earl of Sunderland, Charles Spencer, 3rd Lord Viscount Lonsdale, Henry Lowther and Lord Hervey, Carr Harvey who was the son of the 1st Earl of Bristol John Hervey. Even if the Jockey Club, in name, was not launched in 1717, many of those attending the dinner would have become members in 1727, and their descendants did become members of the 1750 version of the Jockey Club. On Thursday 3rd October 1717 George I was present at the Kings Plate at Newmarket, the 19th such Plate staged during his reign, when Brocklesby Betty, owned by Mr Pelham, was victorious. The King attended again the next day, despite heavy rain, when a second Kings Plate for mares only was contested. Although the King left Newmarket for Cambridge at the weekend, he had planned to return to Newmarket for the inaugural running of the Contribution Purse on Monday 7th October 1717 but, instead, he had pressing business at Hampton Court. It was a time of political turbulence when there was growing disunity among senior Whig members of the government, with a large number of MPs and Peers breaking away from the ruling party and creating a schism which led to George I proroguing Parliament until 21st November 1717.

Charles Powlett, 3rd Duke of Bolton

Born 1685

Died 1754

Blue, trimmed yellow saddle cloth; blue, yellow cuffs livery coat

Wallasey Stakes

Throughout the period 1717 to 1727 an exciting series of races, settled by a single heat, took place at Newmarket in a structured race programme, including Kings Plates for 6-year-olds, Kings Gold Cups for 5-y-o mares, and the Noblemen and Gentlemen's Contribution Purses restricted to subscribers prepared to commit for the long haul, with other Kings Plates staged at a small number of other racecourses. However, in 1722, and to mark the previously mentioned race at Wallasey in 1682, discussions took place regarding a subscription race for 20 guineas at Wallasey. At the meeting were many noblemen who played a significant part in the early Jockey Club, including the Dukes of Devonshire and Bridgewater, the Lords Derby, Gower, Barrymore and Molyneux, Sir Richard Grosvenor, the keen racing and hunting enthusiast Mr Watkin Williams Wynne, Mr Buckle Mackworth and Mr Cholmondeley. They agreed to subscribe 20 guineas for a ten-year period to the Wallasey Stakes for 5-year-olds, scheduled to be run over 4 miles on the first Thursday in May with each horse carrying 10st. The prize of 280 guineas, equivalent to £63,000 in 2021, made it the richest race in the country.

Scroop Egerton, 1st Duke of Bridgewater

Born 1681

Died 1744

1717-21

1722-26

Russet, trimmed yellow saddle cloth; Blue, trimmed red rug

CLOUDY (7th Contribution Purse, Newmarket 1719)

SPOT (10th Contribution Purse, Newmarket 1725)

2nd Duke of Devonshire, William Cavendish

Born 1673

Died 1729

1717-21

1722-26

Blue, trimmed yellow saddle cloth; Yellow, blue cuffs livery coat

2nd Duke of Rutland, John Manners

Born 1676

Died 1721

CONEYSKINS (Kings Plate Nottingham, Lincoln, Newmarket 1718)

BROWN BETTY (Kings Plate, Newmarket 1719)

BONNY BLACK (Kings Plate Hambleton 1719, 1720, Newmarket 1721)

FOX (Kings Plate Lewes, Newmarket 1720)

October Sweepstake

George I died on 11th June 1727 at a time when many future Jockey Club members were bonding together. Many of them subscribed to both 5 year periods of the Noblemen and Gentlemen's Contribution Purses from 1717 to 1721 and again from 1722 to 1726, and a number of them had regular runners in the Kings Plates run on a number of racecourses. Furthermore, most of the widely accepted future Jockey Club members also subscribed to the Wallasey Stakes in Cheshire. When the second phase of the Noblemen and Contributions Purse was completed in October 1726 the burgeoning Jockey Club launched the October Sweepstake, pitched at 20 guineas, for horses not exceeding 5 who had only ever started at Newmarket. The new event lasted for two 5-year periods, initially from 1727 to 1731, the first being won by the appropriately named Sweepstakes, and then the subscription was increased to 25 guineas between 1732 and 1736.

3rd Duke of Rutland, John Manners

Born 1696

Died 1779

6th Duke of Somerset, Charles Seymour

Born 1662

Died 1748

1717-21

1722-26

1st Duke of Wharton, Philip Wharton (son of Honest Tom Wharton who died in 1715)

Born 1698

Died 1731

BETHEL (Contribution Purse, Newmarket 1718)

DESDEMONA (Contribution Purse, Newmarket 1719)

Great Stakes

By 1729 the Jockey Club was fully up and running in Newmarket, and while Kings Plates for 6-year-olds and 5-year-old mares were held at various times throughout the year, the racing season still required structure. The Noblemen and Gentlemen's Contribution Purse had been replaced by the October Sweepstakes, both being in October at the end of the season. In 1729 discussion took place about introducing a new, more valuable sweepstake of 100 guineas a throw at the start of the season aimed at younger horses, 4-year-olds referred to as colts and fillies because, at this time. they were the youngest horses to race. The first such sweepstake, appropriately named the Great Stakes, was staged on Thursday 23rd April 1730 for 4-year-old colts and fillies carrying 8st 7lbs over 4 miles, with a further condition that the horses had to have been the property of subscribers for at 2 years prior to the race.

Lord Drogheda, Henry Moore

Born 1700

Died 1727

1717-21

1722-26

4th Lord Gainsborough, Baptist Noel

Born 1708

Died 1751

Lady Gainsborough, Dorothy Manner (Noel)

Born 1681

Died 1734

2nd Lord Godolphin, Francis Godolphin

Born 1678

Died 1766

Blue, trimmed red saddle cloth and rug

Although the only two noblemen to have been named in the newspaper articles about the Jockey Club in 1729 were the host, the Duke of Bolton, and Lord Godolphin, additional clues to likely early members come from those who had entries in the various Kings Plates, and those who subscribed to the Noblemen & Gentlemen's Purse, the Wallasey Stakes, the October Sweepstakes and the Great Stakes, although it is accepted that entry alone dd not lead to membership. Some might believe that the Duke of Bolton's poor health might have dulled his enthusiasm for racing, yet he hosted both the meeting in 1729 and a similar meeting a decade later, and the table below shows that he remained heavily involved in racing. The list below indicates the number of times prominent noblemen and gentlemen won important races, while in brackets there are the number of entries they had between 1717 and 1726, and again between 1727 and 1739.
1717-1726
Duke of Rutland 14 (22)
Sir Robert Fagg 4 (15)
Lord Halifax 4 (7)
Lord Carlisle 4 (5)
Sir Michael Newton 3 (5)
Lord Godolphin 3 (5)
Duke of Bolton 2 (9)
2nd Duke of Devonshire 2 (7)
Sir Richard Grosvenor 2 (5)
Lord Tankerville 2 (3)
Duke of Ancaster 2 (2)
Duke of Wharton 2 (2)

1727-1739
Duke of Bolton 4 (16)
3rd Duke of Devonshire 3 (12)
Lord Godolphin 3 (7)
Lord Lonsdale 3 (6)
Duke of Ancaster 3 (5)
Sir Michael Newton 2 (14)
Lord Gower 2 (6)
Duke of Somerset 1 (14)
Lord Halifax 1 (10)
Sir Richard Grosvenor 1 (3)
Duke of Bridgewater 0 (9)
Lord Portmore 0 (5)

John Leveson-Gower, Lord Gower

Born 1694

Died 1754

Blue, trimmed yellow or red saddle cloth

Lord Halifax, George Montagu

Born 1685

Died 1739

SOPHONISBA (Kings Plate Hambleton 1722, Newmarket, York 1723)

ALBA JENNY (Kings PLate Newmarket, Guildford 1723)

SAMPSON (Kings Plate, Guildford 1727)

1st Lord Hillsborough, Thomas Hill

Born 1693

Died 1742

Lord Milsintown, David Colyear (1st Earl of Portmore)

Born 1656

Died 1730

Green, trimmed orange saddlecloth and livery coat

2nd Lord Onslow, Thomas Onslow

Born 1679

Died 1740

1st Lord Tankerville, Charles Bennet

Born 1674

Died 1722

Sir Robert Fagg

Born 1673

Died 1736

1717-21

1722-26

LEANDER (Kings Plate Guildford 1718)

TICKLE-ME-QUICKLY (Contribution Purse, Newmarket 1723, Kings PLate Lewes 1724)

The two lists of successful owners provide the opportunity to determine whether there was any continuity between the early Jockey Club circa 1727 and the modern-day Jockey Club, previously thought to have been founded in 1750. Ten members on the first list had died by 1750, but 6 people on the second list were still alive by 1750. Those 6 provide a link between the early Jockey Club and the 'modern day' Jockey Club, and they were Lord Lonsdale (died 1751), the Duke of Bolton (died 1754), Lord Gower (died 1754), the 3rd Duke of Devonshire (died 1755), Lord Portmore (died 1785) and Lord Godolphin (died 1768), although he was into his mid-70's by then and might not have been an active member.

Sir Richard Grosvenor

Born 1689

Died 1732

Sir Michael Newton

Born 1695

Died 1743

Tregonwell Frampton (1641-12th March 1728)
Tregonwell Frampton was born at Moreton in Dorset in 1641, the fifth son of the Lord of the Manor of Moreton, William Frampton, and his wife Katharine who came from Milton Abbas. From an early age Tregonwell enjoyed country pursuits, especially hawking, cock-fighting and hare coursing, although throughout his life his main love was reserved for horse racing. He was born at a time when the earliest shoots of racing were beginning to bloom. Newmarket Heath was cleared in 1660 and this, along with Nell Gwynn, attracted King Charles II to Newmarket. Tregonwell began to attend race meetings on a regular basis, even buying a house in Newmarket on the quaintly named Shagbag Alley, now Sackville Street, and he acquired ground at the foot of Warren Hill and Long Hill on which he built his first stables in 1670. He could rightly be called the first trainer in Newmarket, the 'father of the turf', having been installed as trainer at Wandlebury by James II, he was made the official 'keeper of the running horses' at Newmarket in 1695, initially for William III who died on 8th March 1702, followed by Queen Anne who died on 1st August 1714, then George I, less interested in racing, who died on 22nd June 1727, and finally George II who outlived him. His role of 'keeper of the King's running horses' gave him power and influence, supervising the Monarch's racehorses and acting as arbiter on the racecourse. Whilst the Jockey Club, in name, might only recently have been founded in 1727, the role Frampton held was the equivalent of Jockey Club Steward. He liked to gamble, but was a shrewd operator with well-developed skills as a trainer, seldom leaving much to chance. He was also respected, earned over a long period of time, which enabled him to directly influence the development of racing in the town, establishing a set of unwritten rules. In the latter part of the 18th century horse racing was primarily focussed on 3 racecourses, Newmarket in the South, and Black Hambleton, near Thirsk, and York in the North, and the bragging rights to be the best were at stake when Frampton challenged one of Yorkshire's most prominent owners, Sir William Strickland, to a Match. Exact details of the Match are unknown, but the Merlin Match was famous in its day and was the first time a law regarding betting had to be passed to stop many from ruin. By 1700 it is alleged that Frampton supervised a stable of racehorses in Newmarket, receiving an annual sum of £1000 to pay for ten boys to look after the horses, and for all of the feedstuff and expenses associated with training. It was further rumoured that he received £100 for every horse in training. In 1704 he built a stable block which remains in place today at Heath House and Osborne House Stables, and these stables are likely to have housed Royal horses despite the Palce stables being nearby. Indeed, Osborne House lays claim to being the oldest stable block in Newmarket. It is currently used to house the yearlings of neighbouring Heath House Stables, and the site mysteriously contains 5 separate wells, now bricked up, but their original purpose is uncertain. He died on 12th March 1728, not 1727 as recorded in many sources, and is buried in All Saints Church in Newmarket. His death left a vacuum in horse racing, especially in Newmarket, a power vacuum which could have been filled in three ways; by Parliament, by an Administrator, or by prominent racehorse owners in Newmarket forming a Club to continue the development work initiated by Frampton. Parliament's intervention is briefly discussed in the Old Merlin Match, while the Administrator route could have been pursued by John Cheny, and the formation of a Club was initiated by the Duke of Bolton amongst others.

John Cheny
Just as the season of Tregonwell Frampton was coming to an end in 1727 Mr John Cheney published his ‘Historical list of all the Horse Matches run, and all plates and prizes run for in England and Wales’, the first account of race results in the form of an Annual Racing Calendar. Although, at this early stage, it did not contain any rules relating to racing, as future Racing Calendars produced by Weatherby’s later did, it was not an attempt to take over the administration of horse racing, but merely to produce a comprehensive account of races, to the value of £10 and upwards, run in those early years of the 18th century. Indeed, John Cheny stated his Calendars were, ’intended reading for gentlemen who would welcome the opportunity, in the midst of winter, of diverting themselves with a prospect, as it were, of the Sport of each past Year, with the eventual aim of making a profit from their betting’. Although the main focus of the Calendar was on races at York, Newmarket and Black Hambleton, the 3 principal locations of racecourses in those days, mention was made of 2 purses run at Ascot, one of the grand sum of 30 guineas, and the other for 10 guineas. The Calendars continued to be printed right up to the death of John Cheny, although variations by different authors were also produced. Richard Nash writes, ‘I suspect that John Cheny operated outside the Club as an independent, but this gets to be a very complicated issue at, and immediately following, Cheny's final illness and death in 1749.  The struggle for succession is intense and quite complicated; and further detail is required, but it is pretty clear that the Jockey Club wanted to take over the project, because we can see that they set John Pond up in business with their blessing and patronage.  But they can't use the title "Historical List" which belongs to Cheny and his son and successor, Butler, who then partners with Reginald Heber, who continues the publication after Cheny and Butler are driven out (rather violently, actually).  This is why Pond creates the new title of "Sporting Kalendar," but Heber keeps his readership and clearly outperforms Pond (who really was not the right man for the job); Pond quits when he gets an inheritance, by which time the leaders of the Jockey Club have all drifted back to Reginald Heber anyway.  There is more manoeuvring and scheming when Heber dies, which culminates in Weatherby forcing out his opponents and establishing the Racing Calendar as effectively the publication arm of the Jockey Club. At the time John Cheny was publishing his ‘Historical Lists’ the Jockey Club was still very much an elite club of grandees interested primarily in Newmarket, while Cheny (certainly at the outset) is very clearly interested in addressing a wide audience of participants at venues all around the country.’

While the vacuum in racing administration created by the death of Tregonwell Frampton in 1728 was not solved by an Act of Parliament, nor filled by an administrator like John Cheny, it is highly probable that like-minded Noblemen based in Newmarket, who had an interest in horse racing, saw it as an opportunity to form a Club to discuss improvements in training methods. The earliest record of a Jockey Club meeting was in the first week of August 1729 when the Ipswich Journal, published on Saturday 2nd August 1729, reported that the Jockey Club, consisting of several Noblemen and Gentlemen were due to meet at Hackwood in Hampshire, the seat of the Duke of Bolton to discuss their methods for ‘the better keeping of their respective racehorse strings’ at Newmarket. The 3rd Duke of Bolton, Charles Powlett, was born on 3rd September 1685 and succeeded to his father’s estate in Hampshire on the death of his father on 21st January 1722. Richard Nash comments, ‘Frampton's death and his replacement by Thomas Panton in 1728 must certainly have been very much part of what was under consideration during the meeting of the Jockey Club at Hackwood in 1729.  Among other things, Frampton had been located at Newmarket, but Panton seems to have been affiliated with the Duke of Devonshire who had established a training facility at Odsey, so there may have been thought of moving from Newmarket to Odsey.  But perhaps as important would have been the health of Devonshire himself.  I suspect that Devonshire (perhaps with Godolphin) was the leading figure of the Jockey Club during this early phase, but he is in very poor health and winds up dying that winter, and I suspect that there was a need to find a new leader and Bolton may have been the choice.’ Although the next time the Jockey Club is mentioned is almost 4 years later, it is clear that the Club had been meeting on a regular basis and, by 20th January 1733, held their meetings at William's Coffee-House, St James's in London. Once again it is the Duke of Bolton who is one of the driving forces behind the meetings.

Speculation on early members of the Jockey Club
Given that the Turf Senate meeting held on Saturday 2nd August 1729 was to discuss methods for 'the better keeping of their respective racehorse strings' at Newmarket, it is worth investigating who the Duke's of Bolton's near neighbours in Newmarket were at this time, as they seem to be the most likely other members of the early Jockey Club. It is known that the Duke's of Bolton were based at 144 High Street, Newmarket as shown on Chapman's 1787 map of Newmarket racing stables circa 1770. At that time the owners of neighbouring properties in Newmarket were the Dukes of Bridgewater, Gower and Ancaster. A brief history of each of these families around that period is given below. The Dukes of Cumberland, Devonshire and Grafton are other likely early members, along with the Earl of Portmore, a gambling mad racing fanatic who succeeded to his title in 1729, and Charles Bennet, 2nd Earl of Tankerville (Master of the Buckhounds) and his political friend Ralph Jenison who succeeded him as Master of the Buckhounds in 1737. The 3rd Duke of Bolton died on 26th August 1754 and was succeeded by Harry Powlett, 4th Duke of Bolton until 1759, by Charles Lowlett, 5th Duke until 1765, and by Harry Powlett, 6th Duke until 1794. Afterwards, 144 High Street was used by Mr Bond as a Gambling Hell in 1834; Mike Huggins comments, 'The Messrs Bond, brothers, were rivals of Crockford at this period and also ran a 'gambling hell' as they were then described in St James Street, London. Like Crockford they owned racehorses and took bets too.' Afterwards, between 1852 and 1896 144 High Street was owned by Baron Maurice de Hirsch, a prominent racehorse owner who enjoyed significant successes at Ascot.
Dukes of Bolton
3rd Duke of Bolton, Charles Powlett (1685-1754)
4th Duke of Bolton, Harry Powlett (1691-1759)
5th Duke of Bolton, Charles Powlett (1718-1765)
6th Duke of Bolton, Harry Powlett (1720-1794)
Dukes of Grafton
2nd Duke of Grafton, Charles Fitzroy (1683-1757)
3rd Duke of Grafton, Augustus Henry Fitzroy (1735-1811)
Dukes of Bridgewater
1st Duke of Bridgewater, Scroop Egerton (1681-1744)
3rd Duke of Bridgewater, Francis Egerton (1736-1803)
Duke of Cumberland
1st Duke of Cumberland, Prince William Augustus (1721-31/10/1765)
Dukes of Devonshire
3rd Duke of Devonshire, William Cavendish (1698-1755)
4th Duke of Devonshire, William Cavendish (1720-1764)
Dukes of Ancaster
2nd Duke of Ancaster. Peregrine Bertie (1686-1742)
3rd Duke of Ancaster, Peregrine Bertie (1714-1778)
Earl of Godolphin
2nd Earl of Godolphin, Francis Godolphin (1678-1766)
Earl of Gower
1st Earl of Gower, John Leveson-Gower (1694-1754)
1st Marquis of Stafford, Granville Leveson-Gower (1721-1803)
Earl of Portmore
2nd Earl of Portmore, Charles Colyear (1700-1785)
Earl of Tankerville
2nd Earl of Tankerville, Charles Bennet (1697-1753)

Whilst no records still exist to confirm the members of the Jockey Club pre-1750, one could speculate who the likely members were leading up to 1750.

Peregrine Bertie, 2nd Duke of Ancaster

Born 1686

Died 1742

At first the Jockey Club met at Hackwood House, on the Duke of Bolton’s Hackwood Estate in Hampshire, as indicated in the Ipswich Journal on Saturday 2nd August 1729. The Hackwood Estate was initially owned by the Manor of Eastrop until 1223 when it became a deer Park, but in the 16th century it was purchased by the 1st Marquis of Winchester, William Paulet. The Paulet family built a splendid House on the Estate between 1683 and 1687 for the son of the 5th Marquess of Winchester and that son, Charles Paulet, became the Duke of Bolton. Successive sons of the Duke of Bolton inherited the House and Estate, and it was the 3rd Duke of Bolton, Charles Paulet who would have initiated and overseen Jockey Club meetings in those early days. By 1733 meetings had switched to William’s Coffee-House in St James, London, as indicated in the Newcastle Courant on Saturday 27th January 1733, primarily because many of the Members would have bases in London and would have conducted their main business in London. It was a short step from William’s to the Thatched House Tavern on St James’s Street, a central location for many of the Members, and another meeting place for early Jockey Club gatherings. The Club did not seem to have a permanent home in the early days, also meeting at the Star and Garter, Pall Mall, The Corner on Hyde Park and much later at Weatherby’s room in Old Burlington Street. Whilst it is unlikely that meetings were held regularly in the Clarendon Club, or the oldest of London’s Gentlemens’ clubs, White’s which was founded in 1693 at 37-38 St James’s Street, evolving from Mrs White’s Chocolate House owned by Francesco Bianco, nevertheless, members of both of those exclusive Clubs would also have been members of the Jockey Club. Many of those Gentlemen Club Members who enjoyed many benefits at the Clarendon and White’s would have appreciated experiencing those same benefits wherever they went racing, especially at Newmarket. One way of ensuring that did enjoy such benefits, and keep less desirable people at arms length, was to move their base from London to Newmarket. Even though many of the Duke’s mentioned as potential early Jockey Club Members already had training facilities in Newmarket, they would have desired quarters to meet like-minded, wealthy noblemen and gentlemen. They started to secure such premises in the early 1750s, gradually moving their base from London to Newmarket, although at this stage they did not own ground in Newmarket High Street, nor any land on the Heath, but were able to sub-lease land. Mike Huggins sheds further light on this, writing, ‘On 29th August 1750 the Duke of Queensberry, 'Old Q', had been the winner of an infamous carriage race at Newmarket. One of the grooms responsible for preparing and riding the horses pulling this carriage was a William Erratt (sometimes spelt Errat), who was 'honest lightweight and skilful', a groom in Panton's employ, and the three other riders were Lord March's own stable lads. William Erratt would have been rewarded by the Duke for his efforts in this race, as in that same year he leased this piece of land that the Jockey Club now stands on and built a Coffee Room. The location he chose is not surprising, because, in 1750 William had been working for Thomas Panton, whose house was next door at No. 105-113 High Street.

Charles Powlett, 3rd Duke of Bolton

Born 1685

Died 1754

SWEEPSTAKE (His Majesty's Plate, Newmarket 1728)

SYPHAX (His Majesty's Plate, York 1733)

STARLING (His Majesty's Plate, Newmarket 1734)

Scroop Egerton, 1st Duke of Bridgewater

Born 1681

Died 1744

William Cavendish, 3rd Duke of Devonshire

Born 1698

Died 1755

PLAISTOW (His Majesty's Plate, Newmarket 1737)

SECOND (His Majesty's Plate, Ipswich 1737)

SECOND (His Majesty's Plate, Newmarket 1738)

John Leveson-Gower, 1st Earl of Gower

Born 1694

Died 1754

1st Earl of Halifax, George Montagu

Born 1685

Died 1739

SOPHONISBA (His Majesty's Plate, Newmarket 1723)

BARFORTH (His Majesty's Plate, Guildford & Nottingham 1737)

2nd Earl of Godolphin, Francis Godolphin

Born 1678

Died 1766

MORAT (His Majesty's Plate, Newmarket 1731)

DISMAL (His Majesty's Plate, Ipswich 1738)

2nd Earl of Portmore, Charles Colyear

Born 1700

Died 1785

FAIR ROSAMUND (Uppingham Plate, 1730)

VICTORIOUS, DAFFODIL & HUTTON, Newmarket Matches, April 1731)

2nd Earl of Tankerville, Charles Bennet

Born 1697

Died 1753

SOPHONISBA (King's Plate 1723)

BAY WILKINSON (King's Plate 1724)

As a jockey there is data on William racing at Newmarket from 1744 to 1755 a total of sixty-five times, riding his own horse in a 100 guineas race in 1745, riding for several owners each year, but obviously on most occasions for Thomas Panton, always riding in blue. Living his married life in All Saints parish, William Erratt was born sometime around, or before, 1710 and with his wife Anne they had five children, all baptised at All Saint's church. William subsequently went on to own racehorses and is listed as such in the pedigrees of horses in 1759 & 1765 - so by definition at that time William would be a Jockey. In 1752, The Jockey Club further sub-leased the land from William to be used as a meeting place for its members. Subsequently in 1771 one of the club's founder members, Richard Vernon, bought the ground lease from William for a term of 60 years, and the Jockey Club became his tenants. He subsequently extended the Coffee Room and this building can be seen on Chapman's 1787 map, shown as the 'New Rooms'. In 1781 William insured the property for £1,900 (worth £207,400 now). He died 1787. PROB 11/1150/335 Will of William Erratt, Gentleman of Newmarket, Cambridgeshire 27 February 1787 Interesting guy.’ As a 'gentleman' he could well have been an early Jockey Club member, although he did not have an entry in any Jockey Club Stakes, but I have tentatively recorded him as a supplementary member. 

Was the Newmarket Bank the Jockey Club's Bookmaker?

An interesting development in the world of betting took place in Newmarket as the Jockey Club began to emerge, and was almost certainly an initiative instigated by Jockey Club Members. When the second phase of the Noblemen and Contributions Purse was completed in October 1726 the burgeoning Jockey Club launched a new sweepstake for a 5-year period, pitched at 20 guineas, for horses not exceeding 5 who had only ever started at Newmarket. If this was to be the new norm then a secure method had to be devised to collect subscriptions and bank them on a regular basis rather than relying on Members to pay up if their horses were unsuccessful. Certainly by 1729, and possibly before, the Newmarket Bank opened for business, but it was not a conventional Bank as we know them today with current accounts and loans, but one which had a gambling arm as well. It would appear that, as well as collecting subscriptions, Members could invest and receive dividends if results went in the Bank’s favour. The first such sweepstake when the Bank was definitely operational, was the appropriately named Great Stakes which was staged for the first time on Thursday 23rd April 1730. In May 1731 the Governor and Directors of the Bank met at Williams Coffee House in St James Street, sharing £58 per cent from the April meeting which had just finished. On 2nd April 1833 the London Read Weekly Journal reported the results of Newmarket races when Mr Panton’s fill (7/4) beat Lord Lonsdale’s filly. This race was followed by the Duke of Bridgewater’s Beauty beating Lord Lonsdale’s Ugly (7/4), and then Mr Rich’s Galloway beat the Earl of Portmore’s Galloway (4/7 fav). The final race of the meeting saw Mr Coke’s Bauble (6/4) beat Mr Vane’s mare Miss Hackney and, as a result of the profits from this days sport, the Newmarket Bank paid a dividend of 14 ½% to shareholders. Less than a month later, on 27th April 1833 the Weekly Messenger commented on the Newmarket meeting, ‘On Tuesday last the Earl of Essex’s gelding beat Lord Gower’s filly for 300 Guineas. On Wednesday the Duke of Bolton’s Starling beat Mr Panton’s Mouse for 300 Guineas, while on the Thursday the Duke of Bolton’s Looby beat the Earl of Halifax’s Bumperretto. On the final day Mr Cotton’s Commoner paid the forfeit to Mr Coke’s Hobgoblin in the Mile Match. As a consequence of the meeting the Newmarket Bank are enabled to divide above 40% on their capital by the profits.’ By 1735 the operational period of the Bank was nearing its end, although whether this was due to some of the subscription race periods nearing their end, or because of a series of poor results, is unclear, although on 10th April 1735 newspapers reported that the Newmarket Bank took the odds on Mondays meeting on the Sweepstakes in which 4 were entered, and lost the equivalent of £9000 in todays money. The entries were the Earl of Essex’s colt, the Earl of Halifax’s colt, Lord Middleton’s filly and Sir Michael Newton’s bay colt, although only two competed, with Sir Michael Newton’s colt (2/7 fav) beating Lord Essex’s colt. This result should not have bankrupted the Bank, although the amount lost amounted to £40 per cent.

Was there a break between the 1727 Jockey Club and the 1750 Jockey Club?

1. As a consequence of the 1740 Act, operational from 24th June 1740, which placed severe conditions on racecourses, many of the smaller courses were unable to meet the challenge and fell by the wayside. Some historians, who now accept that a Jockey Club existed by 1727, and continued to exist up to 1740, question whether the Jockey Club and, in particular Newmarket, suffered from the new Act. If that were so then maybe there was no direct connection between the early version of the Jockey Club and the present-day Jockey Club, established in about 1750.
2. The Act did not apply to Scotland, Ireland, Black Hambleton and Newmarket.
3. The Duke of Bolton and 2nd Earl of Godolphin, the only two people definitely mentioned in the 1729 newspaper reports about the Jockey Club, were still alive until 1754 and 1766 respectively, and they are unlikely to have given up a Club they helped to form despite suffering ill health. Indeed, the Bolton family had a presence in Newmarket in 1729 (Ipswich Journal, Saturday 2nd August 1729) and still had a presence in the mid-1700s (Chapman's maps of Newmarket racing stables, 144 High Street).
4. The Act was largely ignored by all, especially after 1744, and did not come into operation until 24th June 1740, so the only questionable period is between 1741 and 1744. Although the number of important races run at Newmarket did drop significantly between 1741 and 1743, likely Jockey Club Members were still winning those races which were held. In 1739 sixteen major races were held at Newmarket, but this reduced to ten in 1740, the same as in 1741, reduced to five in 1742, increased to seven in 1743 and would have been more but for racing on Tuesday 5th April cancelled due to heavy snowfall, and bounced back thereafter to 13, 17 and 21 in the next 3 years. A list of the winners in the key years 1741-49 confirms that probable Jockey Club Members were winning the races.
5. However, the key reason for arriving at the conclusion that there was no break in continuity between the early Jockey Club of the period 1727 to 1749 being the same as the present day Jockey Club, previously thought to have been founded in about 1750, is the lack of a report in any newspaper to the contrary. Newspapers were increasingly more widespread in the 1740s than the late 1720s, yet the Jockey Club was mentioned in 1729 in both the Daily Post and Universal Spectator on 2nd August 1729, and on numerous occasions throughout the next decade. Between that first mention in August 1729 and 1740 no less than 11 different newspapers reported on Jockey Club activities, including the British Journal, Daily Advertiser, Daily Courant, Daily Post, Fog's Weekly Journal, Grub Street Journal, London Evening Post, London Journal, The Craftsman, The Country Journal and the Universal Spectator. If the Jockey Club ceased to exist in the late 1740s, for at most a 5 year period, then at least one newspaper somewhere in England would have reported that fact. Furthermore, if the Jockey Club was then reformed in the late 1740s, or early 1750s, newspapers would have mentioned that it was a reformed Club based on a previous model. In the absence of such reports the obvious conclusion is that it did not cease, and therefore did not need to be reformed. It was certainly still in existence in 1743 for the Daily Advertiser of 14th January 1743 reported, 'Yesterday (Thursday 13th January 1743) several Noblemen belonging to the Gentlemen's Jockey Club were at the White Horse Inn in Fleet Street, to see the wonderful Gigantick (sic) Prussian colt, and acknowledged it the most surprising creature of its kind ever yet seen; and though large it is as nimble as a greyhound, and as gentle as a lamb; it can be seen between 9 o'clock in the Morning until 4 o'clock in the Afternoon.'

An early written record of the existence of the Jockey Club

In the Year 2300 will Historians question the continued existence of the Jockey Club in the periods 1740-44, 1914-18, 1939-45 or 2020, claiming that the decrease in the number of meetings during those periods provided all the evidence they needed to justify their claim? Will they further contend that the reduced winners notched up by trainers, and the diminished returns on their investments in racehorses by Jockey Club Members who were also racehorse owners, provided further evidence to substantiate their argument? They might even profess that their modern-day Jockey Club was founded in 2021, having not been all that active in 2020, in the same way that some believe the Jockey Club of 1740, which probably was founded in 1727 (or even earlier in 1717), did not go on to evolve into the one we know today. That is until other Historians identify reasons why these were periods of slumber for racing, not least because the country was at War; in 1740-44 with the Spanish until it extended into a wider confrontation, in the 2 horrific World Wars, and in 2020 mankind’s war against coronavirus. For over 270 years the Jockey Club believed their founding date was around 1750, until newspapers began to be digitalized, allowing for instant access to almost every newspaper ever written, and Mike Huggins (2013) and Richard Nash, at the same time, found a reference to a Jockey Club meeting in 1729. However, knowledge of this meeting, and the previous existence of a much earlier Jockey Club, was much earlier than 2013, because J P Hore provided full details of the meeting in his 1893 book, ‘The History of the Royal Buckhounds.’ He writes, ‘Ascot races were held on 9th and 10th July 1739 …… but we shall hear nothing of Ascot races for some years hence. They were, indirectly, suppressed by the Jockey Club, and by the Act of Parliament of George II. Nearly ten years prior to this time the members of the Jockey Club held a memorable meeting on 1st August 1729 at Hackwood, the Duke of Bolton’s seat in Hampshire, for the ostensible purpose: ‘to consider of methods for the better keeping of their respective strings at Newmarket’.

Hore continues, ‘At this meeting of the original members of the Jockey Club it was agreed unanimously that steps should be taken to discountenance, and if possible, to suppress the so-called race meetings which had, at about this time, sprung up in every part of the country, on the ground that such race meetings were inimical to the true interests of the turf. In the metropolis several of those so-called race meetings were conducted in the most disgraceful manner. They were associated with disgusting scenes of gross profligacy, brutality, drunkenness and robbery. During the decade ending 1739 these hole-and-corner racing fixtures, at which thoroughbred horses rarely ran, attained unenviable notoriety, and were almost universally condemned by the public and in the press. At length the remonstrances of the members of the Jockey Club and others had the desired effect. A Bill was introduced in Parliament, in which were embodied certain provisions calculated to put a stop to the atrocities perpetrated under the disguise of horse-racing. Unfortunately, in passing the Act, such genuine races as those run for at Ascot and elsewhere by horses owned by staghunters and hunt-servants, to whom a large stake was not the primary object, had been overlooked; consequently, as Ascot was too poor to raise sufficient money to increase the 20 and 40 Guineas Plates to two of £50 each, these races had to drop out of the annals of the turf during the ensuing 4 years. Within less than a year of the Act we were at War with Spain.’

Act of Parliament limiting racing
Leading up to 1739 gambling is omnipresent, whether on horse racing, dice games like Hazard, from which the modern-day game Craps is derived, or cock fighting, with huge sums won and lost, cheating was rife, and this was a concern for Parliament which tried to limit its impact, particularly on the lower classes, by passing the 1739 Gaming Act. In 1740 racing was proving so popular, with most minor and some major venues staging races that were not true run horse races, that Parliament introduced the act on 24th June 1740 'to restrain and to prevent the excessive increase in horse racing'. The Act stipulated that, 'No person was allowed to enter, start, or run any race horse, mare or gelding for any race, unless the animal so entered was the bona fide property of the person by whom it was entered. No person can enter more than one horse in any race. No Plate can be run for under the value of £50. Any infringement of this stipulation was liable to a penalty of £200; 5-year-old horses to carry 10st each; 6-year-olds to carry 11st; 7-year-olds to carry 12st. Owners of horses carrying less weight than that stipulated to forfeit £200. The entrance money to go to the second best horse and not to what was then technically known as the 'Fund'.' The act, certainly by 1744, was largely ignored, and in any case did not apply to Scotland, Ireland, Newmarket or Black Hambleton. However, it had a significant effect on smaller, local meetings and even affected fixtures at Ascot. Many annual meetings, giving much pleasure to the local communities, had to abandon their meetings as their race funds were insufficient to sustain Plates of £50. A helpful adjustment to the wording was made in 1744 when Plates were allowed for horses in the possession of Huntsmen or Yeoman prickers of His Majesty's buckhounds. Parliament presumed that their Act would suppress gambling amongst the lower classes whilst not restricting the enjoyment level and betting opportunities of the upper crust, but it was passed at a time when racing was suffering a period of decline not necessarily caused by the Act. Whilst most would have found the prevailing conditions inopportune in the decade from 1741 to 1751, a few would have crafted those same conditions, by hook or by crook, to their advantage. One to launch his career in racehorse ownership in 1744 was George Prentice, winning his first race with Moorcock at York on 10th August 1744, and more will be heard of Prentice towards the end of the decade, and the first year of the next decade.

Duke of Ancaster, Peregrine Bertie, 3rd Duke

Born 1714

Died 1778

MISS ROMP (His Majesty's Plate, Newmarket 1742)

DIZZY (His Majesty's Plate, Newmarket 1747)

Was the 1740 Act to blame for the wider decline in racing between 1739 and 1749 and, if so, what was the effect of the 1740 Act on Matches, Newmarket and the Jockey Club

Whether the Jockey Club was founded in 1717 or 1727, or any year in between, what is not in doubt is that Newmarket emerged as the centre of British horse racing even though, at this stage, the Jockey Club had no significant power over any racecourse outside of Newmarket. The six diagrams below display data on the winners of all races worth £100 or more, showing whether the race was a Match usually run in heats, Sweepstake, Subscription Purse or Kings Plate, together with the racecourse. Analysis of the data indicates the changing nature of races over time, from almost the complete dominance of Matches run in heats, to single heat races which, in the early days, were Kings Plates, until Sweepstakes began to emerge and grab the attention of both punters and bookmakers alike. The diagrams also provide an insight into the dominance of Newmarket from the early Jockey Club, circa 1727, up to the 1740 Act of Parliament, and then through to 1750 and beyond, once thought to be the founding date of the modern day Jockey Club. However, the Act probably played very little part in the sudden decline in interest in Newmarket, because all of the Matches, previously such a staple part of the racecard, were worth more than £50 and therefore not affected by the Act. Wider afield, in 1739 as many as 157 meetings were held on as many as 145 racecourses, many of them one day affairs in local towns and villages, but these were all but obliterated two years later by the Act when just 60 fixtures were held spread across just 56 racecourses. An unforeseen byproduct of the Act was that wealthy noblemen became reluctant to risk their wealth in Matches, and that those who had previously done so, the likes of the 1st Duke of Bridgewater, 2nd Duke of Rutland, 2nd Duke of Devonshire, 1st Duke of Wharton and 6th Duke of Somerset had all died and few replacements emerged.

Charles Powlett, 3rd Duke of Bolton

Born 1685

Died 1754

William Cavendish, 3rd Duke of Devonshire

Born 1698

Died 1755

John Leveson-Gower, 1st Earl of Gower

Born 1694

Died 1754

MISS VIXEN (His Majesty's Plate, Newmarket 1743)

TORTOISE (His Majesty's Plate, Newmarket 1744)

LITTLE JOHN (His Majesty's Plate, Newmarket 1747)

2nd Earl of Godolphin, Francis Godolphin

Born 1678

Died 1766

CADE (His Majesty's Plate, Newmarket 1740)

MOLOTTO (His Majesty's Plate, Newmarket 1743)

2nd Earl of Portmore, Charles Colyear

Born 1700

Died 1785

MISS ABIGAIL (His Majesty's Plate, Newmarket 1741)

LADY CAROLINE (His Majesty's Plate, Newmarket 1745)

2nd Earl of Tankerville, Charles Bennet

Born 1697

Died 1753

If not the Act then what?

Whilst it is clear that the 1740 Act had a detrimental effect on racing at minor racecourses, at Newmarket other reasons came in to play to cause the dip in the number of races in the early part of the 1740s, particularly as the decline in interest in forming Matches was especially marked. So, what was distracting the likely Jockey Club Members?
a) Was the age of likely Jockey Club Members a factor?
b) Was the country troubled by actions abroad?
c) Was the country troubled by actions at home?
d) Did the philanthropic Jockey Club Members work on a joint project so important to them that they did not have time for trivialities like Match racing against one another?
a) The period of most interest is from 1739 to 1746, the lead up to the dip through to a period when things began to get back to normal. In 1742, the year when Newmarket races were at their lowest ebb, the 9 key likely Jockey Club Members were aged as follows; 1st Duke of Cumberland (21), 2nd Earl of Portmore (42), 3rd Duke of Devonshire (44), 1st Earl of Gower (48), 2nd Duke of Ancaster (56), 3rd Duke of Bolton (57), 2nd Duke of Grafton (59), 1st Duke of Bridgewater (61) and 2nd Earl of Godolphin (64). Whilst it is accepted that the Duke of Bolton had suffered from ill health for some time, he was still active in racing and was one of the major contributors to a key meeting held in 1739.
b) In the period 1739 to 1748 there was tension in Europe and, up to 1742, Britain had a direct conflict with the Spanish. The War of Jenkins' Ear, a conflict between Britain and Spain, lasted from 1739 to 1748, although major operations were finished by the end of 1742. The incident was caused by an event in 1731 when Robert Jenkins, captain of a British merchant ship, was confronted by the Spanish coast guard who boarded his ship, and as arguments became more and more intense a Spanish sailor cut off Jenkin's ear. After 1742 the conflict was not ended, but was subsumed into a prolonged Europe wide conflict called the War of Austrian Succession which was not settled until the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748.
c) While the bulk of the British Army were otherwise engaged in active service on mainland Europe fighting the War of Austrian Succession, Charles Edward Stuart felt that the time was right to regain the British throne for his father, James Francis Edward Stuart, the 'Old Pretender'. The Duke of Cumberland would certainly not have had time to pursue his hobby of horse racing between 1739 and 1746 as he is credited with ending the so-called Jacobean Rising. The Duke of Cumberland, Prince William Augustus, youngest son of King George II, initially joined the Navy in 1740 aged just 19, but within a year he became Colonel of 1st Regiment of Foot Guards in the British Army. In December 1742 he was appointed a Major-General, and by 1746 he earned the nickname 'Butcher Cumberland' for putting down the Jacobite Rising at the Battle of Culloden.
d) In 1739 the Foundling Hospital, Bloomsbury, London was founded by a sea captain, Thomas Coram, with significant support from a number of noblemen, many of whom happened also to be likely members of the Jockey Club, and was the most fashionable charity of the late 1730s and early 1740s. Essentially it was an orphanage for infants abandoned by their destitute mothers, the children's home providing 'education and maintenance for exposed and deserted young children'. The Royal Founding Charter, signed by King George II, was presented by Thomas Coram to the Duke of Bedford at old Somerset House in 1739, with the first children admitted on 25th March 1741. Founding governors of the Foundling Hospital between 1739 and 1741 included, Charles Powlett (3rd Duke of Bolton), Charles Fitzroy (2nd Duke of Grafton), William Cavendish (3rd Duke of Devonshire), Peregrine Bertie (2nd Duke of Ancaster), Francis Godolphin (2nd Earl of Godolphin), John Leveson-Gower (1st Earl of Gower) and Charles Colyear (2nd Earl of Portmore). Surely this was a much more worthy use of their time and money than staging Matches against one another.

After 1750 there is no further need to speculate on likely Members of the Jockey Club as ample evidence starts to emerge, either from Orders of meetings signed by Members present, or by having a runner in a Jockey Club Plate which was restricted to Jockey Club Members, the first such Plates being held on Tuesday 15th and Thursday 17th May 1753.

Matchmaker, Matchmaker make me a Match, find me a Rookie, Catch me a Catch

Although the pie charts, displayed earlier, show the distribution of types of races between 1727 and 1752, and indicate the changing nature of races over time, from almost the complete dominance of Matches run in heats, to single heat races which, in the early days, were Kings Plates, until Sweepstakes began to emerge and grab the attention of both punters and bookmakers alike, it is worth examining in detail a couple of Matches run in Heats in 1750, the year before the George Prentice incident. Richard Nash comments, ‘Although Prentice was undoubtedly a cheat (and a brazen loud mouth to boot), the rules of plate racing fairly invited an unscrupulous owner to cheat in precisely the way Prentice did. In fact, on a technicality, he could claim innocence, though only at the expense of honour, as no rule prevented what he did. In heat racing, any horse who does not finish within 240 yards of the winner is distanced, and eliminated from future heats. To win the plate, a horse must win 2 heats; if three heats produce three winners, those 3 horses contest a final heat for the plate.’ Many, if not the majority, of the owners running their horses in Matches, a good proportion of which were Noblemen, Gentlemen and Jockey Club Members, knew how to manipulate the odds in their favour, losing the odd heat here or there to increase the odds on their horse in future heats, but they still had to find ‘rookie’ punters who were not in the know in order to make their racing pay. If outsiders, of which George Prentice was one of the most blatant ‘blacklegs’, were able to pull the same scams, and take the money of the rookies before the honourable members, then action had to be taken. Richard Nash comments further, ‘I am uncertain when the term “blackleg” came to be associated with a “gambling cheat.” Certainly, it belongs to this era as the Duke of Cumberland (who socialized with Prentice and rented one of his properties) is identified as being fond of the company of blacklegs.’ Mike Huggins identifies other subsets of the betting market, 'There were 'flats, weak and naive young men, easily imposed on, paying out money unnecessarily, perceived as 'pigeons' ripe for plucking. There were also 'sharps', 'knowing ones', 'Greeks' and 'deep ones', all intent on exploiting them.' The common belief is that the term ‘blackleg’ originated from the rook bird, well known for its cunning behaviour and ability to steal. Rooks have black legs, hence the derivation of the word, and anyone caught up in the scam would be called a ‘rookie’, lacking experience in say, the world of betting, and easily cheated out of their money. What is both amusing and telling is that, in 1749 and 1750, George Prentice owned a horse named Blacklegs, and it is one of the 2 races, one a single race Plate and the other a Plate run in heats, which will be used as examples to illustrate the pros and cons (probably more cons carried out by pros) of Match racing. Click Here for the details.

3rd Duke of Ancaster, Peregrine Bertie

Born 1714

Died 1778

MYRTLE (Jockey Club Plate, Newmarket 1755)

SPECTATOR (Jockey Club Plate, Newmarket 1756)

TWINGE (Jockey Club Plate, Newmarket 1766)

Meeting rooms in Newmarket

It has already been noted that many of those Gentlemen Club Members who frequented the London Clubs, and enjoyed their many advantages, would have been racing folk who would have appreciated experiencing those same benefits wherever they went racing, especially at Newmarket.  Whilst many of the Dukes mentioned as potential early Jockey Club Members already had training facilities in Newmarket, and therefore their own accommodation, they would have desired quarters to meet like-minded, wealthy noblemen and gentlemen. In the early days in Newmarket they met at the Red Lion before preferring more imposing, palatial surroundings in which to meet, and there can have been few more striking places than part of the former Royal Palace. Part of the Palace had been leased to the 6th Duke of Somerset, Charles Seymour, known as the Proud Duke, in 1721 for a 31-year period, but he did not survive to the end of that lease as he died on 2nd December 1748. On his death the lease passed to his daughter by his second marriage, Lady Frances Seymour, who was married to the Marquis of Granby, John Manners. The Marquis, who Robert Black could find no evidence that he was a Jockey Club Member, allowed his splendid premises to be used as a meeting place, whenever they were available, for the Jockey Club Members from 1752 onwards. On other occasions they would have met at William Deard’s Coffee Room, with nearly 200 subscribers in the 1751 season, as listed below, while the Derby Mercury of Friday 27th April 1753 reported that, on Tuesday 24th April 1753 there were 290 subscribers in Mr Deard’s Book at the Old Rooms, and a further 140 at the New Jockey Club Rooms, and that many more were expected in the future. The Jockey Club began to secure some premises in Newmarket in the early to mid-1750s, eventually transferring their base from London to Newmarket, although at this stage they did not own ground in Newmarket High Street, nor any land on the Heath.
Prior to 1753, when Jockey Club Plate entries began confirming Jockey Club Members, the newspapers often reported lists of subscribers in William Deard’s Book at the end of each season. In 1751 the Derby Mercury compiled the following list of Noblemen and Persons of Distinction attending Newmarket races throughout the 1751 season:-
3rd Duke of Ancaster, Peregrine Bertie (1714-1778)
2nd Duke of Grafton, Charles Fitzroy (1683-1757)
6th Duke of Hamilton, James Hamilton (1724-1758)
2nd Duke of Kingston, Evelyn Pierrepont (1711-1773)
1st Earl of Bath, William Pulteney (1684-1764)
10th Earl of Eglinton, Alexander Montgomerie (1723-1769)
5th Earl of Elibank, Patrick Murray (1703-1778)
2nd Earl of Godolphin, Francis Godolphin (1678-1766)
3rd Earl of March, William Douglas (Old Q) (1724-1810)
2nd Earl of Portmore, Charles Colyear (1700-1785)
4th Earl of Sandwich, John Montagu (1718-1792)
2nd Earl of Sussex, George Augustus Yelveton (1727-1758)
 2nd Earl of Waldegrave, James Waldegrave (1715-1763)
1st Lord Abergavenny, George Nevill (1727-1785)
5th Lord Byron, William Byron (1722-1798)
2nd Lord Chedworth, John Thynne Howe (1714-1762)
1st Lord Howe, Richard Howe (1726-1799)
1st Lord Montfort, Henry Bromley (1705-1755)
3rd Lord Onslow, Richard Onslow (1715-1776)
Lord Trentham, Granville Leveson-Gower (1721-1803)
Sir William Bunbury (1709-1764)
Sir John Elwell (circa 1711-1781)
Sir William Maynard (1721-1772)
Sir John Moore (1718-1779)
Sir Thomas Saunders Sebright (1723-1761)
Sir Peter Soame (1707-1798)
Is this a complete list of Jockey Club Members in the early 1750s?

Charles Powlett, 3rd Duke of Bolton

Born 1685

Died 1754

3rd Duke of Bridgewater, Francis Egerton

Born 1736

Died 1803

MISS PATTY (£50 Plate, Newmarket 1757 & 1758)

BRISK £50 Plate< Newmarket 1758)

Duke of Cumberland, Prince William Augustus

Born 1721

Died 1765

SPILLETTA (bay mare by Regulus out of Mother Western, foaled 1749)

CYPRON (bay mare by Blaze out of Salomes, foaled 1750)

MARKSE (Jockey Club Plate, Newmarket 1754)

William Cavendish, 3rd Duke of Devonshire

Born 1698

Died 1755

Duke of Devonshire, William Cavendish, 4th Duke (Marquess of Hartington)

Born 1720

Died 1764

ATLAS (King's Plate, York, Newmarket & Lincoln 1758)

ATLAS (Jockey Club Plate, Newmarket 1759)

Augustus Henry Fitzroy, 3rd Duke of Grafton

Born 1735

Died 1811

ANTINOUS (King's Plate, Ipswich 1762)

HAVANNAH (King's Plate, Salisbury & Winchester 1763)

6th Duke of Hamilton, James George Hamilton

Born 1724

Died 1758

2nd Duke of Kingston, Evelyn Pierrepont

Born 1711

Died 1773

PRINCE (King's Plate, Nottingham & York 1757)

MINER (King's Plate, Winchester & Salisbury 1758)

4th Duke of Marlborough, George Spencer

Born 1739

Died 1817

Sir Hugh Percy (Smithson), 1st Duke of Northumberland

Born 1714

Died 1786

PERSIUS (King's Plate, Litchfield 1759)

CESARIO (Jockey Club Plate, Newmarket 1764)

NARCISSUS (Jockey Club Plate, Newmarket 1765)

3rd Duke of Richmond, Lord March, Charles Lennox

Born 1735

Died 1806

GALLANT (£50 Plate, Newmarket 1758)

BOUNCE (£50 Plate, Newmarket 1761)

Jockey Club Comes of Age

It was in the 1751 season that a defining moment occurred which caused the Jockey Club to come of age. After anything between 24 and 34 years meeting as a social group, often sharing ideas on how their horses could be trained to gain a vital edge on opponents, the group was forced into action. Some believe the ‘big bang’ moment was caused by one man, the previously mentioned George Prentice, one horse, Trimmer, and one race, the King’s Plate at Newmarket. It is worth examining the ability and form of Trimmer leading up to the fateful race at Newmarket in April 1751. George Prentice, the seldom successful racehorse owner from Banstead, Epsom purchased a horse in Yorkshire from Mr Dutton, Trimmer, a bay colt by Hobgoblin out of Amorett foaled in 1744. The horse had proved his worth for Mr Dutton, winning His Majesty’s Plate for 5-year-olds over 2 miles at Lichfield on 5th September 1749, winning both heats, beating Lady Caroline in the first heat and Crab in the second. Under Prentice’s ownership Trimmer won the 135 guineas 5-year-old race at Newmarket on 21st April 1750, beating Squirrel, Noble and Dash comfortably in both heats. He was still able to contest a race for 5-year-olds because, at that time, horses had their birthday on 1st May rather than 1st January, but it was the final race of significance for 5-year-olds before they became 6 on 1st May and therefore were eligible for the valuable King's Plate races over 4 miles. In his next race, His Majesty’s Plate of 100 guineas over 4 miles at Lewes on 10th August 1750, Trimmer, now aged 6, was opposed by Stump, Verjuice and Noble, who he had left in his wake just 4 months beforehand, and although he ran second behind Verjuice in the opening heat, once again conforming his superiority over Noble, he then inexplicably was last in the final 2 heats, both won by Mr Meredith’s Stump. Had something gone amiss with him for him to be beaten twice by Noble? On Tuesday 21st August 1750, just 11 days after his mysterious run at Lewes, Trimmer turned out again on Barham Downs, Canterbury to contest the King’s Plate of 100 guineas over 4 miles and overturned the form comprehensively against Stump, winning both heats against his sole opponent, Lord Portmore’s Beau having been withdrawn. Why had he run so badly at Lewes, yet won so easily so soon after that race? He showed his well-being again on 4th October 1750 at Newmarket in His Majesty’s Plate over 4 miles on the Round Course, defeating Crab, Stump and Looby, although he took 3 heats to do so, finishing 4th in the middle of those heats. Earlier in the season Looby had beaten Creeper in King’s Plates at York on 20th August and at Lincoln on 11th September, so on form Creeper was inferior to Trimmer. An assessment of his ability at this point would suggest that he had the beating of Stump, Crab, Looby, Creeper and Noble when he liked, but an assessment of his form would suggest that he, or Prentice, were choosy about when to display their best form. As the next season opened Trimmer was ‘declared’ for His Majesty’s Plate over 4 miles at Newmarket on 11th April 1751, and was opposed by Stump, Crab, Looby and Creeper. On a going day Trimmer would have been odds-on to win the race, but was Prentice’s money down, or was he in the pocket of the layers who would benefit from Trimmer performing badly? In the end it was the latter, for in the first heat Stump beat Creeper, Looby and Crab, with Trimmer, ridden by John Gillum, a replacement for his usual jockey William Moody, incomprehensibly distanced after being pulled up early in the race by Gillum, therefore finishing more than 240 yards behind the winner and, thereby being eliminated from the race. Those punters who took the odds on Trimmer had ‘done their money’ and they would not have been pleased, and the incident would have sent shock waves through the senior members of the Jockey Club. Prentice, rather than feigning surprise, brazenly boasted that he had taken the field against Trimmer for a large sum. For the out of pocket punters rioting was their method for letting off steam and showing their displeasure, the town suffering acts of violence that night and the following days. For the latter group it was the big bang which stirred them in to action. Never before had the Jockey Club Members been able to use their authority to prevent owners from racing their horses; after all, they were just a group of aristocratic owners who loved their racing and wished to partake of their sport without being inconvenienced by having to mix with the hoi polloi. They decided that Prentice was, ‘excluded from being concerned in subscribing to Plates at Newmarket to stop his wicked designs', although the first course to take action was Rugby when they began advertising their June meeting, unambiguously stating, 'any horse that was now or had been the property of George Prentice at the time of the spring Newmarket meeting is excluded from entering his horses in any race.' The judges had decided that Prentice was guilty and his punishment was to be excluded from all races at Newmarket. That, in itself, was startling enough, but in short order more than a score of other racecourses made it known in the press that Prentice’s entries would not be accepted at their racecourses. The Jockey Club had come of age and racing would never be the same again.

2nd Earl of Ashburnham, John Ashburnham

Born 1724

Died 1812

10th Earl of Eglinton, Alexander Montgomerie

Born 1723

Died 1769

1st Earl of Gower, John Leveson-Gower

Born 1694

Died 1754

BEAU CLINCHER (Jockey Club Plate, Newmarket 1753)

LITTLE WITCH (His Majesty's Plate, Ipswich 1750)

2nd Earl of Portmore, Charles Colyear

Born 1700

Died 1785

CARTOUCHE (Jockey Club Plate, Newmarket 1756)

SPIDER (King's Plate, Burford & Litchfield 1757)

BOSPHORUS (King's Plate, Newmarket 1760)

2nd Lord Bolingbroke, Frederick St John

Born 1732

Died 1787

CADE (£50 Sweepstake, Burford 1759)

HOTSPUR (£50 Plate, Andover 1759)

2nd Lord Chedworth, John Thynne Howe

Born 1714

Died 1762

DORMOUSE (King's Plate, Canterbury & Guildford 1759)

WHITELEGS (King's Plate, Burford 1762)

11th Lord Gower, Archibald Montgomerie

Born 1726

Died 1796

COXCOMB (£50 Plate, Newmarket 1758)

JOCKEY (£50 Plate, Grantham & Nottingham 1758)

Lord William Manners

Born 1697

Died 1772

MONKEY (Newmarket Town Plate 1720)

FOXHUNTER (£50 Plate, Spalding 1759)

3rd Lord Orford, George Walpole

Born 1730

Died 1791

COMMODORE (King's Plte, Ipswich 1763)

GHOST (King's Plate, Burford 1764)

2nd Lord Ossory, John Fitzpatrick

Born 1745

Died 1818

ACTEON (£50 Sweepstake, Newmarket 1766)

OTHO (Jockey Club Plate, Newmarket 1767)

2nd Lord Rockingham, Charles Watson-Wentworth

Born 1730

Died 1782

SCAMPTON CADE (King's Plate, York 1753)

NOBILITY £50 Plate, Newark 1758)

1st Lord Sondes, Lewis Watson

Born 1728

Died 1795

7th Lord Strange, James Murray

Born 1690

Died 1764

SPORTSMAN (His Majesty's Plate, Guildford, Winchester & Lewes 1753)

WILSON'S ARABIAN (£50 Plate, Lancaster 1761)

BROWN BET (£50 Plate, Knutsford 1762)

Newmarket April Riots

Turning to the April riots in Newmarket, immediately following the King's Plate, triggered not by Trimmers performance, but over a game of Hazard at the Tables.
Cheating, whether at the cockpit, or the Hazard table, or by Prentice and the like on the King’s Plate, brings everything to a head, creating an environment which leads to rioting. Although it was precipitated by an incident at the Hazard table, noblemen, gentlemen and wealthy gamblers had already ‘done their money’ on Trimmer in the afternoon, and maybe at the cockpit immediately afterwards, and they were fed up with being the losers and feeling cheated, when they felt it was their God given right to be winning and carrying out the deceptions. Lord Portmore had won a race with Whitenose, almost exactly a year to the day beforehand, through guile, shrewdness and ingenuity, and it had surely not been the same as the King’s Plate incident a year later, for George Prentice had profited from Trimmers defeat by cunning, fraud and deceit. Richard Nash comments, ’The riot becomes public knowledge and there is a legal proceeding that names several highly placed defendants and threatens to discover more. The prosecution is bought off that summer, and the event hushed up. But several instances of vigilante justice seem to flow from that meeting, and these can be traced back to what could be thought of as the "muscle" or "enforcer" element of this resurgent Jockey Club who were beginning to spread their wings. At the heart of this group is likely to have been Lord March ("Old Q"), backed up by Richard Vernon and William Erratt. I do not see their interest as protecting virtue, honour and integrity nearly so much as I see them protecting their home turf to permit their own sharp play, while preventing others from trying to take a slice from the outside.’
On reflection, the Noblemen failed to look in the mirror at their own practices on Match betting, but were mindful of George Prentice, and his kind, cheating.

2nd Lord Waldegrave, James Waldegrave

Born 1715

Died 1763

Jockey Club stretches its wings

Buoyed by their success over Prentice, and the subsequent support which they received from so many other racecourses backing their decision to exclude Prentice from all races, the Jockey Club Members felt the time was right to extend their influence and authority in Newmarket, no doubt in the belief that where Newmarket went others would follow. On 2nd November 1751 they decided that every Nobleman and Gentleman that kept stables in Newmarket should be obliged to subscribe to a 100 Guineas race in April 1752, and that those who did not ultimately have a runner in the race should, instead, pay 50 Guineas. Whilst this in itself was nothing new, the Wallasey Stakes (1722 onwards), the October Stakes (1727 onwards), and the Great Stakes (1730 onwards) had all been subscription events requiring a commitment of at least 5 years by subscribers, but this new event forced owners of Newmarket stables to pay a subscription. The Jockey Club must have sensed that their authority was so powerful that no one dare go against their policies for fear of being treated in the same manner as Prentice.

Sir Charles Bunbury

Born 1740

Died 1821

Sir Nathaniel Curzon

Born 1676

Died 1758

JASON (King's Plate, Litchfield 1754)

PHOENIX (£50 Plate, Newmarket 1759)

Sir Matthew Featherston, (also Featherstonhaugh)

Born 1714

Died 1774

OTHELLO (£50 Plate, Newmarket 1761)

MANBY (King's Plate, Lincoln 1762)

HENRICUS (£50 Plate, Ascot 1762)

Sir Richard Grosvenor, 1st Earl Grosvenor

Born 1731

Died 1802

PANGLOSS (Jockey Club Plate, Newmarket 1762)

BOREUS (King's Plate, Salisbury & Lewes 1762)

PACOLET (Jockey Club Plate, Newmarket 1767)

March 1758

Weighing in and out  
Every person who shall ride at Newmarket for a Plate, Sweepstake or Match, shall be obliged to weigh when he comes in, allowing 2 pounds above the weight, and no more. Furthermore, every rider who neglects to obey this resolution is guilty of Contempt of the Order of this Club and shall be disqualified from riding hereafter at Newmarket unless any Gentleman, or his rider, shall declare before starting that the rider is above the weight.

Sir James Lowther, 1st Earl Lonsdale

Born 1736

Died 1802

JASON (Jockey Club Plate, Newmarket 1757)

SOPHIA (King's Plate, Newmarket 1759)

CARNATIC (King's Plate, Newmarket 1766)

Introduction of racing colours

On Monday 4th October 1762 at a meeting of Jockey Club Members they considered the introduction of racing colours associated with each owner and arrived at a resolution. CLICK HERE

Sir William Middleton

Born 1700

Died 1757

THWACKUM (His Majesty's Plate, Nottingham & York 1751)

CAMILLA (His Majesty's Plate, Newmarket & Edinburgh 1752)

WHISTLE JACKET (King's Plate, Newmarket 1756)

Early dispute at Leeds racecourse June 1762

Although in the mid-years of the 18th century the Jockey Club were predominantly called upon to settle matters at Newmarket racecourse, they were requested to act on matters of dispute at other courses. One such early instance occurred at Leeds Racecourse on Wednesday 2nd June 1762 in a £50 race won by Mr Brandling's Encore. In the second heat Mr Bell's Dainty Nell fell without reaching the distance, so would have been prevented from taking part in the remaining heats. However, another jockey mounted her and rode her to the finish without her being distanced. The question which was referred to the Jockey Club, before the Stakes could be paid, was should she have been distanced?

Sir John Moore

Born 1719

Died 1799

JUSTICE (£50 Plate, Newmarket 1758)

CYCLOPS (King's Plate, Winchester, Lewes & Canterbury 1764)

The Laws of Gaming

In 1765 a book on ‘The Laws of Gaming’ listing various Statutes and Reports on the extensive subject of Gaming, with particular reference to horseracing, was published and humbly inscribed to the Noble and Right Honourable Members of the Jockey Club. Libertas est quod cuique facere libet, nisi quid jure prohibetur. Just. 3.1 Freedom is what one chooses unless something is prohibited by law.

Sir Thomas Sebright, 6th Baronet

Born 1725

Died 1794

Sunday 6th December 1767

Forfeit of bets
At a Jockey Club Meeting at the Star and Garter it was agreed that the forfeits of all bets, which shall be made after the 1st January 1768, shall be paid according to the proportions on which the principals compromise their matches.
Dukes of Ancaster, Grafton, Kingston, Northumberland
Lord Barrymore, Waldegrave, Upper Ossory, Orford, Ashburnham, Bolingbroke
Sir Charles Bunbury
Messrs G Selwyn, Hugo Meynell, Philip Burlton, Thomas Shirley, Robert Pigot jnr, Richard Vernon, George Lane Parker

Sir Charles Sedley, 2nd Baronet

Born 1721

Died 1778

CADENA (King's Plate, Black Hambleton & Newmarket 1754)

AEOLUS (£50 Plate, Stamford & Nottingham 1761)

Sir William Wolseley, 5th Baronet

Born c1730

Died 1779

Sunday 6th December 1767

New Jockey Club Members
At the Jockey Club meeting held at the Star and Garter it was agreed that, for the future, any person desirous of being admitted into the Coffee-Room, Newmarket, must be proposed by a Member of the Jockey Club, and his name put over the chimney and the door the day before he is to be balloted for, that there must be at least 12 members present at the ballot, with 3 black balls excluding.
Dukes of Ancaster, Grafton, Kingston, Northumberland
Lord Rockingham, Orford, Ashburnham, Upper Ossory
Sir Charles Bunbury
Messrs Richard Vernon, Thomas Shirley, Robert Pigot jnr, C Boothby Skrymsher, Philip Burlton, Francis Naylor, Hugo Meynell, John Calvert. Thomas Panton jnr, G Selwyn, Richard Cox

Captain Richard Vernon

Born 1726

Died 1800

CRAB (Jockey Club Plate, Newmarket 1753)

FRIBBLE (King's Plate, Litchfield 1761)

BANKER (Jockey Club Plate, Newmarket 1765)

Sir Charles Bunbury
Thomas Charles Bunbury, son of Reverend Sir William Bunbury, 5th Baronet of Stanney Hall, and his wife Eleanor, daughter of Vere Graham, was born in May 1740 and educated at St Catharine's College, Cambridge. Aged just 21, and residing at his great estate at Great Barton, he was returned Whig MP for Mildenhall, Suffolk in 1761, holding the seat until 1784, and within a year of becoming an MP, on 2nd June 1762 at Holland House Chapel, Kensington, Charles married one of the most beautiful women in England at the time, Lady Sarah Lennox, daughter of the second Duke of Richmond, Charles Lennox. Before her marriage the lovely Sarah had a close association with King George III and Lord Newbattle, and turned down a request for her hand by James Hay, 15th Earl of Erroll. Their marriage was an unusual one because, as a couple they did not have children, but Lady Sarah committed the ultimate insult to her husband by producing a daughter fathered by Lord William Gordon just 7 years after their marriage. It is not surprising that the marriage was dissolved by Act of Parliament in 1776. In 1764, on the death of his father, Charles succeeded to the Baronetcy, becoming 6th Baronet of Stanney Hall, while the first evidence of his link with the Jockey Club was in 1768 when his horse Bellario ran second to Marquis in the Jockey Club Plate on Tuesday 4th October 1768. Sir Charles was well-read, becoming a member of the Literary Club in March 1774, and was chosen to be a pall-bearer at the funeral of Dr Johnson when Samuel Johnson was buried at Westminster Abbey on 20th December 1784. In 1788 he was appointed High Sheriff of Suffolk, returning to the Commons again between 1790 and 1812, a period during which he married Margaret Cocksedge in 1805 although, once again, the couple were not blessed with children. Despite his long service in Parliament, Charles will be better remembered for his work as a Member of the Jockey Club. Indeed, the most memorable, most amusing part of his Parliamentary career was after his maiden speech when he sat down so quickly, and with such relief, that a renowned humourist of the day felt sure that a better name for him than Bunbury would be Bumbury. He is thought to have possessed the first bred stud in England and his own training stable. He was a Steward at Brighton racecourse, and became perpetual Steward at Newmarket where his opinion was constantly sought in any case referred to the Jockey Club, where he was recognized as the Perpetual Chairman right up to the time of his death. Although he enjoyed tremendous success on the Turf, especially in early Classic races, he is said to have lost many great races by persisting in putting his own stable-boys up rather than employing professional jockeys.

On many occasions, especially before Stakes or Matches, he could be seen walking to the starting post with up to 10 of his lads, suddenly pointing to one of them and requesting that they strip and weigh out, assisting them in saddling, mounting and following their progress throughout the race. After serving Parliament well for 45 years he retired from politics in 1812, and died on 31st March 1821, having made a greater contribution to the world of horse racing than politics. Shortly after his death his stud was sold, while Mr Weatherby purchased the renowned Smolensko on behalf of the Prince of Esterhay.
Contribution to racing as a racing pioneer
1. He was co-founder, along with Lord Derby, of The Epsom Oaks in 1779 and the Epsom Derby in 1780. He owned Diomed (SR 2046) who won the inaugural Derby in 1780, and was the first person to own the winner of the Derby and Oaks in the same year when his filly Eleanor (SR 2045) was successful in both in 1801.
2. Sir Charles was a Jockey Club Steward, along with Mr Thomas Panton and Mr Ralph Dutton, at the time of the 'Escape' affair when, in 1791, the Prince of Wales was all but warned off for his part in that controversial incident.
3. During his period in charge the contentious issue of juvenile racing, whether to race two-year-olds, and even yearlings, was being debated., with a series of trials and races for juveniles taking place over a variety of distances and carrying an assortment of weights.
4. He oversaw the introduction of the 4th Classic (2000 Guineas) and 5th Classic (1000 Guineas) in 1809 and 1814 respectively. He became the first owner to win both the 2000 Guineas and the Derby in the same year when Smolensko (SR 2046) was successful in 1813. Whilst it is not surprising that he never had a runner in the St Leger, because the Jockey Club at that time was influential in Newmarket rather than Doncaster, it is surprising that he never had a runner in the 1000 Guineas.

Sir Charles Bunbury

Born 1740

Died 1821

BELLARIO (Jockey Club Plate, Newmarket 1770)

PROTECTOR (Jockey Club Plate, Newmarket 1774)

DIOMED (SR 2046) (Epsom Derby, Epsom 1780)

ELEANOR (SR 2045) (Epsom Derby, Epsom Oaks, Epsom 1801)

SMOLENSKO (SR 2046) (2000 Guineas, Newmarket & Epsom Derby 1813)

Wednesday 5th October 1768

Newmarket Challenge Cup

At the Jockey Club meeting in October the ‘Conditions on which the Jockey Club Newmarket Challenge Cup is run for’ were laid out. The undersigned at the meeting agreed to pay Five Guineas each to the present Steward, Sir Charles Bunbury, for the purchase of a Cup, designed by Abraham Portal, to be run for over the Beacon Course on the Tuesday preceding the day on which the King’s Plate is run for in October each Year, by any horse the property of a Member of the Jockey Club, who shall challenge for the same within the four first days of the preceding First Spring Meeting. (The rule was later amended ‘That the Cup be challenged for on the Monday in the First Spring Meeting, and the horses named for it declared at six o’clock on the Saturday evening of the said Meeting’.
Four-Year-Old horses to carry 7st
Five-Year-old horses to carry 8st 5lbs
Six-Year-Old horses to carry 9st 8lbs
Aged horses to carry 9st 10lbs
Each person at the time of challenging is to subscribe his name to a paper to be hung in the Coffee-Room at Newmarket, and to deliver to the Keeper of the Match-Book, the name or description of the horse, which shall be kept until Saturday at noon of that week, and if not accepted to be returned unopened, but if accepted, to be opened and declared a Match or Sweepstakes for 200 Guineas each to pay. To be run according to the Articles of His Majesty’s Plates and to start at the usual hour.

Newmarket Challenge Whip

That the Whip, first contested in April 1764, be challenged for on the Monday or Tuesday in the Second Spring, or Second October Meeting, and the acceptance signified, or the Whip resigned, before the end of the same Meeting. If challenged for and accepted in Spring, to be run for on the Thursday in the Second October Meeting following, and if in the October, on the Thursday in the Second Spring Meeting.
Dukes of Northumberland, Kingston, Grafton, Bridgewater, Ancaster
Lord Bolingbroke, Ossory, Barrymore, Molyneux, Rockingham, Grosvenor
Sir Charles Bunbury, Sir John Moore, Sir Law Dundas
Colonel Parker
Messrs Panton jnr, Vernon, Shafto, March, Ogilvy, Fenwick, Pratt, Stapleton, Pigot, Wentworth, Blake

HRH Prince of Wales, George Augustus Frederick

Born 1762

Died 1830

1784-86

1791-92

1800-1830

GUNPOWDER (Jockey Club Plate, Newmarket 1788)

SIR THOMAS (SR 1953) (Epsom Derby, Epsom 1788)

3rd Duke of Ancaster, Peregrine Bertie

Born 1714

Died 1778

VISION (Jockey Club Plate, Newmarket 1768)

HEPHESTION (Jockey Club Plate, Newmarket 1775)

5th Duke of Bedford, Francis Russell

Born 1765

Died 1802

SKYSCRAPER (SR 1969) (Epsom Derby, Epsom 1789)

BUSTLER (Jockey Club Plate, Newmarket 1790)

HIPPOLYTA (SR 1890) (Epsom Oaks, Epsom 1790)

EAGER (SR 1997) (Epsom Derby, Epsom 1791)

PORTIA (SR 1955) (Epsom Oaks, Epsom 1791)

CAELIA (SR 1908) (Epsom Oaks, Epsom 1793)

FIDGET Colt (SR 1936) (Epsom Derby, Epsom 1797)

3rd Duke of Bridgewater, Francis Egerton

Born 1736

Died 1803

Wednesday 19th April 1769

2 or more runners
A rule was established that the owner of every horse entered to run for two, or more, prizes on the same day shall, for the future, be obliged to declare to the keeper of the match-book, before 8 o’clock on the evening preceding the day of the running, which of the said prizes he intends to start his horse for, and the said keeper of the match-book shall immediately declare it in the coffee-room.
Duke of Grafton, Duke of Kingston, Lord Orford, Lord Bolingbroke, Lord Ossory, Sir Charles Bunbury, Mr Richard Vernon, Mr Anderson, Mr Panton, Mr Varey, Mr Burlton, Mr Pigot

Duke of Cumberland, Prince Henry Frederick

Born 1745

Died 1790

5th Duke of Devonshire, William Cavendish

Born 1748

Died 1811

Saturday 26th May 1770

3 Stewards discussion
At a meeting of Jockey Club Members, it was resolved that they should meet annually for dinner on the day preceding the King’s birthday. A significant decision was taken to appoint 3 Stewards from within Jockey Club Members, and that they should commence their duties from 4th June annually. One new Steward to be appointed on 3rd June by the Steward due to quit his post the next day, subject to the approbation of the Jockey Club Members then present. The first and second vacancy of the initial 3 Stewards was to be settled by the drawing of lots, and ever afterwards the Senior Steward to quit his post on the 3rd June annually. The 3 Stewards, or any 2 of them, shall be vested with full powers to make such regulations as they think proper in regard to the exercise ground and racecourse. The 3 Stewards shall have the power to appoint such person or persons as they choose to keep the Coffee-House, match-book, receive the stakes, collect entrance money and oversee all other funds belonging to the Jockey Club. The Stewards are responsible to the Jockey Club for all money collected, as belonging to the Club, and for the stakes made and delivered to the person appointed by them for that purpose., with the accounts produced annually by the Stewards on 3rd June.

Hours of starting
The Stewards shall have it in their power to fix the hours of starting for each match and race, but they shall be obliged to fix those hours of starting by 8 o’clock on the evening preceding the day of running.

Trials
It was resolved that in case any gentleman who keeps running horses has cause to complain of any feeder, rider, groom, boy or other person employed by him, or entrusted with the knowledge of trials, of having discovered them, directly or indirectly, of betting or wilfully in any other way, unless allowed to do so by his master, or if any are discovered watching trials himself, or procuring other persons to do so, or by unfair means endeavouring to discover trial results, on such complaint being forwarded to the Stewards, they must convene a general meeting of the Jockey Club as soon as is convenient, which meeting is to appoint 3 Members to look into the accusation. In the case where they believe the person is guilty of the accusation they shall dismiss the person from the service of his master, and the said person shall not be employed by any other member of the Jockey Club in any capacity whatsoever, nor shall any horse be fed or ridden by him be allowed to start for any plate, match or subscription. The names of the persons found guilty of those offences shall be exposed in the Racing Calendar, and inserted in a paper to be fixed in the Coffee-House at Newmarket.
Further business of the day examined the process of collecting and distributing stakes and, at the end of the meeting, 6 resolutions were made.

Payment of Stakes
Resolution I: It is agreed that a copy of all stakes to be made for matches, subscriptions and sweepstakes, and the hour of entering shall be fairly wrote out and fixed up, by the order of the Stewards on the side of the chimney-piece at each end of the Coffee-Room on the Sunday evening before each meeting, to continue there each day of the meeting as notice of staking, showing or entering, and no further insertions made.

Day-book records
Resolution II: A day-book shall be kept by the person appointed by the Stewards, and continue in the Coffee-Room, in which shall be entered an account of all matches, subscriptions and sweepstakes, to be run for each day within that meeting, and as the different stakes are made, the payments shall be marked to the names of the persons making the payments.

Cash/bank bill payments
Resolution III: All stakes shall be made in cash, bank bills, bank post bills, properly endorsed, bankers notes payable to the bearer, or bankers notes payable to order also properly endorsed, and not otherwise, without the consent of the party present concerned in the match, subscription or sweepstakes, on whose account such stakes are made.

Forfeits for non-payment
Resolution IV: All stakes for matches, subscriptions and sweepstakes, shall be made before starting for the same, and in default thereof by any persons, he shall forfeit in like manner as if he had not produced his colt, filly, horse or mare to start, and shall have no claim to the stake or stakes of the match, subscription or sweepstakes should his horse have started and come first. However, if such horse did come first then all bets shall be settled as if the forfeit had been paid, and this to remain in full force as an established agreement of the Jockey Club, unless such person has previously obtained the consent of the party or parties present with whom he is engaged, to dispense with making his stake as aforesaid.

Penalty for non-payments
Resolution V: All forfeits unpaid before starting for any match, subscription or sweepstake shall be paid to the person appointed by the Stewards the same at the Coffee-Room before 12 o’clock at night of the day such forfeits are determined, and each person making default therein shall pay to the person so appointed by the Stewards after the rate of £5 for every £100 so forfeited, which shall be disposed of by the said Stewards towards such uses as they shall think fit.

After race bets
Resolution VI: In order to prevent frauds, notice shall be given that if any person make any bets from signal or indication after the race has been determined at the pole, such person is not entitled to receive, or liable to pay, the same as such bets are deemed fraudulent, illegal and totally void. If any servant belonging to a member of the society shall be found to have made, or engaged in the making, of such bets he shall be dismissed his service and not employed by any member of this society in the future.
Another very important resolution was made at the meeting regarding age of horses.

Verification of age of runners

That the Stewards of the Jockey Club shall appoint some proper person to examine every colt or filly being at the age of two, three or four years old, at the ending post immediately after running on the first occasion the colt or filly shall start for any plate, match, sweepstake or subscription at Newmarket, and the said appointed person is to sign a certificate of such examination, and his opinion thereupon, which certificate is to be hung up before eight o’clock in the evening of the said day of running in the Coffee-House at Newmarket. However, for all plate, matches, subscriptions and sweepstakes where the colt or filly are required to be shown before running, the examination is to be made at the time of showing them, confirmation of such to be fixed in the Coffee-Room.

Augustus Henry Fitzroy, 3rd Duke of Grafton

Born 1735

Died 1811

OBERON (Jockey Club Plate, Newmarket 1786)

TYRANT (SR 1984) (Epsom Derby, Epsom 1802)

PENELOPE (Jockey Club Plate, Newmarket 1804)

PELISSE (SR 1995) (Epsom Oaks, Epsom 1804)

PARASOL (Jockey Club Plate, Newmarket, 1805)

MOREL (SR 1954) (Epsom Oaks, Epsom 1808)

POPE (SR 1969) (Epsom Derby, Epsom 1809)

WHALEBONE (SR 2077) (Epsom Derby, Epsom 1810)

4th Duke of Grafton, George Henry Fitzroy

Born 1760

Died 1844

MUSIC (SR 1953) (Epsom Oaks, Epsom 1813)

MINUET (SR 1968) (Epsom Oaks, Epsom 1815)

WHISKER (SR 1969) (Epsom Derby, Epsom 1815)

CATGUT (SR 1782) (1000 Guineas, Newmarket 1819)

ROWENA (SR 1892) (1000 Guineas, Newmarket 1820)

PINDARRIE (SR 1988) (2000 Guineas, Newmarket 1820)

ZEAL (SR 1907) (1000 Guineas, Newmarket 1821)

WHIZGIG (SR 1969) (1000 Guineas, Newmarket 1822)

ZINC (SR 1999) (1000 Guineas, Newmarket 1823)

9th Duke of Hamilton, Archibald Hamilton

Born 1740

Died 1819

PARAGON (SR 1885) (St Leger, Doncaster 1786)

SPADILLE (SR 1901) (St Leger, Doncaster 1787)

YOUNG FLORA (SR 1821) (St Leger, Doncaster 1788)

TARTAR (SR 1904) (St Leger, Doncaster 1792)

PETRONIUS (SR 1904) (St Leger, Doncaster 1808)

ASHTON (SR 1936) (St Leger, Doncaster 1809)

WILLIAM (SR 1914) (St Leger, Doncaster 1814)

2nd Duke of Kingston, Evelyn Pierrepont

Born 1711

Died 1773

Sir Hugh Percy (Smithson), 1st Duke of Northumberland

Born 1714

Died 1786

HSH Duke of Orleans, Louis Philippe Joseph (Philippe Egalite)

Born 1747

Died 1793

4th Duke of Portland, (Lord Titchfield) William Henry Cavendish Scott Bentinck

Born 1768

Died 1854

4th Duke of Queensberry, William James Douglas (Earl of March & Ruglen)

Born 1724

Died 1810

3rd Duke of Richmond, Lord March, Charles Lennox

Born 1735

Died 1806

4th Duke of Rutland, Charles Manners

Born 1754

Died 1787

CHEVELEY (Jockey Club Plate, Newmarket 1787)

5th Duke of Rutland, John Henry Manners

Born 1778

Died 1837

SORCERY (SR 1937) (Epsom Oaks, Epsom 1811)

GRIMALKIN (Jockey Club Plate, Newmarket 1812)

MEDORA (SR 1875) (Epsom Oaks, Epsom 1814)

RHODA (SR 1875) (1000 Guineas, Newmarket 1816)

1st Earl Lonsdale, Sir James Lowther

Born 1736

Died 1802

1st Earl of Sefton, Lord Molyneux, Charles William Molyneux

Born 1748

Died 1795

4th Lord Abingdon, Bertie Willoughby

Born 1740

Died 1799

TRANSIT (Jockey Club Plate, Newmarket 1774)

LEVIATHAN (Jockey Club Plate, Newmarket 1777)

POTOOOOOOOO (1200 Guineas, Newmarket 1777)

Sunday 3rd June 1770

Appointment of first 3 Stewards
At a meeting of the Jockey Club at Pall-Mall it was resolved that the 3 Stewards now appointed are Lord Bolingbroke, Sir Charles Bunbury and Mr Jenison Shafto(e).

6th Lord Barrymore, Richard Barry

Born 1745

Died 1773

Sunday 10th February 1771

Private trials
At a Jockey Club meeting at the Star and Garter Tavern, Pall Mall, it was agreed that all members would not borrow or hire any horse not belonging to our avowed confederates to run in a private trial without entering the name of such horse before the trial shall be run in the book appointed to be kept for that purpose in the Coffee-Room at Newmarket. No persons are to be deemed confederates who do not subscribe to this article. There was also 4 resolutions passed at the meeting:-

Dispute settlement
Resolution 1: That all disputes relating to racing at Newmarket shall for the future be determined by the 3 Stewards and two referees to be chosen by the parties concerned. If there should only be 2 Stewards present, they are to fix upon a third person in lieu of the absent Steward.

Dead-heats and re-runs
Resolution 2: If for any sweepstake or subscription race the two horses passing the post together are unable to be separated by the judge then those two horses shall run for such a prize over again after the last match of the day, the other horses which started in the race shall be deemed losers and entitled to their respective places as if the race had been finally determined the first time.

Single & multiple bets
Resolution 3: For the future all bets determined by one event shall be subject, as agreed before, to any compromise made by the principals and paid in proportion to such compromise, but that all double bets shall for the future be considered play or pay bets to prevent the previously occurring disputes which have arisen.

Weights to be carried
Resolution 4: For the future when any match or sweepstake shall be made, and no particular weight specified, each horse shall carry 8st 7lbs. I any weight is given, the highest weight is by this resolution fixed at 8st 7lbs.
Stewards Lord Bolingbroke, Sir Charles Bunbury, Mr J Shafto
Also present Duke of Grafton, Duke of Ancaster, Lord Clermont, Lord Craven, Lord Orford, Lord Grosvenor, Lord Upper Ossory,  Mr R Vernon, Mr March, Mr Ruglen, Mr P Blake, Mr C Boothby Skrymsher, Mr Thomas Shirley, Mr William Smith, Mr Philip Burlton, Mr Simon Stuart, Mr C Turner, Mr John March, Mr Robert Pigot

2nd Lord Bolingbrooke, Frederick St John

Born 1732

Died 1787

HOLLYHOCK (Jockey Club Plate, Newmarket 1769)

PAYMASTER (Jockey Club Plate, Newmarket 1770)

Lord Boringdon, John Parker

Born 1735

Died 1788

5th Lord Carlisle, Frederick Howard

Born 1748

Died 1825

BERENICE (100 Guineas Plate, York 1770)

RATONI (£50 Plate, Newmarket 1771)

Lord G H Cavendish, 1st Earl of Burlington

Born 1754

Died 1834

1st Lord Clermont, William Henry Fortescue

Born 1722

Died 1806

AIMWELL (SR 1984) (Epsom Derby, Epsom 1785)

TRIFLE (SR 1891) (Epsom Oaks, Epsom 1785)

VOLANTE (SR 1893) (Epsom Oaks, Epsom 1792)

6th Lord Craven, William Craven

Born 1738

Died 1791

3rd Lord Darlington, William Henry Vane (Later 1st Lord Cleveland)

Born 1766

Died 1842

ST GEORGE (Newmarket Challenge Whip, Newmarket 1795, Jockey Club Plate 1797)

PAVILION (Jockey Club Plate, Newmarket 1807)

CWRW (SR 1924) (2000 Guineas, Newmarket 1812)

12th Lord Derby, Edward Smith-Stanley

Born 1752

Died 1834

BRIDGET (SR 1971) (Epsom Oaks, Epsom 1779)

OLIVER CROMWELL (Jockey Club Plate, Newmarket 1783)

GUILDFORD (Jockey Club Plate, Newmarket 1783)

SIR PETER TEAZLE (SR 2062) (Epsom Derby, Epsom 1787)

HERMIONE (SR 1950) (Epsom Oaks, Epsom 1794)

1st Classic, The St Leger, introduced

In the period when Sir Charles Bunbury was the 'perpetual president of the Jockey Club' the 5 English Classics were founded, although none of the first 3 were directly introduced by the Jockey Club. The earliest Classic, eventually named the St Leger Stakes, was staged in 1776 on Cantley Common, Doncaster and, at this point in time, the Jockey Club only had influence over racing at Newmarket. Anthony St Leger, born in February 1731 at Grangemellon in County Kildare, the fourth son of the High Court Judge Sir John St Leger, was educated at Eton College and Peterhouse, Cambridge, the oldest of the Cambridge colleges.  At the age of 30 Anthony married Margaret Wombwell in 1761 and they returned to her native Yorkshire in 1762 to live on the Park Hill Estate in Firbeck. He established his own oval racecourse on the Park Hill Estate on which he trained the racehorses he bred at his stud. In 1776 he, along with the 2nd Marquess of Rockingham, Charles Watson-Wentworth, established a race for 3-year-olds over 2 miles to be run at Doncaster. The inaugural running took place on Cantley Common on Tuesday 24th September 1776, and moved to its present location on Town Moor Doncaster just two years later. The idea of the name 'St Leger Stakes' was first muted at The Red Lion Inn in the Market Place, Doncaster in 1778 and was due to be called the Rockingham Stakes after the Marquess of Rockingham, but it was finally agreed that it should be named after Anthony St Leger of Park Hill. Rockingham had already been rewarded by owning the 1776 winner Allbaculia, but the first Town Moor winner in 1778 was Hollandaise, owned by another Jockey Club Member Sir Thomas Gascoigne.

Maximum rebate on forfeit

Monday 14th April 1777
That the proprietor of any horse engaged in a match or sweepstake who shall declare his intention of not starting before eight o'clock on the evening preceding the engagement to the Keeper of the Match-Book, or either of the Stewards, shall be entitled to 5%, and no more, of the forfeit.

3rd Lord Egremont, George Wyndham

Born 1751

Died 1837

ASSASSIN (SR 2003) (Epsom Derby, Epsom 1782)

NIGHTSHADE (SR 2001) (Epsom Oaks, Epsom 1788)

TAG (SR 1951) (Epsom Oaks, Epsom 1789)

PLATINA (SR 1936) (Epsom Oaks, Epsom 1795)

EPHEMERA (SR 1939) (Epsom Oaks, Epsom 1800)

HANNIBAL (SR 2046) (Epsom Derby, Epsom 1804)

CARDINAL BEAUFORT (SR 1892) (Epsom Derby, Epsom 1805)

ELECTION (SR 2030) (Epsom Derby, Epsom 1807)

CAROLINE (SR 1892) (Epsom Oaks, Epsom 1820)

1st Lord Farnham, Robert Maxwell

Born 1720

Died 1779

Time limit on Stakes payment

Tuesday 1st June 1779
No person shall start a horse for any match, sweepstakes or subscription if such person has not paid his stake of the value of £25 or upwards due to the winner of any former race wherein he was engaged, provided any parties concerned shall object to his starting, and notify his dissent to the Clerk of the Course one hour before the time appointed for the race.

2nd Lord Foley, Thomas Foley

Born 1742

Died 1793

GUILDFORD (Newmarket Challenge Whip 1783)

2nd Classic, The Oaks, introduced

After the success of the first Classic, the St Leger Stakes, in 1776, discussions took place regarding a Classic for fillies at a dinner party in 1778 given by the 12th Earl of Derby at his house The Oaks on his estate located near to Epsom. The race over a mile and a half was named 'The Oaks' in honour of their host and was first run in 1779 when won by Bridget owned by the 12th Earl of Derby.

3rd Lord Foley, Thomas Foley

Born 1780

Died 1833

PARIS (SR 1937) (Epsom Derby, Epsom 1806)

SELIM filly (SR 1860) (1000 Guineas, Newmarket 1815)

INTERPRETER (SR 1972) (2000 Guineas, Newmarket 1818)

3rd Classic, The Derby, introduced

A year after the Oaks was first contested Lord Derby and Sir Charles Bunbury launched The Derby, arguably the most famous race in the world. It was named in honour of the 12th Earl of Derby, although the inaugural race in 1780 was won by Diomed owned by Sir Charles Bunbury.

1st Lord Grosvenor, Richard Grosvenor

Born 1731

Died 1802

GIMCRACK (Newmarket Challenge Whip, Newmarket 1770)

FAITH (SR 1924) (Epsom Oaks, Epsom 1781)

CERES (SR 2012) (Epsom Oaks, Epsom 1782)

POTOOOOOOOO (Jockey Club Plate 1780-82, Newmarket Whip 1781, 1783)

MAID OF THE OAKS (SR 1923) (Epsom Oaks, Epsom 1783)

RHADAMANTHUS (SR 2029) (Epsom Derby, Epsom 1790)

JOHN BULL (SR 2046) (Epsom Derby, Epsom 1792)

DAEDALUS (SR 1984) (Epsom Derby, Epsom 1794)

NIKE (SR 1970) (Epsom Oaks, Epsom 1797)

BELLINA (SR 1925) (Epsom Oaks, Epsom 1799)

Engaging Trial Ground 1790
The Jockey Club stipulated that the training ground shall not be engaged for Trials by the Proprietors of any stable of running horses more than two days in the same week.

At a Jockey Club meeting leading up to the 1792 season the following were agreed:-

Crossing & Jostling
That when any Match is made, in which crossing and jostling are not mentioned, they shall be understood to be barred.

Courses for races
That when any Match or Sweepstakes is made, in which no course is mentioned, it shall be understood to be the course usually run by horses of the same age as those engaged, viz, if yearlings then the Yearling Course; it two year olds then the Two Year Old Course; if three years old then the Rowley Mile Course; if four years old then the Ditch-in Course; if five year olds and upwards then the Beacon Course. And in case the horses matched should be of different ages, the course to be settled by the age of the youngest.

2nd Lord Grosvenor, 1st Marquess of Westminster, Robert Grosvenor

Born 1767

Died 1845

METEORA (SR 1969) (Epsom Oaks, Epsom 1805; Jockey Club Plate, Newmarket 1810)

HEPHESTION (SR 1973) (2000 Guineas, Newmarket 1810)

At a Jockey Club meeting leading up to the 1793 season the following were agreed:-

Showing horses before races
That horses entered for Plates or Subscriptions shall not be required to be shown if such horses have started before at Newmarket, and that the owner of each horse shall declare to the Stewards, or the Keeper of the Match-Book, the evening before by 8 o’clock when the list is read, at half past nine whether his horse is intended to run or not, which declarations shall be deemed obligatory, if in the affirmative, unless the horse be taken ill or matched, and if in the negative, his name shall be erased from the list.

Deductions in forfeits
That the owners of horses engaged in Matches or Sweepstakes in which the forfeits shall amount to 100 guineas or upwards shall be entitled to a deduction of 10% if they declare their forfeits by half past nine the evening preceding the running.

Lord Spencer Hamilton

Born 1742

Died 1791

FIDDLESTRING (£50 Plate, Ascot Heath 1771)

CATALINE (£50 Plate, Newmarket 1772)

STRIPLING (£50 Plate, Epsom 1772, Newmarket 1773)

5th Lord Jersey, George Child-Villiers

Born 1773

Died 1859

Lord Lowther (2nd Earl of Lonsdale), William Lowther

Born 1787

Died 1872

At a Jockey Club meeting on 2nd May 1800 the following was agreed:-

Notice of trials
That from 2nd May 1800 no gentleman shall try the horse of any other person except his declared confederate without giving notice of such trial by inscribing the name of the horse or horses, or their pedigrees, with the names of their owners, before or immediately after such trial, in the book at the coffee-house.

3rd Lord Orford, George Walpole

Born 1730

Died 1791

2nd Lord Ossory, John Fitzpatrick

Born 1745

Died 1818

CIRCE (Newmarket Challenge Cup, Newmarket 1772)

PLANET (Jockey Club Plate, Newmarket 1776)

DOMINANT (Newmarket Challenge Cup, Newmarket 1777, Jockey Club Plate 1779)

ALARIC (Jockey Club Plate, Newmarket 1782)

At a Jockey Club meeting leading up to the 1805 season the following were resolved:-

Ante Post bets on top races
That all bets made on the Derby or Oaks Stakes at Epsom, the Pavilion Stakes at Brighthelmston, the St Leger at Doncaster, and also on the Newmarket Stakes, and the Oatlands Stakes in the Spring and October Meetings, be deemed Play or Pay Bets, and also that all Bets between particular horses to be null and void if neither of the horses happen to be the winner, unless specified to the contrary.

Fees for forfeited horses
That the Keeper of the Match-Book be directed to charge proprietors of such horses as receive forfeits, and shall be excused from appearing, with the same fees for the weights and scales, as if they had come over the Course.

Exorbitant charges
Complaint being made of new and exorbitant demands, in various places, for the maintenance of race horses, and the Lads attending them has been resolved. That the Members of this Club will give preference to such Stable Keepers, and Inn Keepers, whose charges are reasonable.

Proposals for new members
That in future, the ballots for Members of the Jockey Club shall be in the New Rooms, Newmarket on Tuesday in the First Spring Meeting, and the Tuesday in the Second October Meeting each year.

Ballots for new members
That the candidates shall be proposed by Members, and their names put up in the Card Room, in the Meetings preceding the ballots, viz in the Craven and First October Meetings.

Election of new members
That 9 Members at least shall be present at the ballot, and that 2 black balls exclude.

New Room/ Coffee Room members
That all Members of the New Rooms at Newmarket may become Members of the Coffee Room by application to Mr Weatherby, and causing their names to be inserted in the list of Subscribers.

Lord George Pigot

Born 1719

Died 1777

2nd Lord Rockingham, Charles Watson-Wentworth

Born 1730

Died 1782

MALTON (Challenge Whip, Newmarket 1768)

BAY MALTON (Jockey Club Plate, Newmarket 1768)

ALLABACULIA (SR 1779) (St Leger 1776)

Lord Sackville (5th Duke of Dorset), Charles Sackville-Germain

Born 1767

Died 1843

EXPECTATION (Jockey Club Plate, Newmarket 1800)

DICK ANDREWS (Jockey Club Plate, Newmarket 1803)

Lord Sherborne, James Dutton

Born 1744

Died 1820

Sir Charles Davers

Born 1737

Died 1806

Sir Lawrence Dundas

Born 1710

Died 1781

2000 & 1000 Guineas introduced

Although the Jockey Club could not claim to have introduced the first 3 English Classics, Sir Charles Bunbury had been Perpetual President of the Jockey Club when they were launched and he, with the support of other members of the Jockey Club, launched the final 2 Classics, both of which are run over a mile on the Rowley Mile in Newmarket. The 2000 Guineas, so named because of the value of the original prize fund, was first held on Tuesday 18th April 1809 when won by Wizard, owned by Christopher Wilson. Five years later the fillies equivalent, the 1000 Guineas, was held on Thursday 28th April 1814 when won by Charlotte owned by Christopher Wilson.

Sir Frederick Evelyn

Born 1734

Died 1812

Sir Thomas Gascoigne

Born 1743

Died 1810

MAGOG (Jockey Club Plate, Newmarket 1778)

HOLLANDAISE (SR 1950) (St Leger, Doncaster 1778)

SYMMETRY (SR 1925) (St Leger, Doncaster 1798)

THEOPHANIA (SR 1938) (Epsom Oaks, Epsom 1803)

Ante-post Derby & Oaks bets

At a Jockey Club Meeting on Friday 17th May 1811, it was resolved that all bets on the Derby and Oaks Stakes at Epsom, and on the St Leger Stakes at Doncaster, shall be considered play or pay bets as heretofore; but that no bet which shall be made after the first day of June 1811, on any other race (except double bets) shall be considered as play or pay unless expressly agreed to be so by the parties.

Sir John Lade

Born 1759

Died 1838

Times for private trials

At a Jockey Club Meeting held in Newmarket on Friday 12th May 1815 it was resolved unanimously that in future the day, with respect to engaging the ground for trials, shall be divided into two periods; that is previously to nine o’clock in the morning and subsequently to twelve at noon; that no one stable-keeper shall engage the ground for both these periods on the same day; nor for more than two of these periods in the same week.
That in future, the notices for engaging the ground, instead of being delivered in the usual way, shall be entered in a book to be kept for that purpose in the Coffee-Room, at least two days before the day on which it is engaged, and that if any transfer of such notice is made it shall be entered in the same book, before the ground is used, by the same person borrowing it; and that no notice or warning shall be deemed sufficient, unless so entered; and that no person shall be bound to give any other notice or warning.
Complaints having been made that improper persons have been found in the ground, engaged in trials, it was resolved that the Rules of this Club will, in future, be strictly adhered to, and put in force against all persons so offending.

Sir John Moore

Born 1719

Died 1799

Sir Ferdinand Poole

Born 1730

Died 1804

WAXY (SR 2063) (Epsom Derby, Epsom 1793)

KEREN-HAPPUCH (Jockey Club Plate, Newmarket 1795)

PELTER (Jockey Club Plate, Newmarket 1796)

Sir Charles Sedley, 2nd Baronet

Born 1721

Died 1778

TRENTHAM (Jockey Club Plate, Newmarket 1776)

MOLECATCHER (Jockey Club Plate, Newmarket 1777)

Play or pay rules on Classics

At a meeting of the Stewards and Members of the Jockey Club held at Thatched House on Thursday 1st June 1815 it was resolved that no bet which shall be made on the Derby or Oaks Stakes after the 1st June 1815 shall be considered play or pay, unless specified as such between the parties at the time the bet is made. That the above regulation be applicable to the St Leger Stakes at Doncaster from 1st October 1815. That all bets that have already been made on the Derby and Oaks Stakes for 1816 be considered as play or pay.

Sir John Shelley

Born 1730

Died 1783

Sir Frank Standish

Born 1746

Died 1812

YELLOW FILLY (SR 1965) (Epsom Oaks, Epsom 1786)

SPREAD EAGLE (SR 1953) (Epsom Derby, Epsom 1795)

DIDELOT (SR 2015) (Epsom Derby, Epsom 1796)

PARISOT (SR 1922) (Epsom Oaks, Epsom 1796)

ARCHDUKE (SR 1996) (Epsom Derby, Epsom 1799)

Earlier private trials on race days

At a meeting of the Jockey Club in Newmarket on 24th April 1817 it was resolved that, whereas by the resolution made on 12th May 1815 it was ordered that the race-ground be reserved for private trials before 9 o'clock and after 12 noon, and whereas in race-weeks the shutting of the ground till so late an hour as 9 o'clock in the morning is found inconvenient, and in the summer season is unnecessary, it is therefore ordered that from the first day of the Craven Meeting till the last day of the Houghton Meeting the ground shall not be reserved for private trials later than 8 o'clock in the morning. It is further ordered that no person shall train or exercise any horse on the Heath at the West End of the town of Newmarket during the hours in which it is reserved for private trials unless he has engaged the ground.

Sir Henry Tempest Vane

Born 1771

Died 1813

Ban on future entries if fees not paid

At a meeting of the Jockey Club in Newmarket on 31st October 1817 it was proposed, and resolved unanimously, that in future no nomination or Subscription shall be received, or considered as valid, so as to entitle the person naming or subscribing to start his horse unless he shall, before the time of closing of the sweepstakes, or subscription, named for or subscribed to, have paid up all Arrears, Stakes and Forfeits.

Sir Hedworth Williamson, 6th Baronet

Born 1751

Died 1810

DITTO (SR 1953) (Epsom Derby, Epsom 1803)

PAN (SR 2002) (Epsom Derby, Epsom 1808)

General Gower, John Leveson Gower

Born 1774

Died 1816

MAID OF ORLEANS (SR 1813) (Epsom Oaks, Epsom 1809)

LANDSCAPE (SR 1952) (Epsom Oaks, Epsom 1816)

Annual fees for horses & stable-keepers

At a meeting of the Stewards and Members of the Jockey Club in Newmarket on 13th July 1819 it was resolved, in order to defray the expense of repairing the Course and Exercise Ground, that one guinea annually be paid in respect of every racehorse that shall be trained or exercised, or that shall run any private trial or public race thereon.
That the same should be paid by the stable-keeper or servant having the care of such horse, and be charged by him to the owner of such horse.
That every stable-keeper or servant shall immediately after the Second Spring Meeting and the Houghton Meeting, in every year, deliver to the Keeper of the Match-Book at Newmarket, a list of the horses which have been under his care, liable to pay the said charge, and shall then also pay to the Keeper of the Match-Book the money due for each horse. The first payment of such charge shall be made at the end of the next Houghton Meeting, upon every horse liable thereto, between 1st August next ensuring the date of this resolution and that period.
Signed by the 3 Stewards; Sir Charles Bunbury, Lord Foley, Lord Craven

General, Field Marshall Thomas Grosvenor

Born 1764

Died 1851

General Parker, Hon George Lane Parker

Born 1724

Died 1791

Captain Richard Vernon

Born 1726

Died 1800

MARQUIS (Newmarket Challenge Cup, Newmarket 1768)

DRONE (Jockey Club Plate, Newmarket 1784)

During this time, between the periods of dominance by Sir Charles Bunbury and Lord George Bentinck, Mr Christopher Wilson was known as the 'Father of the Turf.' Christopher Wilson, son of a bishop was born in 1764, resided at Beilby Grange, near Wetherby, a house and estate developed in the 17th century by the Beilby family, where Wilson kept a small stud, owning a particular stallion Chateau Margaux which was latter exported to the USA. He later moved to Oxton Hall near Tadcaster, purchasing it in 1841, a year before his death. In 1800 Wilson owned Champion, who won the 1800 Epsom Derby and St Leger, the first horse to complete the double, a feat which was not repeated until 1848 by Surplice. He was a lucky owner, owning the inaugural winner of the 2000 Guineas in 1809, Wizard, 5/6 favourite trained by Tom Perren and ridden by William Clift, and the inaugural winner of the 1000 Guineas in 1814, Charlotte, 11/5 favourite also trained by Tom Perren and ridden by Bill Clift. Wilson was not only known as the 'Father of the Turf' but was a perpetual Steward at Newmarket and was so influential, and well-thought of, that in his obituary, after his death at Christie's, St James Street, London on Derby Day, Wednesday 25th May 1842, it was written, 'The Turf is highly indebted to this gentleman, not only for his paternal care of its general interests and welfare, but for having his amiable and conciliatory manners and conduct, uniting the sportsmen of the North and South, divesting their matches and engagements of some disagreeable features which had previously been too prominent.'

By 1819, after a number of land purchases from the Crown, Mr C Pemberton, Mr Allix of Swaffham, and Mr Salisbury Dunn, the Jockey Club had the majority of Newmarket Heath in its ownership, securing the future of the sport and ensuring the land did not fall into the hands of those opposed to racing. The 3rd Duke of Portland who died in 1809, and later the 4th Duke of Portland, father of Lord George Bentinck, had financed the purchase of the freehold of the land on which the Coffee House and New Jockey Club Rooms were built, and additional Newmarket Heath land in 1831. Sometime later Bury Hill, the Limekilns and Warren Hill were added to the Jockey Club ownership.

1st Duke of Cleveland, William Harry Vane (Lord Darlington)

Born 1766

Died 1842

MARCELLUS (Ascot Gold Cup 1823)

MEMNON (Ascot Gold Cup 1827)

CHORISTER (SR 1899) (St Leger, Doncaster 1831)

Ruling on a Pony race

In 1823 the method by which ponies were measured at an Inverness race meeting came before the Jockey Club. They kept well clear of the issue, deciding that Pony racing was not subject to the Rules of Racing.

4th Duke of Grafton, George Henry Fitzroy

Born 1760

Died 1844

PASTILLE (SR 2015) (2000 Guineas, Newmarket, Epsom Oaks 1822)

ZINC (SR 1999) (Epsom Oaks 1823)

TURCOMAN (SR 1986) (2000 Guineas, Newmarket 1827)

TURQUOISE (SR 1768) (Epsom Oaks 1828)

OXYGEN (SR 1859) (Epsom Oaks 1831)

Issue of penalty weights

An interesting case for the Jockey Club to consider arose in 1825. The Cupar Gold Cup of 1824 was won by Ledstone, owned by Mr Maule, but Mr Carnegie of Charleton, owner of the second Balmain, objected on the grounds that Ledstone should have carried 3lb extra for winning the Montrose Cup held on 6th October 1824. The matter was referred to the Stewards of the Jockey Club who had to make a decision on both matters together, deciding that Ledstone should keep the Montrose Cup, but should lose the Cupar Cup for not having carried the extra 3lbs. They later issued new rules to cover the point and to speed up referrals.

6th Duke of Leeds, George William Frederick Osborne

Born 1775

Died 1838

A further dispute about weight allocation arose at Rochester & Chatham races in 1825 when a filly, entered for the Chatham Plate, was assigned a weight, but before contesting the Chatham Plate won a valuable Stakes race which would have resulted in a 7lb penalty. She later won the Chatham Plate without the 7lb penalty and the matter was referred to the Jockey Club Stewards. The Stewards stated that they were aware of their conflicting advice, but allowed the filly to keep the Plate.

4th Duke of Portland, (Lord Titchfield) William Henry Cavendish Scott Bentinck

Born 1768

Died 1854

Warning Off case

In 1827 an important case was heard at Cambridge Assizes, Mr S Hawkins against the Duke of Portland on behalf of the Jockey Club. The Jockey Club, led by its Steward the Right Honourable Stuart Wortley (later Lord Wharncliffe), believed that they had ownership of the Heath, and that Mr Hawkins had trespassed onto their land. In Court the claim was made that on Wednesday 18th April 1827, with force and arms, Mr Hawkins had entered a part of Newmarket Heath known as the Flat. In his defence, Mr Hawkins pleaded a right of way over the land in question all the year round, and that he was on the Heath to view races at the stated time. Mr Hawkins was aggrieved with the Jockey Club because they had been asked to settle a betting dispute between himself and Mr Ellis involving a bet of £2100. The Jockey Club Stewards, led by Lord Wharcliffe, had found in favour of Ellis. Hawkins decided, on the day in question, to ride up to Lord Wharnliffe's carriage to discuss the findings with him. However, the previous day the Jockey Club had served notice on Hawkins that he would be committing an act of trespass if he went onto the Heath. In the end the jury found in favour of the plaintiff, the Duke of Portland on behalf of the Jockey Club, awarding him damages of just 1 shilling. However, more importantly, the verdict had made a case in law giving the Jockey Club the right to 'warn off' transgressors.

5th Duke of Richmond, Charles Gordon Lennox

Born 1791

Died 1860

GULNARE (SR 1830) (Epsom Oaks 1827)

LINKBOY (Goodwood Cup 1827)

MISS CRAVEN (Goodwood Cup 1828)

5th Duke of Rutland, John Henry Manners

Born 1778

Died 1837

CADLAND (SR 2016) (Epsom Derby, 2000 Guineas 1828)

OPPIDAN (Jockey Club Plate, Newmarket 1831)

2nd Lord Anson, Thomas William Anson (1st Earl of Lichfield)

Born 1795

Died 1854

SLIGO (Newmarket Challenge Whip 1827)

Extensive updated Rules

In 1828 the former set of rules was repealed and on 31st December 1828 an updated set of Rules and Orders of the Jockey Club, was issued which were numbered and divided into sections. Later, in 1830, Pond's Rules of Horse Racing were numbered 1-40 for ease of reference. A full set of Rules operating at this time is available on application, but a brief list of points covered is given below:-
1. Previous Rules altered
2. Three Members acting as Stewards
3. Majority rule in case of dispute
4. On death, or resignation, surviving Stewards may appoint another Steward
5. Resolving disputes regarding racing or betting at Newmarket
6. Resolving disputes anywhere apart from Newmarket
7. The racecourse and exercise-grounds
8. Keeping of the Match Book
9. Hour of starting of meeting
10. Jockey Club accounts
11. Mode of balloting for Jockey Club Membership
12. Ballots for New Room Members
13. New Rooms membership of London Club members
14. Coffee Room ballots
15. New Rooms members and Coffee House members
16. Payment of fees by Members
17. Entries governed by inclusion in Stud Book
18. Entries and bets disqualified if horses not in Stud Book
19. Nominations to races cannot be withdrawn once made without loss of stake
20. Weights assigned to untried horses
21. Entry stakes to be paid an hour before off time
22. Day Book of staring fees
23. Percentage reduction of forfeits
24. No entry allowed unless fee is paid
25. No bets after the race has been determined
26. Stakes are expressed in pounds, not guineas
27. Double bets are play or pay
28. Bets on races of 2 runners are void if both runners in same ownership
29. Bets void if no named horse wins
30. Bets stand if day of race is altered
31. Play or pay bets stand once a horse reaches the post
32. No person shall trial another person’s horse
33. Betting on trials
34. Rules governing trials
35. Trials run more than 25 miles from Newmarket
36. Two trial periods; before 8am and after 2pm
37. Record of trials in Coffee Room book
38. Observing trails (touts)
39. Challenge for Newmarket Cup
40. Challenge for Newmarket Whip
41. Deductions from Sweepstakes
42. Stakeholder retentions
43. Dead-heats and re-runs
44. Weight allowance of 2lbs
45. Rules governing Clerk of Scales
46. Duty of groom to ensure horses are at the start 5 minutes before the Off
47. Rules governing Starter
48. Showing horses new to Newmarket
49. Crossing and jostling
50. Assigned weight 8st 7lbs unless otherwise specified
Usual courses for each race
Keeper of the Match Book
51. One Guinea payment per horse per year for Heath upkeep
52. Disqualification of horses in same ownership
53. Objections raised by jockeys
54. Conditions races
55. Selling races
56. Objection to qualification of horses
57. Familiarization with rules
58. Stewards decide disputes based on these rules

Lord George H Cavendish, 1st Earl of Burlington

Born 1754

Died 1834

BIZARRE (Ascot Gold Cup 1824 & 1825)

YOUNG MOUSE (SR 1969) (1000 Guineas 1829)

6th Lord Chesterfield, George Stanhope

Born 1805

Died 1866

ZINGANEE (Ascot Gold Cup 1829)

PRIAM (Goodwood Cup 1831 & 1832)

GLAUCUS (Ascot Gold Cup 1834)

3rd Lord Egremont, George Wyndham

Born 1751

Died 1837

CRICKETER (Goodwood Cup 1825)

STUMPS (Goodwood Cup 1826)

LAP-DOG (SR 1915) (Epsom Derby 1826)

2nd Lord Exeter, Cecil Brownlow

Born 1795

Died 1867

ENAMEL (SR 1970) (2000 Guineas 1825)

PATRON (SR 1954) (2000 Guineas 1829)

GREEN MANTLE (SR 1966) (Epsom Oaks 1829)

AUGUSTUS (SR 1953) (2000 Guineas 1830)

GALATA (SR 1983) (Epsom Oaks, 1000 Guineas 1832, Ascot Gold Cup 1833)

3rd Lord Foley, Thomas Foley

Born 1780

Died 1833

5th Lord Jersey, George Child-Villiers

Born 1773

Died 1859

COBWEB (SR 2032) (Epsom Oaks, 1000 Guineas 1824)

MIDDLETON (SR 2031) (Epsom Derby 1825)

MAMELUKE (SR 2030) (Epsom Derby 1827)

CHARLOTTE WEST (SR 1830) (1000 Guineas 1830)

RIDDLESWORTH (SR 2035) (2000 Guineas 1831)

GLENCOE (SR 1939) (2000 Guineas 1834, Ascot Gold Cup 1835)

IBRAHIM (SR 2031) (2000 Guineas 1835)

2nd Lord Sefton, William Philip Molyneux

Born 1772

Died 1838

1st Lord Stradbroke, Sir John Rous

Born 1750

Died 1827

Ascot Gold Cup misjudgement

In 1831 the Jockey Club, its strength still predominantly in Newmarket, attempted to change the rules governing entry into the Ascot Gold Cup by decreeing that entry was restricted to members of the Jockey Club, or selected London Club members. They resented the fact that a prize fighter, Mr Gully, wished to enter his horse in the Gold Cup. The wider appetite for such a restriction was not accepted by the public and was, quite rightly, dropped after just one year. The Jockey Club felt obliged to issue clarification in 1832, stating that their rules only applied to races at Newmarket. The statement which they made was, 'The Jockey Club have no authority to extend their Rules and Orders to any other place (apart from Newmarket); although they have, for the sake of greater uniformity and certainty, recommended the adoption of the same rules to the Stewards of other races, and that the Stewards of the Jockey Club will not receive any references of disputes from any places except those which have declared the Rules and Regulations of Newmarket shall be in force in the printed articles of those races.' Not only did this statement attempt to unify rules across all UK racecourses but, at the same time, laid the foundations for racecourses worldwide to adhere to the same rules. This would have the additional, necessary, bonus enabling sentences passed on transgressors in one country to be upheld in other countries.

Lord Tavistock, Francis Russell (7th Duke of Bedford)

Born 1788

Died 1861

1st Lord Verulam, James Walter Grimston

Born 1775

Died 1845

1st Lord Wharncliffe, Rt Hon. James Stuart Archibald Wortley

Born 1776

Died 1845

THE DRAON, 200 Gns Plate, Newmarket 1818)

PASTIME (200 Gns Plate, Newmarket 1818)

CARTHUSIAN (100 Gns Plate, Newmarket 1818)

Sir John Byng, Baron Stratford

Born 1772

Died 1860

Referrals beyond Newmarket

In August 1831 an important case was brought by Sir Mark Wood, a Jockey Club Member, against Mr Atkins, Clerk of the Course at Warwick Racecourse, for the sum of £600. In the Guy Stakes, run at Warwick in 1830, Mr Beardsworth's Birmingham had defeated Sir Mark Wood's Cetus and several others, and had been paid the stakes of £1000 by Mr Atkins. However, Sir Mark Wood objected on the grounds that the owner of Birmingham had not paid stakes from previous races he had contested and should therefore be disqualified from his Warwick victory. Neither party could agree, so Atkins and Wood decided to refer the matter to the Jockey Club who, in the end found in favour of Sir Mark Wood on the grounds that Birmingham's owner had not settled previous debts at the time of the Warwick race. Beardsworth continued to dispute the matter, claiming that the Jockey Club had no jurisdiction over races outside of Newmarket, and that he had not agreed to refer the matter to the Jockey Club despite Mr Atkins choosing to refer it. In the end the Jockey Club found in favour of Wood over Atkins, awarding Sir Mark Wood £600 which Mr Atkins had to pay.

Sir Mark Wood

Born 1794

Died 1837

LUCETTA (Ascot Gold Cup 1830)

GALANTINE (SR 1783) (1000 Guineas 1831)

CETUS (Ascot Gold Cup 1831)

CAMARINE (Ascot Gold Cup 1832)

VESPA (SR 1783) (Epsom Oaks 1833)

General, Field Marshall Thomas Grosvenor

Born 1764

Died 1851

Colonel Robert Wilson, 9th Lord Berners

Born 1761

Died 1838

Ages of horses

At a meeting of the Jockey Club on 25th April 1833 it was resolved that after the end of 1833 all horses shall be considered at Newmarket as taking their ages from 1st January instead of 1st May.

Christopher Wilson

Born 1764

Died 1842

CHAMPION (SR 1984) (Epsom Derby, St Leger 1822)

WIZARD (SR 2004) (2000 Guineas 1809)

CHARLOTTE (SR 1876) (1000 Guineas 1814)

Start day of meetings

At a meeting on 30th October 1833 it was resolved that the Second Spring Meeting, the July Meeting and the First October Meeting shall commence on the Tuesday rather than the Monday as previously stipulated.

Up to this point in time, from 1729 to 1833 the Members of the Jockey Club could only be ascertained if their horses took part in the annual Jockey Club Plate, Newmarket Challenge Gold Cup or Newmarket Challenge Whip, or they signed resolutions on behalf of the Jockey Club, or by pure speculation. In 1834 that all changed when a definitive list of Members was printed in the Racing Calendar and many newspapers, with one such statement shown below.
'Jockey Club Members:-This celebrated club, the legislators of the turf, and its protection against fraud, ignorance, and mismanagement, has hitherto been known only to the public through the "Laws and Regulations" which have for so many years been the authority in racing matters, and by its frequent decisions in disputed points-a list of members never having yet been published. We are now enabled to furnish their names, and our readers cannot fail to agree with us, that while the turf is under the control and patronage of so distinguished a body, its interests and honour are in safe keeping. We give them alphabetically:-'

Hon George Anson
Stanlake Batson
Sir John Byng
Captain George Byng
Sir David Baird
Lord George Bentinck
Earl of Burlington
Earl of Clarendon
Duke of Cleveland
Marquis of Conyngham
Earl of Chesterfield

Hon. Berkeley Craven
Thomas Crosby
Duke of Dorset
John Douglas
Earl of Egremont
Marquis of Exeter
R C Elwes
Lord John Fitzroy
Duke of Grafton
Marquis of Graham
Sir S Graham

C C Granville
Hon. General Grosvenor
A Goddard
Marquis of Hertford
John Hunter
T Houldsworth
W H Irby
Earl of Jersey
Duke of Leeds
Earl of Lichfield
Viscount Lowther

Lord Charles Manners
John Mills
Earl of Orford
Duke of Portland
John Payne
George Payne
G P Prendergast
Lord William Powlett
Honourable Edward Petre
Colonel Jonathan Peel
Duke of Rutland

Duke of Richmond
George Rush
Hon. Captain Henry Rous
Earl of Stradbroke
Colonel Synge
Lord Saye & Sele
W S Stonehewer
Sloane Stanley
Lord Southampton
Marquis of Tavistock
Thomas Thornhill

Earl of Uxbridge
J R Udny
Earl of Verulam
Henry Vansittart
Christopher Wilson
H S Waddington
Lord Wharncliffe
Earl of Wilton
Marquis of Worcester
Sir Mark Wood
Marquis of Westminster

Lord George Bentinck, born on 27th February 1802, was the third son, and second surviving son, of the 4th Duke of Portland and first entered the world of racing as an owner with a taste for gambling, having initially joined the 9th Lancers. However, his early wagers on the turf proved to be disastrous, losing over £26,000 (equivalent to £2.5 million in 2021) on the 1826 St Leger won by Lord Scarborough's Tarrare at 20/1. Although the 1826 St Leger proved to be a low point for Lord George, described by himself as, 'the most disastrous event of my racing life', a decade later he used the same Classic to broadcast his genius. In the meantime, his mother, the Duchess of Portland, had to bail him out, while his father decided the best way to wean him off racing, and more particularly gambling, was to purchase an estate for him in Ayrshire. Lord George put a manager in charge of that estate and coaxed two of his brothers, Lord Henry Bentinck and Lord Tichfield, to help him open an account with Drummond's Bank and secure up to £300,000 for him to continue the development of his career on the Turf, although in the early days he ran his horses under the names of other people. His most audacious plan came to fruition in 1836 with Elis in the St Leger. As a 2-year-old Elis, probably named after a good friend of Lord George, Augustus Ellis, was talented enough to land the Chesterfield Stakes, Molecomb Stakes at Goodwood, Clearwell Stakes and Criterion Stakes, and was a leading fancy for the 2000 Guineas the next year. In the 1836 2000 Guineas he was unfortunate to meet a colt of the quality of Lord Jersey's Bay Middleton and was beaten a neck when running in the name of 1st Lord Lichfield, Thomas Anson. From time to time Lord George also used Charles Greville, Lord Orford and Mr Bowe, a Doncaster publican, as fronts for his horses. Elis did not contest the Epsom Derby which Bay Middleton also won. Elis won the Drawing-Room Stakes at Goodwood in July and was runner-up behind Hornsea in the Goodwood Cup, a result which gave Lord George confidence that his horse would perform well in the St Leger later in the season. On 10th August he won the all-aged Lewes Stakes staying on over a mile and a half, providing further evidence that he would stay the St Leger distance. He was still in Goodwood just a week before the St Leger, a point noted by bookmakers who extended his St Leger odds, knowing that the only way he could travel the 250 miles from Goodwood to Doncaster was under his own steam and that, at the end of such an arduous journey, he would not be fit to run the St Leger.  Undeterred, and with a trick up his sleeve, Lord George continued to back Elis for the St Leger, for he had commissioned a specially designed carriage, drawn by a team of 6 horses, which could be changed when necessary, to transport his star from Goodwood to Doncaster. Elis, and his companion The Drummer, were transported to Lichfield where they were able to secretly exercise on Lichfield racecourse, and then complete the journey to Doncaster, arriving at Town Moor on the Monday well before the day of the race. On 20th September 1836 Elis, ridden by John Day, going off the 7/2 second favourite behind Scroggins (6/4 fav) trained by the legendary John Scott contested the St Leger. Elis led from half way and was not troubled to win from Scroggins and Beeswing, landing bets worth over £24,000 for Lord George. He went on to achieve further Classic successes with Chapeau d'Espagne (1837 1000 Guineas), Grey Momus (1838 2000 Guineas), Crucifix (1840 1000 Guineas, 2000 Guineas, Epsom Oaks), Firebrand (1842 1000 Guineas) as well as the 1838 Ascot Gold Cup with Grey Momus.
 As a turf reformer Lord George Bentinck, not appointed Steward until July 1845,earns his place alongside Sir Charles Bunbury and Admiral Henry John Rous, having taken charge at a time when racing was in a sorry state, riddled with scandalous happenings on a regular basis, culminating in the Derby fraud which was attempted with Running Rein in 1844. The outcome of that fateful race has been covered in great detail by many historians, so will not be repeated here, but Bentinck initiated a patient investigation, exhibiting detective skills of the highest order, and brought the perpetrators to justice, meaning other rogues, with similar ambitions to do wrong, having to rethink their plans.
Before Bentinck took charge the average racegoer witnessed chaotic scenes which were neither orderly nor efficient; where trainers could saddle their runners where they pleased, jockeys, dressed in whatever silks they chose, many of whom would have already pulled wool over eyes at their weigh-out, had to push through heaving crowds just to find their mounts, leaving start times randomly distributed throughout the day.

At the start it was pot luck whether the field got away fairly when the starter shouted 'Go', often dependent on whether the starter had backed the favourite or not. Indeed, it was commonplace for jockeys on less fancied mounts to band together to get the favourite left at the start, so enhancing their own chances of winning. Lord George had often been the victim of such malpractice, most notably when his exceptional filly Crucifix, the 1/3 favourite for the 1840 Oaks, had her temperament tested to the full by 16 false starts and an hour's delay at the start, but came through the ordeal to win her third Classic comfortably, having already won the 1000 Guineas and 2000 Guineas. Bentinck's solution was to introduce a flag start with a flagman about a furlong in front of the field who would drop his flag if the start was acceptable, and wave it to signify a false start. The Clerk of the Course seldom seemed hurried, meaning race times became later and later as the card progressed. The card itself, if one was produced, did not have runners numbered, so there was little chance of the average punter, unable to glimpse a number board, knowing which horse had won, or whether their own fancy had run well, and when the horses had passed the post the weighing-in process was even more haphazard than the weighing-out process, with jockeys freely able to pick up or drop whips and weights at will. Another change which Bentinck introduced was to ban winning owners from gifting a present to the Judge, a measure which could have previously influenced a Judge’s decision in favour of those owners which gave the largest presents.
Gradually Bentinck was able to make the necessary changes to bring order and fairness to a days racing, and to improve the layout of racecourses and paddocks, transforming them into places which welcomed everyone and had something to suit everyone's pocket.
During Bentinck's time as a Jockey Club Member an important decision was taken by the Jockey Club to not offer its services to resolve betting disputes. They felt that their main focus should be on adjudicating on racing affairs and for some time their rules included a section on, 'Respecting Stakes, Forfeits and Bets', but in 1843 they went further by issuing guidance by all persons involved in a betting dispute, suggesting that 'all persons having disputes thereupon to decide the same by referees, one to be chosen by each of the parties, and the two referees to select a third'.
Bentinck found it increasingly difficult to get a balance between his work for the Jockey Club and his work as a Member of Parliament. Despite winning 4 of the 5 Classics, some more than once, his great wish was to win the Epsom Derby. In 1846 the Protectionist Party, a faction of the Conservative Party, was launched to oppose the free trade policy of Robert Peel. The Protectionists were led by Edward Smith-Stanley and Benjamin Disraeli, but Lord George became a leading light of the party. Such was his dedication to the cause that one morning he offered his entire racing stud to his friend George Payne for £10,000. This was a remarkable bargain, and Payne asked for 24 hours to consider the offer, putting down a deposit of £250. The next day he declined the offer, leaving Lord George with the deposit, and shortly afterwards the same offer was made to Mr Edward Lloyd-Mostyn who gladly accepted. One horse in the stable which Lord George sold was Surplice, a bay colt by Touchstone out of Crucifix which was foaled on 21st January 1845. Mostyn decided to sell the colt to Lord Clifden and the colt went on to win the 1848 Epsom Derby, and when news of his success reached Lord George, he was in the smoking room at the Houses of Parliament. Rumour has it that Benjamin Disraeli was the first to notice a depressed Lord George who exclaimed, 'All my life I have been trying for this, and for what have I sacrificed it? But you do not know what the Derby is?' Disraeli replied, 'Yes, I do, it is the Blue Ribbon of the Turf.', a comment which did not console Lord George.
Lord George Bentinck died, aged 46, on 21st September 1848 on a walk between his father's house at Welbeck Abbey and Thoresby Hall, owned by 2nd Earl Manvers, Charles Pierrepont. It is believed that he suffered a heart attack and was already dead when his body was found at 9pm by a search party who feared for his whereabouts. His achievements in politics and on the Turf were summed up by his one-time friend Charles Greville, "He brought into politics the same ardour, activity, industry and cleverness which he had displayed on the turf. having once espoused a cause and espoused a party, from whatever motive, he worked with all the force of his intellect and a superhuman power of application in what he perceived to be the interest of that party and that cause. However, I have not the least doubt that, for his own reputation and celebrity, he died at the most opportune period; his fame had probably reached its zenith, and credit was given him for greater abilities than he possessed."

Lord George Bentinck

27th February 1802

21st September 1848

ELIS (SR 1985) (St Leger, Doncaster 1836)

CHAPEAU D'ESPAGNE (SR 1937) (1000 Guineas, Newmarket 1837)

GREY MOMUS (SR 1938) (2000 Guineas, Ascot Gold Cup 1838)

CRUCIFIX (SR 2050) (1000 Guineas, 2000 Guineas, Epsom Oaks 1840)

FIREBRAND (SR 1841) (1000 Guineas, Newmarket 1842)

First and foremost, this was a period where order was given to a race meeting which was lacking in previous times.
1. Different types of enclosure were introduced to suit everyone’s pocket; the more you paid the greater the number of amenities available to you.
2. A parade ring was introduced so that the public could see each of the contestants saddled in full view.
3. Each horse was numbered on a racecard, with a number board clearly visible to racegoers, so that the punter could identify each horse as they were paraded.
4. A Clerk of the Scales was appointed to ensure fairness when weighing out, and fairness when weighing in.
5. A clear focus on timing of races, with the Clerk of the Course fined 10 shillings for each minute a race was late.
6. The flag start was introduced so that as the starter shouted ‘Go’ a flag man a furlong in front of the runners dropped his flag simultaneously, in full view of all of the jockeys. Prior to this there were multiple false starts, many caused on purpose to upset fancied runners.
7. Prior to Bentinck the winning owner rewarded the judge, but Bentinck banned this, and ensured that training was given to racecourse judges to assess their competence.
8. It was during Bentinck’s time at the helm that a horse running under the name Running Rein was first past the post in the 1844 Epsom Derby, only to be found later to have been the 4-year-old Maccabeus. Bentinck insisted thereafter that Stewards check the age of horses to prevent them taking part if their age could not be verified.

7th Duke of Bedford, Francis Russell

Born 1788

Died 1861

4th Duke of Grafton, George Henry Fitzroy

Born 1760

Died 1844

5th Duke of Rutland, John Henry Manners

Born 1778

Died 1837

Eclipse Foot

On 16th May 1832 the Duke of Cleveland, at one of the annual Jockey Club dinners, presented the Jockey Club with one of Eclipse's hoofs, set in gold, as a prize which was called 'The Eclipse Foot'. It was meant to be run annually, not only for Eclipse Foot, but also a 200 sovereign prize added by His Majesty, and a further 100 sovereigns added from a prize fund. It was restricted to horses owned by Members of the Jockey Club and was contested over 2 1/2 miles at Ascot. The inaugural running on Thursday 21st June 1832 was won by Priam, owned by Lord Chesterfield, but was only run on 3 further occasions, the second of which was won by Galopade in 1833 when owned by Mr T Cosby, the third in 1834 when won by Lord Chesterfield's Glaucus, and the last of which was in 1835 when Mr Batson issued a challenge which was not accepted by Lord Chesterfield, so he was handed the trophy which later became a snuff box and displayed in the Jockey Club Rooms at Newmarket. In 1836, after a meeting at the Jockey Club, newspapers of the day issued the following statement,' It has excited no small astonishment that the Eclipse Foot should have ceased to create any competition amongst the members of the Jockey Club who, with plenty of good horses, and a perfect knowledge that Mr Batson had nothing in his stable to enable him to retain it, suffered it to pass without a challenge, resisting even the £200 held out as an inducement. It looks, indeed, as if the abandonment of the good old custom observed by George IV of having the Jockey Club dinner at the Palace had engendered a coolness towards the races, for it is obvious that those who will run their horses at Newmarket for a £50 Plate would not object to start for a foot so temptingly gilded without adequate cause. That his Majesty's intention should not be defeated it has been suggested by some well-wishers to the races, that, as the challenge prize proves so unattractive, the £200 should be altogether withdrawn from it and added to the Oatlands Stakes.'

5th Lord Albemarle, Augustus Frederick Keppel

Born 1794

Died 1851

BARCAROLIE (SR 1862) (1000 Guineas, Newmarket 1838)

SPANGLE (Coronation Stakes, Royal Ascot 1840)

RALPH (SR 1952) (2000 Guineas, Newmarket 1841, Ascot Gold Cup 1843)

THE EMPEROR (Ascot Gold Cup 1844, 1845)

6th Lord Chesterfield, George Stanhope

Born 1805

Died 1866

INDUSTRY (SR 1907) (Epsom Oaks 1838)

DON JOHN (SR 2026) (St Leger, Doncaster 1838)

2nd Lord Exeter, Cecil Brownlow

Born 1795

Died 1867

VELURE (Windsor Forest Stakes, Royal Ascot 1837)

CELIA (Coronation Stakes, Royal Ascot 1842)

WEE PET (Windsor Forest Stakes, Royal Ascot 1843)

COSACHIA (Coronation Stakes, Royal Ascot 1847)

Colonel Jonathan Peel

Born 1799

Died 1879

GRAND CAIRO (Wokingham Stakes, Royal Ascot 1837)

ORLANDO (SR 2013) (Epsom Derby 1844)

IONIAN (St James Palace Stakes, Royal Ascot 1844)

World nearly lost the training skills of John Day jnr

John Day jnr, son of John Barham Day, was born in 1819 and became a moderately successful jockey, winning just one English Classic, the 1844 2000 Guineas on The Ugly Buck. However, it was as a trainer that he excelled, winning 12 English Classics, 3 Epsom Derby victories, 2 Epsom Oaks, three 2000 Guineas wins, and four 1000 guineas victories, but his outstandingly successful training career could so easily have been scuppered in 1845 by a dubious decision by the Jockey Club. The story began in 1840 when Discord, owned by Mr Etwall and ridden by John Day junior was strongly fancied for the Epsom Derby. In a perfectly fair race Discord (7/2) finished 3rd behind Little Wonder (50/1) and Launcelot (9/4 fav), and all seemed well until John Day jnr revealed a secret some years later. The full story, told in many newspapers of the day, is shown below.

Captain Henry Rous

Born 1795

Died 1877

The attention of the racing world has, within the last few weeks, been much attracted by the proceedings in the 'Melody colt affair', which was outlined in this paper some time since, but which it may be as well to repeat here, in order that the remarks which follow may not be misunderstood. In the year 1840, the Melody colt (later named Discord), then the property of Mr Etwall, was a great favourite for the Derby. Some time before the race came off, Mr Crommelin, whose name may be remembered in connection with the Ratan affair, proceeded to the neighbourhood of Danebury in disguise, and then and there made specific offers to John Day jnr to induce him to stop the horse by some of the many means at his command.
John Day jnr at once and immediately narrated this proposal to his father (John Barham Day the trainer) who at once communicated it to Mr Etwall, under a pledge of secrecy. The horse ran, ridden by John Day jnr, and run (as his subsequent performances have proved) honestly, having been a good third. The secret is kept by all parties until the present year (1845), when John Day senior, having absolved Mr Etwall from his pledge, speaks out in accusation of Mr Crommelin, and the matter, in due course, comes formally to the Jockey Club. Five of these gentlemen form a committee of inquiry, with closed doors, but walls have ears, and the matter takes a turn as follows:-
All the parties are examined. Much evidence is admitted wholly irrelevant to the question. John Day jnr is examined upon points set forth in a written statement put by Mr Crommelin. It is proved that Mr Crommelin went in disguise, as stated by young John Day. The fact of the immediate communication between young John Day, his father, and Mr Etwall, of the supposed result of the interview is proved; but the reason of the long silence and secrecy observed is not so satisfactorily set at rest as regards the Days. Mr Etwall, of course, having received a communication under promise of secrecy, was bound by his pledge until specially absolved by his informant, when he at once speaks out. However, the fact of the disguise is proved, and also the fact that since that time the parties have been in constant and confidential communication, Mr Crommelin frequently acting as commissioner for the stable. The offer said to have been made with regard to the Melody colt is not proved, young John Day having burned every one of his letters, and Mr Crommelin producing every one of those which he had received from his accuser.
Upon all this much argument ensues between the 5 judges. A sweeping and most severe condemnation is proposed by certain members; a partial condemnation is supported by others. The question is put to the vote, and the condemnation of John Day jnr, carried by a majority of three to two. Such are the plain facts. That the public should be dissatisfied with the decision is not to be wondered at, for many reasons.
In the first place, the committee published no facts, no evidence, no grounds, for their decision. One party, the accused, is their intimate associate; the other, the accuser, has no ties in common with them. This at once lays them open to at least the suspicion of partiality, a suspicion aggravated tenfold by the course which they have pursued, aquitting the accused and degrading the accuser. Does not this seem to say 'Be cautious how you fail to cast dirt upon one of us, fail but in a single tittle of your proof, and dire will be the wrath which shall descend to crush you.'
The fact of a disguise was proved, and a weak reprimand resulted. Is it not curious, that on one side alone, letters were burned, and that upon the only side to which they were material? Is it not natural that every care should be insisted on to blot out every trace of such a compact? Is it not the natural course of fear, to urge a speedy and a sure removal of its cause. The careful preservation on the other side of documents of little value, except as secondary evidence, strengthens the supposition that this crisis may have been foreseen, and the world thinks so. There are two men whom I would never trust, the one who never writes a letter, and the other who never burns one.
Young John Day, had his principles been bad might have made use of many opportunities more tempting than the present. His coming forward was a voluntary act. Undoubtedly he might have made many more lucrative uses of his associate than by impugning him. His honesty in riding has never been suspected, nay more, it has frequently been proved. Would a rogue, such as might be deserving of the punishment with which he has been visited, let a thousand golden opportunities go by to take up such a fruitless errand? In no case could it benefit him personally; in every case it must attach the hatred of some class to him. In courts of law the absence of self-interest goes far to strengthen testimony. It should have operated doubly here, where personal disadvantage was the sure result, whichever way the matter ended. Let all the members of that committee be assured that I speak but the language of the world in saying that he whom they have denounced as a culprit is looked upon as a mere miserable scapegoat, driven forth from an honest employment into the world's wilderness.
In any case the penalty is excessive; it is utter ruin. In no penal enactment, save that put forth by the discriminative policy and tender mercy of the Jockey Club is punishment unmitigated, irredeemable. The door is never shut against those truly penitent. Justice is ever to be softened by the tears of contrite sorrow. Imprisonment, large fine, banishment, every penalty has its fit reward for every successive stage of sin; but none is utter ruin. Each has its time and term and end. None beggars a man, heartlessly, hopelessly. None dares to exclude hope to all futurity. In all the poet’s vision of woe, misery and crime, on the gates of Hell alone did he find it written, 'Let all who enter here abandon hope.'
Shall it be said that this is overcharged? By no means. To what pursuit in life can a man turn, brought up as this young man has been? What path can he hope to follow with success, branded as he is now? Commit an injustice if you will, but do not let it be irreparable. Suspend him for a time from his profession. Mete out to him such a correction as may serve all the best purposes of an example, but do not add to your deep error that which would be a crime, in the utter damnation of all this young man's career.
Gentlemen of the Jockey Club, lay this to heart. The public thinks you partial and unjust (Warning him off). I tell you plainly that what sympathy there is sides not with you. You have committed, if not an error, at least an indiscretion. Repair it ere it be too late.

A decade on

After the first official list of Jockey Club Members was printed in 1834, updated lists were included in the Racing Calendar on an annual basis. The list of Jockey Club Members in 1847 is shown below.

Lord George Bentinck (ST)
Earl of Eglinton (ST)
Sir Joseph Hawley (ST)
HRH Prince of Orange
Earl of Albemarle
J P Allix
Hon. Colonel Anson
Sir D Baird
S Batson
S R Batson
Duke of Beaufort
Duke of Bedford
H Biggs
J Bowes

Sir R W Bulkeley
Earl of Chesterfield
Marquis of Conyngham
T H Cookes
T Cosby
R C Elwes
Viscount Enfield
R Etwall
Marquis of Exeter
T Gardnor
Sir J Gerrard
Earl of Glasgow
A Goddard
Sir S Graham

Earl Greville
C C Greville
Field Marshall Grosvenor
Sir Gilbert Heathcote
T Houldsworth
Earl of Jersey
Earl of Lichfield
Cynric Lloyd
Earl of Lonsdale
H Lowther
Viscount Maidstone
Lord Charles Manners
Earl of March

J Mills
Earl of Milltown
Duke of Montrose
Hon. E M Mostyn
Marquis of Normandy
Earl of Orford
Viscount Palmerston
G Payne
Col Jonathan Peel
Duke of Portland
Lord W Powlett
Duke of Richmond
W A Roberts

Earl of Rosslyn
Hon. Captain H Rous
G Rush
Duke of Rutland
Sir John Shelley
J V Shelley
Lord Southampton
Earl Spencer
Lord Stanley
Sir W M Stanley
J Stanley
W Sloane Stanley
Earl of Stradbroke

Earl of Strathmore
Colonel Synge
Earl of Uxbridge
H Vansittart
Viscount Villiers
Hon. A Villiers
Hon. Francis Villiers
H S Waddington
R Watt
W Wigram
Earl of Wilton
Sir W Watkin Wynn
General Yates

8th Duke of Beaufort, Henry Charles Fitzroy

Born 1824

Died 1899

SIBERIA (SR 1909) (1000 Guineas 1865)

VAUBAN (SR 1981) (2000 Guineas 1867)

SCOTTISH QUEEN (SR 1841) (1000 Guineas 1869)

1. Rous believed that the thoroughbreds of 1750 were no better than selling platers a century later.
2. He did not accept that races over 4, 6 and 8 miles were beneficial to the development of the thoroughbred, believing that 2-mile races were plenty for any horses.
3.He did not like 5-furlong sprint races, much less races over barely 2 furlongs for 2-year-olds and even yearlings, stating that they were so dependent on the start that it encouraged jockeys to fight for their positions without due regard to the horses.
4. He was not a fan of handicaps which 'offered a premium for fraud', despite him being responsible for handicapping the Great Match between The Flying Dutchman, winner of the 1849 Epsom Derby and St Leger, and Voltigeur, winner of the 1850 Epsom Derby and St Leger. He set The Flying Dutchman to concede exactly 8 1/2 lbs over 2 miles to Voltigeur, and in the event The Flying Dutchman won by less than a length.
5. In spite of him not being an enthusiast of handicaps, he gladly accepted the role of public handicapper in 1855 at the age of 60, for he was ideally suited to the task, with boundless enthusiasm, prepared to burn the midnight oil to get a handle on the latest form lines, fearless to set the weights he believed were fair without fear or favour, the energy to attend every major meeting to witness at first hand the form of horses, and to be on the Heath in the early morning to witness important trials.
6. Although he was not against betting, he appreciated that without betting there would be few racing fans, and eventually fewer racecourses which would be able to finance themselves without crowds. However, he was totally against those people who bet huge amounts and even thought, at one stage, that a rule should be introduced to limit the amount one could bet on any race, fearing that many of those laying out huge bets were Jockey Club Members and that the Club would be brought into disrepute if the bettors were not able to pay. Clearly, the rule would have been impossible to police, and his worst fears were realized when Hon. Francis Villiers had to flee the country when unable to meet his gambling debts.
7. He disliked any delays at the start, for he thought that jockeys on inferior horses were using the ploy to upset the fancied horses, so he frequently rode to the start to admonish those riders who wished to prevent a first time start.
8. In addition to the obvious problems at the start of a race, Rous moaned about the finish as well, in particular the heavy-handed way in which whips were used. He stated, 'I have never seen worse riding than amongst the young crack jockeys who could not wait to flog their horses in 3 great races in the autumn. These boys forget to keep a reserve; if you order them to wait until the last moment, up they go 100 yards from home, take the lead and the patient jockey hunts him down and wins by a head. Thousands of races are won by a judicious pull, and hundreds are lost by the abuse of whip and spur.'
9. Whilst he fully appreciated the skill of jockeys, he thought that if a horse was good enough to win then it would probably do so irrespective of the jockey, and he had no wish to befriend jockeys, believing that they belonged to an inferior class to his own. One of his pet hates was the giving of large gifts by owners to successful jockeys, feeling they were adequately paid for the job they did, and one of the biggest culprits was Sir Joseph Hawley who often gave his jockey the entire stake of the race as a gift.
10. He hated non-triers, which made his handicapping task more difficult, and he was not averse to ride down to the Bushes, some 2 furlongs from the winning post, to witness at first hand those jockeys which were not trying to get the mount its rightful finishing position.
11. He felt that Clerks of the Courses were cheating racegoers, in particular owners, in the amount of prize money they paid and the accounting methods they used. He gave as an example the way Doncaster Racecourse advertised the first prize in the Great Yorkshire Stakes as £200, but then required the winning owner to return £50 as expenses to the course, meaning that the horse was penalized in the future for winning a £200 race when the owner only pocketed £150.

Testimonial and death

In 1865 a testimonial dinner was arranged in his honour, and as a thank you for the work he had carried out on behalf of the Jockey Club, safeguarding its interests at every turn of events. A collection was made when it was agreed that no one should contribute more than a pony (£25), but despite this agreement over £4000 was raised, most going towards a portrait by Henry Weigall which is today on the staircase at the Jockey Club. Ever generous, Rous bequeathed in his will the picture of Gimcrack by Stubbs which is in the morning room of the Jockey Club. He died at Number 13 Berkeley Square, London on 19th June 1877 and was buried at Kensal Green Cemetery.

7th Duke of Bedford, Francis Russell

Born 1788

Died 1861

14th Earl of Derby, Lord Stanley, Edward Smith-Stanley

Born 1799

Died 1869

CANEZOU (SR 1828) (1000 Guineas 1848)

IRIS (SR 1932) (Epsom Oaks 1851)

FAZZOLETTO (SR 1982) (2000 Guineas 1856)

SAGITTA (SR 1896) (1000 Guineas 1860)

13th Earl of Eglinton, Archibald William Montgomerie

Born 1812

Died 1861

VAN TROMP (SR 2020) (St Leger 1847)

THE FLYING DUTCHMAN (SR 2099) (Epsom Derby, St Leger 1849)

VEDETTE (SR 1963) (2000 Guineas 1857)

2nd Earl of Wilton, Thomas Egerton

Born 1799

Died 1882

2nd Viscount Enfield, 2nd Earl of Strafford, George Byng

Born 1806

Died 1886

4th Marquis of Hastings, Henry Weysford Charles Plantagenet Rawdon-Hastings

Born 1842

Died 1868

6th Lord Chesterfield, George Stanhope

Born 1805

Died 1866

3rd Lord Clifden, Henry Agar-Ellis

Born 1825

Died 1866

2nd Lord Exeter, Cecil Brownlow

Born 1795

Died 1867

6th Lord Falmouth, Evelyn Boscawen

Born 1819

Died 1889

QUEEN BERTHA (SR 1857) (Epsom Oaks 1863)

KINGCRAFT (SR 2049) (Epsom Derby 1870)

ATLANTIC (SR 1996) (2000 Guineas 1874)

SPINAWAY (SR 1933) (Epsom Oaks, St Leger 1875)

SILVIO (SR 1981) (Epsom Derby, St Leger 1877)

5th Lord Glasgow, James Carr-Boyle

Born 1792

Died 1869

Ban on yearling races

The final yearling race at Newmarket was in 1795, although the Yearling Course of 2 furlongs and 147 yards was used right up until 1858. Yearling racing was revived briefly in 1856 at Shrewsbury when the Yearling Stakes was contested over 2 furlongs, a race repeated in 1857 and 1858, but in 1859 the Jockey Club debated and passed a rule banning yearling races for public stakes.

3rd Lord Orford, Horatio Walpole

Born 1783

Died 1858

LADY ORFORD (SR 1904) (1000 Guineas 1850)

Hawley v Rous (Round 1) 1851 Doncaster Cup
In 1851 the Jockey Club Rule 4 stated, 'No person could enter or run two horses of which he was whole or part owner for any plate, even if entered as a partnership or in another person's name'. It was Admiral Rous's responsibility to uphold this rule and in 1851 he was severely tested. Sir Joseph Hawley entered two of his horses, The Ban and Vatican, in the Doncaster Cup and, inexplicably, Weatherby's allowed both entries to go ahead. The Ban won the race, but an objection was raised by Mr Saxon, the owner of the second, and the matter was referred to the Jockey Club for a ruling. Sir Joseph swore blind that he had sold Vatican to Mr Morris just 15 minutes before the race started and the Stewards accepted his word, although few racing folk outside of the Jockey Club were as forgiving, but the Stewards allowed him to keep the race, suggesting that the fault was Weatherby's who should not have accepted both entries. They further stated that had Vatican won the race he would have been disqualified because of Rule 40, but failed to explain why The Ban was not disqualified for the same reason. They did say that they would look at the wording of Rule 40 to make it more explicit, but the majority felt it was explicit enough, 'No person can ENTER or run two horses' which is exactly what Sir Joseph did, irrespective of whether he did or did not sell one 15 minutes before the off.

Lord William Powlett, 3rd Duke of Cleveland

Born 1792

Died 1864

7th Lord Stamford, George Grey

Born 1827

Died 1883

DIOPHANTUS (SR 1942) (2000 Guineas 1861)

LADY AUGUSTA (SR 1957) (1000 Guineas 1863)

12th Lord Strathmore, Thomas Lyon-Bowes

Born 1822

Died 1865

2nd Lord Zetland, Thomas Dundas

Born 1795

Died 1873

Hawley v Rous (Round 2) Blue Gown incident
Blue Gown, a bay colt by Beadsman out of Bas Bleu, was foaled in 1865 at owner Sir Joseph Hawley's Stud and sent to the excellent trainer of the day John Porter to be trained. As a 2-year-old it won the Sunning Hill Stakes at Ascot and the Fern Hill Stakes, forerunner of the Sandringham Stakes, at Royal Ascot in 1867. He was strongly fancied to win the Champagne Stakes at Doncaster on Tuesday 10th September 1867, and duly defeated Virtue by half a length. His jockey John Wells had spent the previous evening eating, drinking and gambling at cards, but rather than take the necessary measures to reduce his weight the next morning, he instead pulled the wool over the eyes of the Clerk of Scales, Mr Manning, when weighing out. Once he had secured the victory, and knowing that he would be overweight, he attempted to dispose of a weight cloth as he made his way to the scales, but the eager-eyed fellow jockey John Doyle noticed the indiscretion, picked the weight cloth up and passed it back to Wells. As expected, Wells failed to make the correct weight, even if the usual 2lb leeway was taken into account, and Admiral Rous had no choice but to disqualify Blue Gown, much to the dismay of both John Wells and owner Sir Joseph Hawley. The Sporting Life summed up the incident in their edition on Saturday 14th September 1867, 'No event connected with racing has caused so much annoyance for a considerable period as the disqualification of Blue Gown in the Champagne Stakes, and the more that is known about the matter, the worse it appears. Wells, who has long been identified with Sir Joseph Hawley's colours, and was such a great public favourite, has by his most foolish act seriously impaired his reputation, and it is feared that he will never again ride for his old master. For some time it seems that Wells has been unable to get down to ride 8st 10lbs and this fact was known to a select few of his professional brethren, but anxious to continue to ride for Hawley, Wells has, it is suspected, systematically ridden overweight. In weighing out the jockeys for the race on Tuesday, Wells must have been quite 5lb over 8st 10lbs, and the only inference we can draw is that he could not have been very narrowly watched by Mr Manning; or, as is more than probable, by 'toeing it' the scale was kept from going down heavily which would have been the case had his feet been entirely off the ground. Watson, trainer of the second Virtue, had been informed that Wells was most probably over his weight, and seeing him draw his weight very easily after the event, insisted on the 2lb being put in the balance against the jockey. The scale not withstanding went down swiftly, and Admiral Rous, acting for the Stewards, at once declared Blue Gown disqualified according to Rule 38.'

Baron Mayer Amschel De Rothschild

Born 1818

Died 1874

MENTMORE LASS (SR 1863) (1000 Guineas 1853)

TOMATO (SR 1885) (1000 Guineas 1864)

HIPPIA (SR 1844) (Epsom Oaks 1867)

FAVONIUS (SR 2017) (Epsom Derby 1871)

HANNAH (SR 2014) (Fillies Triple Crown 1871)

Count (Prince) Edmund Batthyany

Born 1826

Died 1914

TRAGICAL (Royal Hunt Cup, Royal Ascot 1847)

GALOPIN (New Stakes (Norfolk), Royal Ascot 1874) Fern Hill Stakes (Sandringham), Royal Ascot 1874, 1875)

Count Frederic de Lagrange

Born 1815

Died 1883

FILLE DE L'AIR (SR 1950) (Epsom Oaks 1864)

GLADIATEUR (SR 2112) (Triple Crown 1865)

Sir Joseph Hawley

Born 1813

Died 1875

MIAMI (SR 1867) (Epsom Oaks 1847)

TEDDINGTON (SR 2046) (Epsom Derby 1851)

BEADSMAN (SR 2017) (Epsom Derby 1858)

FITZ-ROLAND (SR 1936) (2000 Guineas 1858)

MUSJID (SR 2000) (Epsom Derby 1859)

BLUE GOWN (SR 2042) (Epsom Derby 1868)

Sir Frederick Johnstone

Born 1841

Died 1913

Hawley v Rous (Round 3)

Admiral Rous and Sir Joseph Hawley were completely at odds with one another over whether thoroughbreds were improving over time, Rous believing they were, while Hawley thought that the over racing of 2-year-olds had a detrimental effect on the progress of the breed. In 1869 Sir Joseph took matters into his own hands by proposing a number of measures for the Jockey Club to discuss, namely:-
1. That no 2-year-old shall run earlier in the year than the 1st of July;
2. That no 2-year-old should take part in a handicap;
3. That in future no money should be added from Jockey Club funds to any race for which 2-year-olds could be entered;
4. That if two, or more, 2-year-olds are involved in a dead-heat then they should not have a re-run but should share the prize.
Both Rous and Hawley were given the opportunity to state their case, Rous suggesting that if Newmarket did take on the proposals then they would be at a serious disadvantage to other tracks which might choose to not take them on board, and that the Jockey Club lacked the authority to impose the changes on other courses. The Times did not take kindly to Rous's argument, printing 'If the day comes when the authority of the Jockey Club extends no further than The Ditch, it will be because its members were not equal to their position, and had not the courage to exercise for the public good the powers which rest in their hands'. Despite Hawley stating his case strongly, and even with the support of The Times and Lord Stradbroke, elder brother of Admiral Rous, the Jockey Club Members voted down points 1,2 and 4, while point 3 was withdrawn.

Sir Robert Pigot

Born 1801

Died 1891

Captain Hugh Lowther, 3rd Earl of Lonsdale

Born 1818

Died 1876

KING LUD (Alexandra Plate, Royal Ascot 1874)

PETRARCH (Ascot Gold Cup 1877)

Mr William Stirling Crawfurd

Born 1819

Died 1883

MAYONAISE (SR 1919) (1000 Guineas 1859)

MOSLEM (SR 1965) (2000 Guineas 1868)

GANG FORWARD (SR 1962) (2000 Guineas 1873)

CRAIGMILLAR (SR 1985) (St Leger 1875)

National Hunt Committee

Prior to the mid-1860s National Hunt racing had no overall ruling body similar to the Jockey Club. Although it is thought that they would have been glad to have been incorporated into the Jockey Club, by 1866 the National Hunt Committee was founded, led by Benjamin Angell and supported by W G Craven. The Committee proposed a set of 'Rules and Regulations of the Steeplechase', but the rules were not given universal backing by Admiral Rous, so they had to plough a loan furrow. It was over a century later that the Jockey Club and National Hunt Committee finally merged.

Hawley v Rous (4th and final Round)
Although Sir Joseph Hawley was bruised and battered by his contests with Admiral Rous he returned to the battlefront in 1870 by suggesting that the Jockey Club should set up a committee to discuss the current state of racing, citing 8 points which he felt should be on the agenda.
1. Flat racing should not take place before March or after 15th November in any season, and no 2-year-olds should race before 1st September.
2. No 2-year-old entries should be made more than 15 days before the advertised day of the race.
3. No 2-year-old should run in a handicap.
4. No public money or prize should be given to any race in which 2-year-olds run under a mile or in a handicap.
5. If a horse does not start then all bets should be void, and that any person who accepts betting money from a void bet should be warned off by the Stewards.
6. All entries should be made in the real names of owners or part owners.
7. Any meetings where the Jockey Club wish to descend, alter or add to the Laws of Racing should be open to the public.
8. The Jockey Club membership should be extended to include more gentlemen racehorse owners and those who take a keen interest in racing as a means of preserving the breed of horses.
Rous was against many of the proposals and against the formation of a committee to discuss them, but on 20th April 1870, and with the help of Lord Durham, Sir Joseph forced a vote on whether a committee should be formed. Many Members said that they could support the majority of the proposals, but were against point 5, the one concerning betting, and that if that particular one was withdrawn then it would get their support. Sir Joseph refused to alter any of his proposals and the matter was put to a vote where, despite gaining the support of two of the three Stewards, Lord Calthorpe and Lord George Manners, he lost the vote by 17 votes to 9. Sir Joseph had lost the final round to Admiral Rous and gradually withdrew from racing, selling his stud in 1873 after the death of jockey John Wells, and dying in 1875. Rous was to follow him two years later.

A decade on

After the first official list of Jockey Club Members was printed in 1834, updated lists were included in the Racing Calendar on an annual basis. The list of Jockey Club Members in 1857 is shown below.

Duke of Beaufort (ST)
Maquis of Anglesey (ST)
Lord William Powlett (ST)
HM King of Holland
Marquis of Ailesbury
Frederic Barne
S R Batson
Duke of Bedford
Earl of Bessborough
J Bowes
Sir R W Bulkeley

Lord Burleigh
Earl of Chesterfield
Viscount Clifden
Marquis of Conyngham
W S Stirling Crawfurd
Earl of Derby
Earl of Eglinton
Viscount Enfield
R Etwall
Marquis of Exeter
Earl Fitzwilliam

Hon. G W Fitzwilliam
Earl of Glasgow
Earl Granville
C C Greville
Sir Joseph Hawley
Earl of Jersey
Lord Henry G Lennox
Lord Londesborough
Earl of Lonsdale
H Lowther
Viscount Maidstone

Earl of March
Lord De Mauley
Sir W M E Milner
J Mills
Duke of Montrose
Lord Mostyn
R H Nevill
Marquis of Normanby
Earl of Orford
Viscount Palmerston
G Payne

General Peel
Earl of Portsmouth
Lord Ribblesdale
Duke of Richmond
Earl of Rosslyn
Hon Admiral H Rous
Lord John Scott
Sir J V Shelley
Lord Southampton
Earl Spencer
J M Stanley

W Sloane Stanley
Earl of Stradbroke
Earl of Strathmore
General Sturt
Viscount Villiers
Marquis of Waterford
W Wigram
Earl of Wilton
Sir W Watkin Wynn
Earl of Zetland

A decade on

After the first official list of Jockey Club Members was printed in 1834, updated lists were included in the Racing Calendar on an annual basis. The list of Jockey Club Members in 1867 is shown below.

Hon Admiral H Rous (ST)
Duke of Beaufort (ST)
Duke of Newcastle (ST)
HRH Prince of Wales
HM King of Holland
HM King of the Belgians
HRH Prince of Orange
Marquis of Ailesbury
Caledon Alexander
Marquis of Anglesey
Earl of Annesley
Frederic Barne
S R Batson

Count Batthyany
Earl of Bessborough
J Bowes
Earl of Bradford
Sir R W Bulkeley
H Chaplin
Lord Colville
Marquis of Conyngham
Earl of Cork
Lord Courtenay
Earl of Coventry
W G Craven
W S Stirling Crawfurd

Earl of Derby
Sir H Des Veux
Earl of Durham
Marquis of Exeter
Viscount Falmouth
Earl Fitzwilliam
Hon. G W Fitzwilliam
Hon. Col H Forester
Earl of Glasgow
Earl Granville
Marquis of Hastings
Sir Joseph Hawley
Sir F Johnstone

Count F de Lagrange
Captain D Lane
Lord Henry G Lennox
Earl of Lonsdale
H Lowther
M Lupin
Lord George Manners
Lord De Manley
J Mills
Duke of Montrose
R H Nevill
G Payne
General Peel

Earl of Portsmouth
Lord Rendlesham
Lord Robblesdale
Duke of Richmond
Baron Mayer Rothschild
Duke of Rutland
Duke of St Albans
Viscount St Vincent
H Savile
Prince D Soltykoff
Lord Southampton
Earl of Stamford

J M Stanley
Earl of Stradbroke
Earl of Strafford
General Sturt
Richard Sutton
Chas. Towneley
Earl of Uxbridge
Earl of Westmorland
Earl of Wilton
Earl of Winchilsea
Sir W Watkin Wynn
Earl of Zetland

A decade on

After the first official list of Jockey Club Members was printed in 1834, updated lists were included in the Racing Calendar on an annual basis. The list of Jockey Club Members in 1877 is shown below.

Hon Admiral H Rous (ST)
Sir John Dugdale Astley (ST)
Lord Hardwicke (ST)
HRH Prince of Wales
HRH Prince Christian
HM King of Holland
HRH Prince of Orange
Marquis of Ailesbury
Caledon Alexander
Marquis of Anglesey
Earl of Annesley
Frederic Barne
S R Batson
Count Batthyany

Duke of Beaufort
Earl of Bessborough
J Bowes
Earl of Bradford
Sir R W Bulkeley
Lord Calthorpe
H Chaplin
Lord Cawdor
Sir George Chetwynd
Lord Colville
Marquis of Conyngham
Earl of Cork
Lord Courtenay
Earl of Coventry

W G Craven
W S Stirling Crawfurd
Mr Crawley
Sir H Des Veux
Lord Dupplin
Earl of Durham
Viscount Falmouth
Earl Fitzwilliam
Hon. G W Fitzwilliam
Hon. Col H Forester
Mr Gerard
Earl Granville
Duke of Hamilton
J H Houldsworth

Robert Jardine
Sir F Johnstone
Count F de Lagrange
Captain D Lane
Lord Henry G Lennox
M Lupin
Lord George Manners
Lord De Manley
J Mills
Duke of Montrose
R H Nevill
Duke of Newcastle
George Payne
General Peel

Earl of Portsmouth
Lord Rendlesham
Lord Robblesdale
Duke of Richmond
Lord Rosslyn
Duke of Rutland
Duke of St Albans
Viscount St Vincent
H Savile
Prince D Soltykoff
Lord Southampton
Earl of Stamford
J M Stanley

Earl of Stradbroke
Earl of Strafford
General Sturt
Richard Sutton
Chas. Towneley
Earl of Uxbridge
Lord Vivian
Earl of Westmorland
Earl of Wilton
Earl of Winchilsea
General Wood
Sir W Watkin Wynn
Lord Zetland

HRH Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII

Born 1841

Died 1910

PERSIMMON (SR 2078) (Epsom Derby, St Leger 1896)

THAIS (SR 1909) (1000 Guineas 1896)

Sir John Astley

An important Jockey Club Member in the final two decades of the 19th century was Sir John Dugdale Astley, eldest son of 2nd Baronet Sir Francis Astley, who was born in 1828, educated at Eton College and Christ Church, Oxford and then entered the Army serving with distinction in the Crimean War. He married Eleanor, only daughter of Mr Thomas Corbett, in 1858, and left the Army to become an MP for North Lincolnshire, Brigg Division, in 1874. Unlike the majority of his fellow Jockey Club Members, he was not wealthy, but was able to pay for his training and Liquor bills by betting shrewdly. When one of his constituents asked his opinion of a Bill going through Parliament, 'What is your opinion of Sir Wilfred Lawson's Liquor Bill?', Sir John wittily replied, 'To tell you the truth, I know damned little about Sir Wilfred Lawson's Liquor Bill, but my own was pretty high when I paid it last month.' In 1875 Sir John became one of the 3 Jockey Club Stewards, and was influential in chairing the Committee which met in 1876 to consider the Rules of Racing, and which structured a new set of Rules which became operational from 1st January 1877. Also, in 1876 he oversaw the completion of a new stand on the Rowley Mile course, a project which had been started by Lord Falmouth during his time as Steward. His desire to further the welfare of the working classes was manifested in the affection he showed to, and was reciprocated by, his labourers. In 1893, a year before his untimely death, Sir John founded the 'Astley Club' for hard-working stable lads which, to this day, has as its mission statement, 'A Racing Centre to improve the quality of life for people working in the horse racing industry, and in the wider community of Newmarket, by providing a range of services and community development through exercise, education and social activities that support people to reach their full potential.' Sir John died in 1894, having spent a day at Kempton Park races, he returned home with a chill which exacerbated his condition of Bright's Disease, a disease affecting the kidneys.

8th Duke of Beaufort, Henry Somerset

Born 1824

Died 1899

PETRONEL (SR 1919) (2000 Guineas 1880)

REVE D'OR (SR 1950) (Epsom Oaks, 1000 Guineas 1887)

12th Duke of Hamilton, William Douglas Hamilton

Born 1845

Died 1895

OSSIAN (SR 1935) (St Leger 1883)

MISS JUMMY (SR 1918) (Epsom Oaks, 1000 Guineas 1886)

6th Duke of Portland, William Cavendish Bentinck

Born 1857

Died 1943

AYRSHIRE (SR 2059) (Epsom Derby, 2000 Guineas 1888)

DONOVAN (SR 2030) (Epsom Derby, St Leger 1889)

MEMOIR (SR 2000) (Epsom Oaks, St Leger 1890)

SEMOLINA (SR 1951) (1000 Guineas 1890)

MISS BUTTERWICK (SR 1935) (Epsom Oaks 1893)

AMIABLE (SR 1941) (Epsom Oaks, 1000 Guineas 1894)

1st Duke of Westminster, Hugh Grosvenor

Born 1825

Died 1899

BEND OR (SR 2030) (Epsom Derby 1880)

PEREGRINE (SR 1947) (2000 Guineas, Newmarket 1881)

SHOTOVER (SR 2032) (Epsom Derby, 2000 Guineas 1882)

FAREWELL (SR 1934) (1000 Guineas 1885)

ORMONDE (SR 2063) (Triple Crown 1886)

FLYING FOX (SR 2061) (Triple Crown 1899)

City of London courses

In the final quarter of the 19th century racecourses in the vicinity of the City of London were losing their tarnished reputations when a day at the races was blighted by rioting, thuggery and hooliganism. The old courses where such behaviour had been particularly prevalent were either closed or in the process of being closed; the likes of Bromley (closed 1881), Croydon (closed 1890), Eltham (closed 1876), Harrow (closed 1869), Kingsbury (closed 1877), Streatham (closed 1879). They were replaced with the Park courses, Sandown Park being the pioneer with its first meeting staged on its closed park course on Thursday 22nd April 1875, where an admission charge of half a crown was made. The Park courses were safer, attracted racegoers away from Newmarket and offered more pleasant surroundings than previous London courses. Kempton Park, a stones throw from Sandown, opened on Thursday 18th July 1878, and when the open course at Hampton closed on Wednesday 15th June 1887 it was replaced almost on the same site by the much loved Hurst Park on Wednesday 19th March 1890. Wider afield than London, Lingfield Park first opened its gates on Saturday 15th November 1890, while in the north Haydock Park opened on Friday 10th February 1899 replacing its near neighbour Newton-Le-Willows. Many of the London courses had managed to stage meetings without dipping their hands in their pockets, but in 1876 the Jockey Club introduced a rule stipulating that a certain proportion of ‘added money’ was set aside each year to stage such meetings.

3rd Earl of Bradford, Orlando Bridgeman

Born 1819

Died 1898

16th Earl of Derby, Frederick Stanley

Born 1841

Died 1908

5th Earl of Rosebery, Archibald Primrose

Born 1847

Died 1929

BONNY JEAN (SR 1845) (Epsom Oaks 1883)

LADAS (SR 2000) (Epsom Derby, 2000 Guineas 1894)

SIR VISTO (SR 1966) (Epsom Derby, St Leger 1895)

CHELANDRY (SR 1971) (1000 Guineas 1897)

Relations with the Press Part 1

Up to 1876 the relations between the Jockey Club and the Press were strained, they tolerated each other, but the Jockey Club did not go out of its way to support the Press and, at this stage, probably did not fully appreciate that the Press could be helpful in promoting the sport of horse racing. Indeed, some top owners and their trainers did not see publicity in the Press as a strength but as a weakness. In 1877 the Stewards of the Jockey Club were sent a letter by influential owners, with the full support of their respective trainers, expressing their concern about racecourse touts, the selling of information by stable hands, and the unwelcome publicity the sport was receiving in the Press. The leading owner of the day Prince Batthyany, whose horses were trained at his Warren House Stables in Newmarket, constructed the letter which read, ‘We, the undersigned owners and trainers of horses, approach the Stewards and Members of the Jockey Club under circumstances which we are convinced require their prompt attention. We desire to call their attention to a system of recent creation, but avowedly recognized now by certain cheap sporting papers, and which system, if persisted in, will become intolerable. Some few years ago were published what are called ‘Training Reports’ professing to give detailed information respecting the horses at various training quarters in England, information, that is to say, as to their work, their health, their condition, their capabilities, and their private trials for public racing. This information is largely obtained from servants, boys and even apprentices, who attempted to violate their masters’ secrets by an organized staff of paid horse watchers and Touts, who are, as we believe, maintained at the chief training establishments in the country, at the expense of those papers. The result of their efforts is to corrupt and demoralize, and in many cases to cause the discharge and ruin of servants and boys in training stables, and a further result is the entire destruction of confidence between the employer and the employed. It is against this system, so dishonourable in practice, so injurious to owners and trainers, and so entirely subversive to the morality and best interests of the Turf, that we earnestly protest, and we trust that the Jockey Club will take immediate steps as may be desirable to arrest its future progress.’
Essentially the owners were aggrieved that their betting market, which they saw as their prerogative since they financed the purchase of the horses and the subsequent training bills, was being taken from them by a Press eager to capitalize on information about their horse’s well-being. They were asking for the Jockey Club to silence the Press and the Jockey Club, quite rightly, felt that they did not have the authority to do that.

7th Earl of Stamford, George Grey

Born 1827

Died 1883

6th Viscount Falmouth, Evelyn Boscawen

Born 1819

Died 1889

JANNETTE (SR 1932) (Epsom Oaks, St Leger 1878)

WHEEL OF FORTUNE (SR 2052) (Epsom Oaks, 1000 Guineas 1879)

CHARIBERT (SR 1921) (2000 Guineas 1879)

DUTCH OVEN (SR 1848) (St Leger 1882)

GALLIARD (SR 1932) (2000 Guineas 1883)

1st Baron Alington, Henry Sturt

Born 1825

Died 1904

COMMON (SR 2019) (2000 Guineas 1891)

THROSTLE (SR 1786) (St Leger 1894)

5th Baron Calthorpe, Frederick Gough Calthorpe

Born 1826

Died 1893

20th Baron Hastings, George Manners Astley

Born 1857

Died 1904

Sir John Astley

Born 1828

Died 1894

ACTAEA (Cambridgeshire, Newmarket 1866)

OSTREGOR (Chesterfield Cup, Goodwood 1869)

SCAMP (Goodwood Stakes, Goodwood 1874)

HOPBLOOM (Royal Hunt Cup, Ascot 1876)

Metropolitan Racecourse Bill

In 1879 Mr Anderson introduced the Metropolitan Racecourse Bill which prohibited all race meetings within a defined distance of the City of London, and considered the issue of ‘added money’ by racecourses. Three years before the Metropolitan Racecourse Bill, an interesting situation arose at one such course, West Drayton, which had opened its gates on Friday 3rd March 1865. However, just before it closed for the final time its primitive grandstand, insured for at least three times what it was worth, mysteriously burnt down and the course owner, nicknamed Count Bolo, made his insurance claim. Whilst the insurance company could not gain proof of a link between Count Bolo and the arsonist, instead of paying Count Bolo they rebuilt a wonderful grandstand on the same site of the previous one. Of course, it was of no use to Count Bolo when his course closed on Friday 3rd March 1865, but provided a wonderful spectacle to passengers on the Great Western Railway Line, which ran past the course, for years to come.

Sir Frederick Johnstone

Born 1841

Died 1913

ST BLAISE (SR 1969) (Epsom Derby 1883)

COMMON (SR 2019) (Epsom Derby, St Leger 1891)

William Sterling Crawfurd

Born 1819

Died 1883

THEBAIS (SR 1924) (Epsom Oaks, 1000 Guineas 1881)

ST MARGUERITE (SR 1813) (1000 Guineas 1882)

Tattersalls Committee

During Bentinck's time as a Jockey Club Member the Club decided not to offer its services to resolve betting disputes, feeling that their main focus should be on adjudicating racing affairs, and for some time their rules included a section on, 'Respecting Stakes, Forfeits and Bets', but in 1843 they went further by issuing guidance to all persons involved in a betting dispute, suggesting that 'all persons having disputes thereupon to decide the same by referees, one to be chosen by each of the parties, and the two referees to select a third'. However, by 1886 a new body, the Tattersalls Committee, was the Jockey Club’s chosen route to direct betting disputes. The Rules on Betting were revised on 8th February 1886 to state,’ Tattersall’s Committee have authority to settle all questions relating to bets, commissions for bets, and any matters arising either directly or indirectly out of wagers or gaming transactions on horse racing, to adjudicate on all cases of default, and at their discretion, to report defaulters to the Jockey Club. If a defaulter is a partnership or a limited company, all or any of the partners or agents and all or any of the shareholders, directors, officers or agents of the defaulting company may be reported to the Jockey Club’. At the time Tattersall’s Committee comprised a Jockey Club Member to chair meetings, alongside another Jockey Club Member, a member of the National Hunt Committee (at that point the Jockey Club and National Hunt Committee had not merged), representatives of bookmakers and a couple of owners. The rule was further revised on 12th November 1956, while post-2007, when the role of the Jockey Club was completely revised and many of its previous responsibilities reassigned to the British Horseracing Authority (BHA), a further statement was issued by the BHA. In August 2008 the BHA completed their review into the role of the Tattersalls Committee, concluding that there was no further need to include a reference to the Tattersalls Committee in its rules, particularly as the Gaming Act of 1st September 2007 made gambling debts recoverable by law.

Additional Meetings

In 1883 the Jockey Club Stewards considered the racing calendar, sensing that it was becoming overcrowded, and presented them with an almost impossible task of fitting in extra meetings. Their strategy to limit additional meetings was to impose strict conditions both on the auditing of racecourses and the requirements on racecourses before new meetings could be considered. On the first point they insisted that financial statements should be made available for inspection by the Jockey Club, especially as they insisted that no bonus exceeding 10% per annum should be paid to shareholders from any additional meetings awarded. They further stipulated that if a racecourse wanted additional meetings then such a request would only be granted for courses with a straight mile.

The Starting Gate

In 1898 Lord Durham was one of the 3 Jockey Club Stewards and he made it known that he was in favour of adopting the starting gate, although at the time there were many Members against its introduction. The 3rd Earl of Durham, John George Lambton, was born in 1855 and became a Jockey Club Member in 1882. He remained a member until his death in 1928, serving as a Steward on no less than 5 occasions. The Club agreed a trial period in 1898 which proved to be successful, so the next year further discussions took place about extending the scheme, and by 1900 all races for two-year-olds were started by starting gate. Once again the reports were favourable, so in 1901 the policy was extended further to include three-year-olds and, in due course, all races apart from some long distance races like the Alexandra Plate and Goodwood Cup employed the starting gate.

A decade on

After the first official list of Jockey Club Members was printed in 1834, updated lists were included in the Racing Calendar on an annual basis. The list of Jockey Club Members in 1887 is shown below.

Lord Hastings (ST)
Hon. H W Fitzwilliam (ST)
Rt Hon. James Lowther (ST)
HRH Prince of Wales
HRH Duke of Edinburgh
HRH Duke of Connaught
HRH Duke of Cambridge
Prince Christian of Sch. Hol.
Emperor of Russia
King of the Netherlands
King of the Belgians
Crown Prince of Germany
Gnd Duc Vladimir of Russia
Lord Alington

Sir J D Astley
Douglas Baird
Duke of Beaufort
Earl of Bradford
Earl Cadogan
Lord Calthorpe
Earl Cawdor
Rt Hon H Chaplin
Sir George Chetwynd
Lord Colville
Earl of Cork & Orrery
Earl of Coventry
W G Craven
J A Craven

J S Crawley
Lord Dorchester
Viscount Downe
T T Drake
Maquis of Drogheda
Earl of Durham
Earl of Eglinton/Winton
Earl of Ellesmere
Marquis of Exeter
Viscount Falmouth
Count Tasselo Festetics
Earl of Feversham
Hon C W Fitzwilliam
Col Hon H Forester

Lord Gerard
Sir Reginald Graham
Earl of Granville
Duke of Hamilton
Earl of Hardwicke
Marquis of Hartington
Hon Sir H Hawkins
J H Houldsworth
Earl Howe
Earl of Ilchester
Sir Robert Jardine
Sir Frederick Johnstone
Capatin D Lane
Viscount Lascelles

W J Leigh
Sir W A Lethbridge
Marquis of Londonderry
M Lupin
Earl of March
Duke of Montrose
G Ernest Paget
General Pearson
Lord Penrhyn
Duke of Portland
Earl of Portsmouth
Lord Rendlesham
Duke of Richmond/Gordon
Sir Hercules Robinson

Earl of Rosebery
Earl of Rosslyn
Leopold De Rothschild
Duke of Rutland
Duke of St Albans
Prince D Soltykoff
Lord Suffield
Earl of Suffolk/Berkshire
Montagu Tharp
Sir R Wallace
Duke of Westminster
Earl of Westmoreland
Gen. Owen Williams
Earl of Zetland

A decade on

After the first official list of Jockey Club Members was printed in 1834, updated lists were included in the Racing Calendar on an annual basis. The list of Jockey Club Members in 1897 is shown below.

Viscount Downe (ST)
Earl of Durham (ST)
Earl of Harewood (ST)
HRH Prince of Wales
HRH Duke of York
HRH Duke of Saxe-Coburg
HRH Duke of Connaught
HRH Duke of Cambridge
Prince Christian Schles-Hol.
HM King of the Belgians
Gr Duke Vladimir of Russia
Lord Alington
Douglas Baird
Captain E W Baird

H T Barclay
Count E Batthyany
Duke of Beaufort
Count de Berteux
Earl of Bradford
Earl Cadogan
Rt Hon. H Chaplin
Lord Colville
R H Combe
Daniel Cooper
Earl of Cork/Orrery
Earl of Coventry
W G Craven

Earl of Crewe
Prince of d’Arenberg
M Henri Delamarre
Earl of Derby
Duke of Devonshire
Earl of Dunraven
Earl of Ellesmere
Count Tasselo Festetic
Earl of Feversham
Earl Fitzwilliam
Hon. H W Fitzwilliam
Lord Gerard
Sir Reginald Graham

Sir R Waldie Griffith
Earl of Harewood
Lord Hastings
Hon. Sir H Hawkins
J H Houldsworth
Earl Howe
Earl of Ilchester
Sir Robert Jardine
Sir F Johnstone
Comte de Juigne
Hon. Frederick Lambton
Captain D Lane
Count Lehndorff

Sir W A Lethbridge
Marquis of Londonderry
Rt Hon. James Lowther
H McCalmont
Earl of March
Duke of Montrose
Lord Newton
Sir Ernest Paget
Lord Penrhyn
Duke of Portland
Lord Rendlesham
Duke of Richmond/Gordon
C D Rose

Earl of Rosebery
Leopold de Rothschild
Lord Russell of Killowen
Duke of St Albans
Prince Soltykoff
Lord Stanley
Lord Suffield
Earl of Suffolk/Berkshire
Montagu Tharp
Sir W Throckmorton
Duke of Westminster
Gen. Owen Williams
Marquis of Zetland

James Forman 'Tod' Sloan

At the turn of the century the ‘American Invasion’ had significant implications for racing in the UK, not least in riding methods, the Stud Book and, most worrying of all, doping. Tod Sloan arrived on these shores in 1897 and completely revised the way horses were ridden. English jockeys still used long leathers and long reins, but Tod Sloan had short stirrups, crouched low in the saddle and used short reins and was initially mocked as ‘a mere monkey on a stick’, but it soon became apparent that his method was superior, often so far in front of his rivals that he was ‘on his Tod’. However, he was not universally liked, particularly as much of the company he kept were ruffians, so an excuse was sought to rid the country of him. In the 1900 Cambridgeshire Sloan partnered Codoman for M Ephrussi over the New Cambridgeshire course, and the Irish horse came in for some hefty betting despite having precious little form. It transpired that Sloan had allegedly taken a large gift from a well-known professional punter and had also bet on the horse himself. Having been 25/1 early in the week, Codoman went off at 100/7 and ran above expectations, but was soundly beaten 3 lengths by J C Sullivan's Berrill (20/1) ridden by Thompson, but it did lead to the downfall of Tod Sloan when, after an enquiry, Sloan was told that his application for a jockey’s licence in 1901 would not be looked on favourably.

HRH Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII

Born 1841

Died 1910

DIAMOND JUBILEE (SR 2032) (Triple Crown 1900)

MINORU (SR 2016) (Epsom Derby 1909)

Stud Book Issues

It was as early as 1791 that James Weatherby published his ‘Introduction to a General Stud Book’ in an attempt to catalogue the pedigrees of every horse that was either racing at that time, or had raced in the past. It was a hugely ambitious project which was bound to be littered with errors, but they persevered and 2 years later the first volume of the General Stud Book was published. Although still containing errors, it was gradually revised and is now issued every 4 years, the 49th volume was due for publication in 2021. The 3 stallions that were founders of the modern thoroughbred were the Byerley Turk, the Darley Arabian and the Godolphin Arabian. The earliest of the 3 stallions was the Byerley Turk foaled circa 1680, who died circa 1706, and from whom Sultan (foaled 1816), Bay Middleton (foaled 1833) and The Flying Dutchman (foaled 1846) descended. The second of the 3 stallions was The Darley Arabian, foaled circa 1700, from which 95% of all modern thoroughbreds descend, including Flying Childers. Importantly, one of his sons, Bulle Rock, was exported to America in 1730. The third of the stallions was the Godolphin Arabian, foaled circa 1724, who stood at Wandlebury, made famous by Tregonwell Frampton and the Earl of Godolphin. As well as 1964 Epsom Derby winner Santa Claus, and 1980 2000 Guineas winner Known Fact being able to trace their lineage back to The Godolphin Arabian, who died in 1753, so could brilliant American horses Seabiscuit, Man O’ War and War Admiral. The General Stud Book is owned by Weatherbys, rather than the Jockey Club or the BHA, and covers all thoroughbreds in the United Kingdom and Ireland, but does not cover horses in America which has its own separate American Stud Book owned by the United States Jockey Club. Therein lies a problem which surfaced in the early years of the 20th century when American racing was going through a troubled period, with many of their horses sent to the UK. The pedigrees of some of those horses could not be traced back many generations, and the question was raised regarding whether they should be included in the Stud Book. In May 1901, when Volume XIX was published, Weatherbys felt the need to include the statement, ‘The increased importation of horses and mares bred in America and Australia, which, as stated in Volume XVIII, though accepted in the stud books of their own countries, cannot be traced back in all cases to the thoroughbred stock exported from England, from which they more or less all claim to be descended, their admission into the General Stud Book should be referred to the Stewards of the Jockey Club’. The Stewards ultimately concluded that to be admitted proof would be needed that the horse could be traced back some eight or nine pure blood crosses tracing its history back over a century. This ruling meant that the Stud Book issued in 1901, Volume XIX, contained some American horses which would not have originally qualified, and without this change such descendants as Never Say Die, Tudor Minstrel and Dante would not have been classed as true thoroughbreds. However, by 1909 racing in USA was in such a dire state that it was feared that many more horses of dubious pedigree would hit these shores and, as a consequence, a further revision was made in Volume XXI which rescinded the ruling made in Volume XIX, but they felt that they could not back track on those horses admitted in the interim 8 years. This made for a chaotic situation which took a further 4 years and yet another revision to correct. Lord Jersey, who was Senior Jockey Club Steward in 1912, proposed a clarification in early 1913, ‘The Editors have decided in the interests of the English Stud Book no horse or mare can, after this date, be considered as eligible for admission, unless it can be traced, without flaw on both sire’s and dam’s side of its pedigree, to horses and mares already accepted in the earlier volumes of the book’ which came to be known as the ‘Jersey Act’. It was to be a further 35 years before the Jersey Act was repealed.

HM King George V

Born 1865

Died 1936

3rd Earl of Durham, John Lambton

Born 1855

Died 1928

6th Duke of Portland, William Cavendish Bentinck

Born 1857

Died 1943

2nd Duke of Westminster, Hugh Grosvenor

Born 1879

Died 1953

16th Earl of Derby, Frederick Stanley

Born 1841

Died 1908

17th Earl of Derby, Edward Stanley

Born 1865

Died 1948

SWYNFORD (SR 1978) (St Leger 1910)

CANYON (SR 1896) (1000 Guineas 1916)

FERRY (SR 1871) (1000 Guineas 1918)

KEYSOE (SR 1920) (St Leger 1919)

TRANQUIL (SR 1951) (St Leger, 1000 Guineas 1923)

SANSOVINO (SR 1985) (Epsom Derby 1924)

COLORADO (SR 2005) (2000 Guineas 1926)

FAIRWAY (SR 2125) (St Leger 1928)

TOBOGGAN (SR 1990) (Epsom Oaks 1928)

5th Earl of Lonsdale, Hugh Lowther

Born 1857

Died 1944

5th Earl of Rosebery, Archibald Primrose

Born 1847

Died 1929

CICERO (SR 2029) (Epsom Derby 1905)

NEIL GOW (SR 2045) (2000 Guineas 1910)

VAUCLUSE (SR 1909) (1000 Guineas 1915)

ELLANGOWAN (SR 1985) (2000 Guineas 1923)

PLACK (SR 1905) (1000 Guineas 1924)

Marquis of Londonderry, Charles Stewart Henry Vane Tempest

Born 1878

Died 1949

Ownership of Racing Calendar

It was as early as 1727 that John Cheny produced his first ‘Historical List’ which was effectively the first Racing Calendar, and he continued to produce it until his death in 1751. Others followed until in 1770 the Jockey Club appointed James Weatherby as Keeper of the Match Book and, within 3 years, the periodical was owned and published by Weatherbys on behalf of the Jockey Club. Then, in 1902, the Jockey Club gained ownership of the annual Calendar, although Weatherbys continued to act as publisher.

7th Viscount Falmouth, Evelyn Boscawen

Born 1847

Died 1918

QUINTESSENCE (SR 1847) (1000 Guineas 1903)

CLARISSIMUS (SR 1954) (2000 Guineas 1916)

1st Baron Glanely, William Tatem

Born 1868

Died 1942

GRAND PARADE (SR 1968) (Epsom Derby 1919)

Unfair practice by some breeders

In 1904 the practice, by some breeders, of selling nominations to their stallions at an artificially low price and then reserving all of the nominations for their own, or close associates, mares was a ploy designed to bypass Rule 126. If allowed to continue, the culprits’ colts and fillies would have been allocated more favourable weights in some races because of the low nomination price paid. The Stewards were made aware of the issue and broadcasting their awareness proved sufficient for the practice to end.

1st Baron Woolavington, James Buchanan

Born 1849

Died 1935

CAPTAIN CUTTLE (SR 2078) (Epsom Derby 1922)

CORONACH (SR 2089) (Epsom Derby, St Leger 1926)

Sir William Bass

Born 1879

Died 1952

Handicapping Whipp issue

On Wednesday 22nd June 1904 at Newcastle the lowly Brandling Welter Handicap Plate over 6 furlongs, worth just 200 sovereigns, could have had wide-ranging implications for the Jockey Club when Mr J T Whipp, owner of runner-up Baydale, objected to the winner Kirkbride (6/4 fav) on the grounds that the winner had hitherto deceived the handicapper in a previous race. Baydale was quietly fancied as 7/1 third favourite, particularly in light of Kirkbride’s performance in its most recent race, but Kirkbride, trained by Peacock, made all the running and won, as if in an exercise canter, by a hard held 5 lengths. The Stewards, Lord Durham, Mr C Perkins and Mr Alexander, ruled that there was no case to answer and even fined Whipp £5 for a frivolous, yet nonetheless novel, objection. The facts suggest that the Stewards were right to dismiss the unique objection, for Kirkbride’s opening run of the season was at Pontefract on Thursday 21st April in the Spring Handicap over 10 furlongs when the horse had to give weight all round. It was unfancied amongst the group in the 10/1 bar category and finished last. Two months later, stripping much fitter, it could have reasonably been expected to have come on for the race.

Sir Ernest Cassel

Born 1852

Died 1921

Sir Daniel Cooper

Born 1848

Died 1909

Sir Robert William Buchanan Jardine

Born 1868

Died 1927

Sir John Rutherford

Born 1854

Died 1932

Anthony Gustav De Rothschild

Born 1887

Died 1961

Relations with Press Part 2

Although there were always strained relations between the Jockey Club and the Press, in 1877, when owners led by Prince Batthyany, lobbied the Jockey Club to silence the Press the Jockey Club, quite rightly, felt that it did not possess the authority to do that. After the War had ended the Jockey Club realized that the part played by the Press could be channeled to promote the sport. The back pages of most newspapers were devoted to sport, and a substantial section was given to horse racing. Straight after the War the pockets of some people were overflowing, and there was an eagerness to spend and to enjoy life again. The Press played a substantial role in ensuring that some of that money went to horse racing.

James A De Rothschild

Born 1878

Died 1957

Leopold De Rothschild

Born 1845

Died 1917

DORICLES (SR 1844) (St Leger 1901)

ST AMANT (SR 2034) (Epsom Derby, 2000 Guineas 1904)

Washington Singer

Born 1866

Died 1934

Doping Issues

In the early years of the 20th century the issue of doping racehorses, either to improve their performance or prevent them from winning, became a particular concern for the Jockey Club. In 1903 doping, although a problem before the influx of American trainers, owners and jockeys, became a significant issue which the Jockey Club needed to address. One such American trainer who crossed the pond was John Huggins who trained at Heath House Stables, winning the 1901 Epsom Derby with Volodyovski (5/2 fav) for William Collins Whitney when ridden by another American, jockey Lester Reiff. Early on in his time training on these shores Huggins was asked whether there were many crooks infesting the American Turf to which he replied, ‘No, they have all come over to England.’ Amazingly, doping was not prohibited at this stage, and it was particularly prevalent in the USA because of the way their racing was organized. A prolonged period of racing, running into days at a time, was concentrated on a particular track, giving horses the opportunity to run several times at the same track over a short period of time. Inevitably they would tire, and any extra stimulant could boost their performance. There was a time when honourable Americans had a positive impact on English racing. The American Richard Ten Broek was born in Albany, New York, in 1812 and educated at West Point Military Academy. In 1856 he travelled to England where he was introduced to the leading racing aristocracy of the day by Lord Fitzwilliams. Within a year he had married Patricia Duncan Anders in 1857 in Andover, Hampshire, moving into Primrose Cottage Stables, Newmarket shortly afterwards. He employed a private trainer, Brown, whilst at Primrose Cottage Stables, a trainer who believed that long, strong walks were the best preparation for a horse in training. ‘Tenny’, as Ten Broeck was affectionately known, had a quiet first few months on the turf, but he hit lucky late in the 1857 season with Prioress. The filly was part of a triple dead-heat in the 1857 Cesarewitch, along with El Hakim and Queen Bess, the latter of which carried just 4st 10lbs, but won the deciding heat in the hands of George Fordham with layers finding it difficult to lay 1000 to 10 against him first time around. Two years later, with 11 horses in his string at Primrose Cottage Stables, he won the Goodwood Stakes, the Bentinck Memorial Plate at Newmarket and the Warwick Cup with Starke. In 1859 his colt Umpire won a Goodwood Nursery, following up in two valuable races at Stockton, on the back of which he was made winter favourite for the Derby. Rumoured to have been ‘got at’ at Epsom, Umpire drifted in the betting to 6/1 and was placed 7th in the 1860 Derby behind Thormanby (SR 2032). In October 1860 Ten Broeck purchased Roden House Stables at Ilsley, Berkshire, and moved his entre training operation there, putting R B Pryor in charge. He won the Goodwood Cup with Starke in 1861 whilst based at Roden House. He spent almost 30 years in England, often returning to his native America to recuperate from the excesses of English life. He was made a member of the Jockey Club, counting the Prince of Wales, Prince Soltykoff, and the Dukes of Westminster, Hamilton and Wellington amongst his closest friends. However, some 4 decades later the great concern for the Jockey Club Stewards in the early years of the 20th century was that the doping, rife in USA, might be brought to these shores by the American trainers. Some English trainers, notably Hon George Lambton, took matters into their own hands to highlight the problem, initially informing the Stewards and then, because of inaction even by his own brother, Lord Durham, a Jockey Club Member, outlined a plan of action to further highlight the issue. Honourable George Lambton did not try to disguise his intentions or hide his plan.  After he told his brother, Lord Durham, George said, ‘So much did he dislike this doping that he was inclined to object to my having anything to do with it. But when I explained that my object was to open the eyes of the Stewards, he withdrew his objection, but begged me not to bet a shilling on any horse with a dope in him. To this I agreed.’ His plan was to enhance the performances of 5 of his poorer performing horses to indicate that he could win races with them, albeit by embarking on unsavory practices. Lambton said, ‘I thought it was about time that something was done, so I told one of the Stewards of the Jockey Club what my three friends, the veterinary surgeons, had said. He was as sceptical as I had been and declared he did not believe there was anything in it. At that time I had in my stable some of the biggest rogues in training, and I told the Stewards that I intended to dope these horses. They could then see for themselves what the result was.’ His plan worked so well, Lambton winning with 4 of the 5 horses, that the Jockey Club felt compelled to take action in October 1903, issuing the statement, ‘If any person shall administer, or cause to be administered, for the purposes of affecting the speed of a horse, drug or stimulants internally, by hypodermic or other method, he shall be warned off Newmarket Heath.’ The newspapers of the day were critical of the Jockey Club for taking so long to introduce such a necessary rule which had been in operation in other countries for some time, but also accepted that they had moved cautiously due to the difficulty of gaining proof. After all, those who could give the best evidence through personal experience were not too anxious to throw light on their methods. However, during the information collecting stage a Yorkshire veterinary surgeon laid claim to being the first vet in England to attempt the hypodermic injection of a stimulant into a racehorse before it ran in public. Lord Crowe, a Jockey Club Member, had delivered a statesmanlike speech on the subject at the annual Gimcrack Dinner, while Leopold de Rothschild had alluded to his grave suspicions that practices, undoubtedly common in America, were gradually becoming prevalent on this side of the pond as well. The rule needed further amendment to put the onus on someone, and the Jockey Club felt that the most appropriate individual was the trainer, amending the rule to read, ‘If in any case it shall be found that any drug or stimulant has been administered to a horse for the purpose of affecting its speed in a race, the licence of the trainer of the horse shall be withdrawn and he shall be declared a disqualified person.’ A closer examination of George Lambton’s attempt to force the Jockey Club Stewards to take action reveals that, according to Lambton, ‘The first horse he doped was a chestnut gelding called Folkestone. This horse had refused to do anything in a trial or a race. He was always last and would come in neighing. I first of all doped him in a trial. He fairly astonished me, for he jumped off in front and won in a canter. I sent him to Pontefract, where he beat a field of fourteen very easily, and nearly went round the course a second time before his jockey could pull him up. He won a race again the next day, was sold and never won again.’ In actual fact the horse had run in the Corporation Selling Stakes at Doncaster on Friday 22nd May 1903 and was unfancied when unplaced behind Cherry Park (9/2). However, his next outing was in the Patcham Selling Handicap Plate at Brighton when he was a creditable 4th at 10/1, beaten less than 3 lengths by The General (10/1). This suggests that there was some ability there, and prior to his next race he had a trail, probably the one George Lambton alluded to, where he tested whether dope was likely to improve Folkestone’s performance, for on 13th September he easily beat Cara, St Levan and D’Arenberg over a mile. He did then win the Yorkshire Welter Selling Handicap Plate at 9/2 at Pontefract, beating a field of 10 on Wednesday 23rd September 1903 and at the ensuing auction he was sold for 125 guineas to Mr L Beaumont, and never did win another race. If Folkestone was the first of the horses Lambton doped, one of the last was Ruy Lopez which Lambton commented, ‘had previously entirely defeated the efforts of the best jockeys in England, but then ran away with the Lincoln Autumn Handicap with a stable boy up, racing like the most honest horse in the world.’ Once again it is worthwhile checking the facts, looking at the form of Ruy Lopez leading up to that victory in the Lincoln Autumn Handicap on Tuesday 10th November 1903 when Ruy Lopez (10/1) won by an easy 1 ½ lengths in the hands of apprentice Rollason while his strongly fancied stablemate, Lord Derby’s St Levan (4/1) ridden by Otto Madden was struggling at the rear of the field. Lambton gives the impression that the horse was a no-hoper prior to him administering dope, but after a creditable first run of the season at Sandown on Friday 24th April 1903 when he was a close-up 5th at 100/7 behind Lord Carnarvon’s St Emilion in the Tudor Plate, he was strongly fancied to land the Burwell Stakes at Newmarket on Tuesday 12th May 1903, being made the 6/4 favourite, but failed by a head to hold off the late challenge of Lord Ellesmere’s Kroonstad. On his next outing, Wednesday 24th June 1903, he contested the North Derby, worth £1500, at Sandown and, ridden by Danny Maher, won by a neck when 2/1 on favourite. Did Lambton really feel it was necessary to dope Ruy Lopez to perform at his best in the £250 Lincoln Autumn Handicap, and anyway, by then the Jockey Club Stewards had decided to introduce the rule on doping.

Racehorse Owners Association First Incarnation

In June 1905 the inaugural general meeting of the newly proposed Racehorse Owners Association was scheduled to take place on 19th June 1905 at the suggestion of Lord Carnarvon, styled Lord Porchester until 1890 when he inherited the title Lord Carnarvon, Member of the Jockey Club, owner of Highclere Stud in 1902 which he founded, and one of the Stewards at the newly opened Newbury Racecourse in 1905. The inaugural meeting of the ROA had to be postponed to a slightly later date because it clashed with the Jockey Club’s Annual meeting showing, at that time, that the two bodies were prepared to work in tandem. The newspapers of the day supported the new Association, advising any member of the public critical of the Jockey Club, ‘instead of indulging in so much irresponsible criticism of the Jockey Club, those who are constantly carping at the methods of our Turf rulers would be better advised to assist in strengthening the Racehorse Owners Association, not with a view to usurping any of the Jockey Club’s functions, but in order that it may become so completely representative of those who are real supporters of the Turf that its Council can always supply authoritative information as to what is and is not wanted by racehorse owners. The Jockey Club Stewards would in this case be able to utilize the Council whenever they wanted to know about the feelings of owners regarding any Rule of Racing, whether old or new, and complete harmony could always be preserved.’ In December 1905 the Association boasted nearly 100 of the principal owners of the day, which should have encouraged many others to join. One of the early projects which the Association and Jockey Club worked on jointly was to lobby railway companies to be kindlier and more supportive in the way it carried horses to and from race meetings. At first the railway companies hardened their hearts and refused to yield any ground to the owners, but it was a position which they could not maintain against an Association who had the power to bring to a halt all racehorse carriage on any of the railways. At that point Mr Francis Luscombe was the secretary of the RCA and gifted in the art of negotiation, and well before any grievances became entrenched agreement was made. By July 1906 the RCA, under the presidency of Lord Carnarvon, were flexing their muscles by demanding free stabling at Sandown Park, but the Esher management refused to grant the concession. The RCA threatened to control entries if their wishes were not granted, but just 2 weeks later the Sandown Park management group called their bluff, and showed that the RCA were impotent in controlling entries, stating that entries for the National Breeders Produce Stakes for 1907 closed with 421 submissions compared with 333 for the 1906 running. Already, towards the end of the 1906 season a schism was forming in the RCA and was very much in evidence at the AGM in June 1907. The meeting was held at Willis’s Rooms, Kings Street, St James’s when a resolution was put forward by Lord Hamilton of Dalzell that the RCA had not justified the objectives of its formation and should be dissolved. His actual resolution proposed, ‘That the Association be wound up voluntarily under the provisions of the Companies Act 1862 to 1890, and that the Hon. Secretary be herby appointed liquidator for the purposes of such winding up. In other words, gentlemen, I suggest that the Association shall commit hari kiri or suicide.’ In support of his motion Lord Hamilton said that, after a two-year trial he no longer thought it possible to establish relations between the Association and the Jockey Club which he considered to be absolutely essential for the welfare of the Association and in the interests of the Turf. Although the motion was defeated, and the RCA trudged on, Lord Hamilton did offer an insight into how he thought the two bodies could work together and be mutually supportive. If they could come to some amicable working relation, then the Association could, ‘become a bodyguard of the Jockey Club and the prop and stability of the Turf.’ The RCA limped on for a further two years, no nearer to resolving its differences with the railway companies, nor thawing its relations with Sandown Park, and by the end of the 1909 season the last rites were given.

Racecourse Association

In 1907 the Racecourse Association was formed to serve the interests of its member racecourses and had as its mission statement, ‘To provide leadership to and representation of racecourses across a multitude of areas to empower then to be the best venues they can be and a frontrunner in the governance of the sport.’ The Association was later supported in its work by the Jockey Club Committee set up in 1941 under the chairmanship of Lord Ilchester (see later section) and in 1969 by the Cohen Report (see later section).

First World War challenges for the Club

Without trivializing the horrific First World War and its effect on millions of people across the world, it did present the Jockey Club with challenges and serious decisions to ensure that, when hostilities were over, there would still be a racing industry to return to. Every Member supported a significant reduction in racing, yet wished to limit its impact on the thoroughbred breeding programme. By early 1915 at Derby House, London, a meeting of the Jockey Club considered the total suspension of racing, an idea which was supported by prominent members, including the Duke of Portland, while others, like Lord Durham, opposed that measure, advocating that there should be a limited amount of racing. In the end they compromised on a statement the majority could agree on, ‘that racing should be carried on where local conditions permit and the feeling of the locality is not averse to the meeting being held.’ A rumour circulated that wounded servicemen being treated in a makeshift hospital occupying Epsom Grandstand would have to be evacuated so that the Derby could go ahead. Of course, it was untrue, but did help to sway public opinion against the racing industry. In 1915 the New Derby Stakes, won by Pommern, was held at Newmarket, as was the 1916 New Derby Stakes, won by Fifinella, the 1917 New Derby Stakes won by Gay Crusader, and the 1918 New Derby Stakes won by Gainsborough. Both 1000 and 2000 Guineas and the New Oaks Stakes were also staged at Newmarket during the War years. The St Leger, on the other hand, was a different matter as Doncaster Racecourse Executives were reluctant to allow their flagship race to be run anywhere apart from Town Moor. They did agree to it being run at Newmarket in 1915 when won by Pommern, but insisted it was called the September Stakes. Somehow, in 1916 the Jockey Club coaxed the Government into allowing additional meetings in southern England at Lingfield, Newbury, Gatwick, where the War time Grand Nationals were staged, and Windsor. This move did not please everyone, especially those northern tracks which did not enjoy the same treatment, but the reprieve was short-lived, the Government reversed its decision soon afterwards. In 1916 the September Stakes (St Leger in all but name) was won by Hurry On, the 1917 September Stakes was won by Gay Crusader, and the 1918 September Stakes was won by Gainsborough. Once the War ended the Jockey Club were faced with a new set of issues to solve, not least because people were flushed with money after many years of austerity, and wherever money goes trouble follows.

Thoroughbred Breeders Association

In the most desperate days of the First World War racing was threatened with complete abandonment to the detriment of racecourses, trainers and owners, but arguably the hardest hit group were the breeders of racehorses. After all, who would want to purchase a yearling when there was every likelihood it would never be allowed to race? Things came to a head in 1917 when the Government requested that Jockey Club Stewards terminate racing completely, even at Newmarket which had been allowed to stage racing when almost every other course had been prevented from doing so. To use phraseology appropriate to the time, this was a bombshell, but one which the Stewards felt compelled to agree with, cancelling the May Spring Meeting. At this point breeders, already claiming that their market had suffered by more than a 60% fall in demand for yearlings, also felt forced to act, with Lord D’Abernon, Edgar Vincent, later British Ambassador to Berlin, leading the way. In 1917 Lord D’Abernon won the 1000 Guineas with his filly Diadem (SR 2018) the 6/4 favourite trained by Hon. George Lambton and ridden by Fred Rickaby, beating Sunny Jane by half a length. Later, in the Epsom Oaks, Sunny Jane (SR 1926) owned by 2nd Viscount Astor, trained by Alec Taylor junior and ridden by Otto Madden, turned the tables on Diadem, winning by half a length at 4/1. In response to the difficult situation breeders found themselves in, Lord D’Abernon proposed the formation of the Thoroughbred Breeders Association which held its inaugural Annual General Meeting on 3rd September 1917. Lord D’Abernon was appointed Chairman of the Association, leading a group of 18 influential breeders who, in the first year, stated their main objectives were to increase the number of mares which could be covered by a stallion each year, and to review the costs to owners. Whilst there had certainly been prickly relations between the Jockey Club and Racehorse Owners Association between 1905 and 1909, the Thoroughbred Breeders Association worked will with the Jockey Club on a number of issues, not least when the Government introduced betting tax. Together the Jockey Club and TBA worked hand in hand to cajole Government to end betting tax in 1929. Lord D’Abernon resigned his post as Chairman in 1932 and was replaced by another stalwart of racing, and prominent Member of the Jockey Club, Lord Rosebery.

Gang Warfare; Welshing Bookmakers; Protection Rackets

At the end of the War the most pressing issue in the Jockey Club’s in-tray was to safeguard the massive post-War crowds who flocked to the racecourses, eager to spend money after such a prolonged period when they had been prevented from doing so. Racing enriched their social life, but not everyone who went racing did so to enjoy themselves. Pick-pocketing was rife, and gangs travelled from London and Birmingham to terrorize racegoers and intimidate responsible, legitimate bookmakers while other, less honest characters saw the opportunity to also act as bookmakers only too happy to welsh on their responsibilities if results went against them. Often the police were overwhelmed by the enormity of their task in preventing open warfare at racecourses and it was left to the Jockey Club to seek solutions to the problems. Firstly, the problem of open gang warfare on racecourses, and on roads leading to and from the racecourses. Rival gangs would not only petrify honest, law-abiding racegoers, but if the gangs happened to encroach on each other’s territories then razors, knives and guns became commonplace. It was not until 1923 that the Jockey Club were able to get on top of the problem, appointing their own officials, led by Major Wymer, and liaising closely with the local police force to alleviate the issue, although flare-ups did still occur, notably at Lewes racecourse, when the gangsters responsible for the troubled were given long prison sentences which served to deter others. Secondly, welshing bookmakers spotted the opportunity to make easy money. At this stage anyone could set up their stool and shout the odds, particularly on parts of the racecourse where the public could watch races without paying an entrance fee, like the Downs at Epsom. Prior to 1926 there was no need for bookmakers or punters to pay betting tax, and there were no rules which monitored pitch allocation, so anyone could pay the same admission price, whether punter or would be bookmaker, and choose to set up stall as a bookmaker. It was easy to offer 6/4 against an even money favourite, knowing that if the favourite lost then you could pocket your ill-gotten gains and repeat the process in the next race, while if the favourite won, and you had a losing book, then you could either disappear before winning punters could find you, or even tear up the punters winning tickets and claim that no bet had been laid. The solution, in 1925, was to form a register of legitimate bookmakers and appoint ring officials, known quaintly as the ‘Flying Squad to aid the backer’, who could mediate betting disputes between punters and bookmakers. The third problem was protection rackets where bookmakers were intimidated into paying protection money to be allowed to bet hassle-free. Often some elderly gentleman would act as the front man to the thugs and gangsters running the protection racket, and would walk around the betting ring with a bucket full of sponges and chalk used to wipe the bookmaker’s boards. Those bookmakers who towed the line would pay exorbitant prices for their chalk and sponge, while those who refused would be threatened, intimidated and, often as not, beaten up in the car park after racing and relieved of their takings. The solution was for bookmakers to form their own protective association so that they could face ‘the enemy’ as a united body. Various Bookmaker Protection Associations were formed in different regions of the United Kingdom, the BPA (Southern) branch was formed in December 1922.

Introduction of Betting Tax

In 1926 it was illegal to bet with cash off course, the only means available to have a legitimate bet was to have a credit account and bet on credit, but cash was still bet on every street corner using bookies runners and commission agents, with law enforcement officers, the police, often turning a blind eye or making the odd nominal arrest. Winston Churchill, whilst Chancellor of the Exchequer, introduced betting tax on 1st November 1926, despite cash betting remaining illegal. The tax was set at 2% of turnover on racecourse bets, while off-course credit bets in offices was set at 3.5%, but both taxes presented problems. How did you collect the 3.5% credit betting tax, how did you monitor how much was being taken by the on-course bookmakers, given that their tax was payable on turnover, and how long could the Government naively pretend that illegal cash bets were not still being made? The first issue was solvable since all credit bets were, supposedly, recorded and traceable. A clumsy, cumbersome method was introduced to solve the second issue; course bookmakers, who had to be registered at a cost of £10 per annum, issued different coloured numbered tickets depending on the size of the bet. A yellow ticket was given for a shilling bet, a blue ticket for a 2 shilling bet, an orange ticket for a 10 shilling bet, a light brown ticket for a £1 bet, and a light brown ticket with green triangle was given for a £5 bet. The main grievance for on-course bookmakers, and for credit bookmakers off course, was that gambling debts were still not enforceable by law, and the vast majority of bets were still illegal cash bets. The pot simmered, arguments and concerns were raised, until the whole thing came to a head just 2 days after the introduction of the tax, on Wednesday 3rd November 1926 at Windsor racecourse. To the complete surprise of backers who had paid £1 2s 6d to enter Tattersalls and back their fancy with a bookmaker, the bookmakers went on strike, refused to trade, or offer odds, and without betting no starting prices could be issued, so all illegal bets taken off course could not be settled. Towards the end of the day the bookmakers agreed to not attend the next day and to picket any bookmaker who chose to break the strike. Furthermore, they suggested that they were prepared to continue their boycott until the end of the flat racing season on 25th November. It is worth noting that some small bets were taken in the Silver Ring, meaning a starting price based on very small amounts, could be issued with the following results:-
1.30 Thames 3-y-o Handicap URGENT (5/1)
2.00 Forest Selling Nursery Handicap SONABLA (no SP returned)
2.30 Combermere Handicap LIGHT DRAGOON (8/1)
2.00 Castle Selling Handicap RAZOR (6/1)
3.30 College Nursery Handicap SONNY (6/1)
4.00 Athens Maiden Stakes COLONIAL BOY (100/8)
The strike continued at Windsor on Thursday 4th November 1926, but the futility of it could be seen by all and, after informal talks, a decision was taken to end the boycott and bet as normal in Tattersalls at Newbury on Guy Fawkes Day, Friday 5th November 1926. Although some die-hard bookmakers thought they could continue the strike, the more reflective amongst them realized that a continuation of the boycott would probably force the Chancellor of the Exchequer to ignore the profession as the agents for collecting betting tax and, instead, to secure legislation for the introduction of the pari-mutuel system of betting. In 1928 the Chancellor reduced the on-course tax to 1% and the off-course tax to 2% as a precursor to abolishing the tax in 1929.

A decade on

After the first official list of Jockey Club Members was printed in 1834, updated lists were included in the Racing Calendar on an annual basis. The list of Jockey Club Members in 1907 is shown below.

Lord Downe (ST)
Lord Stanley (ST)
Earl of Durham (ST)
HM King Edward VII
Duke of Connaught
Prince Arthur of Connaught
Brig. Gen E W Baird
Sir William Bass
M Du Bos
L Brassey

Rt Hon Sir Ernest Cassel
Viscount Chaplin
Earl of Coventry
Marquis of Crewe
Prince d’Arenberg
Earl of Derby
Duke of Devonshire
Earl of Dunraven
Earl of Ellesmere
Viscount Falmouth

Earl Fitzwilliam
Hon H W Fitzwilliam
Marquis de Ganay
Sir Reginald Graham
Captain Greer
Sir R Waldie-Griffith
Lord Hamilton of Dalzell
Earl of Harewood
Lord Howard de Walden

Earl of Ilchester
Sir R W Jardine
Earl of Jersey
Hon. Frederick Lambton
J W Larnach
Sir S M Lockhart
Marquis of Londonderry
Earl of Lonsdale
Sir Charles Matthews

Hon Sir Hedworth Meux
Duke of Montrose
Prince Murat
C S Newton
R A Oswald
Sir Ernest Paget
Lord Penrhyn
Duke of Portland
Duke of Richmond/Gordon

Earl of Rosebery
H Salvin
Sir S Scott
Earl of Sefton
Sir Berkeley Sheffield
G D Smith
Sir John Thursby
Lord Wolverton
Marquis of Zetland

A decade on

After the first official list of Jockey Club Members was printed in 1834, updated lists were included in the Racing Calendar on an annual basis. The list of Jockey Club Members in 1917 is shown below.

Earl of Jersey (ST)
Lord Penrhyn (ST)
Sir John Thursby (ST)
HM King George V
Duke of Connaught
Prince Arthur of Connaught
Brig. Gen E W Baird
Sir William Bass
M Du Bos
L Brassey

Rt Hon Sir Ernest Cassel
Viscount Chaplin
Earl of Coventry
Marquis of Crewe
Prince d'Arenberg
Earl of Derby
Duke of Devonshire
Viscount Drowne
Earl of Dunraven
Earl of Durham

Earl of Ellesmere
Viscount Falmouth
Earl Fitzwilliam
Hon H W Fitzwilliam
Marquis de Ganay
Sir Reginald Graham
Captain Greer
Sir R Waldie-Griffith
Lord Hamilton of Dalzell

Earl of Harewood
Lord Howard de Walden
Earl of Ilchester
Sir Robert W Jardine
Hon. Frederick Lambton
J W Larnach
Sir S M Lockhart
Marquis of Londonderry
Earl of Lonsdale

Sir Charles Matthews
Hon Sir Hedworth Meux
Duke of Montrose
Prince Murat
C S Newton
R A Oswald
Sir Ernest Paget
Duke of Portland
Duke of Richmond/Gordon

Earl of Rosebery
H Salvin
Sir Samuel Scott
Earl of Sefton
Sir Berkeley Sheffield
G D Smith
Duke of Westminster
Lord Wolverton
Marquis of Zetland

A decade on

After the first official list of Jockey Club Members was printed in 1834, updated lists were included in the Racing Calendar on an annual basis. The list of Jockey Club Members in 1927 is shown below.

Ld Hamilton of Dalzell (ST)
Earl of Ellesmere (ST)
Sir George Bullough (ST)
HM King George V
HRH Prince of Wales
HRH Duke of York
HRH Prince Henry
Duke of Connaught
Prince Arthur of Connaught
HM King of Spain
Brig-Gen E W Baird

Major H T Barclay
Sir William Bass
Count E Batthyany
M Du Bos
Sir Leonard Brassey
Earl of Coventry
Marquess of Crewe
Lord Dalmeny
Earl of Derby
Duke of Devonshire
Lord Dewar

Viconte d’Harcourt
J L Dugdale
Earl of Durham
Prince Festetics
Earl Fitzwilliam
Marquis de Ganay
Sir Henry Greer
Sir R Waldie-Griffith
Earl of Harewood
Capt. J G Homfray
J P Hornung

Earl of Ilchester
Sir Robert W Jardine
Rt Hon T K Laidlaw
Hon Charles Lambton
Viscount Lascelles
Lt-Col Giles Loder
Marquess of Londonderry
Earl of Lonsdale
Hon Sir Hedworth Meux
Prince Murat
Lord Penrhyn

Duke of Portland
Duke of Richmond/Gordon
Earl of Ronaldshay
Earl of Rosebery
Anthony de Rothschild
James A de Rothschild
Sir John Rutherford
Sir Samuel Scott
Earl of Sefton
Sir Berkeley Sheffield

Washington Singer
G D Smith
Lord Stanley
J Reid Walker
Lord Wavertree
Duke of Westminster
C W Sofer Whitburn
Lord Wolverton
Lord Woolavington
Marquis of Zetland

Clasic nominations of owners who died

In May 1886 the Sporting Times questioned 100 specially selected Jockey Club Members, Owners, Jockeys, Trainers and Racing Tipsters inviting them to nominate the 10 best racehorses of all time, and in the resulting list St Simon was placed fourth despite never contesting any of the Classics. In the survey he was behind Gladiator, West Australian and The Flying Dutchman, who all won one or more Classics, but a Jockey Club rule in operation at that time prevented St Simon from taking part in a Classic. St. Simon, a brown colt by Galopin out of St Angela, was bred and owned initially by Prince Gustav Batthyany of Hungary, foaled in 1881 at William Barrow’s Paddocks near Newmarket, trained at Heath House Stables by Mathew Dawson, and later owned by the 6th Duke of Portland. However, the problem was that Prince Batthyany died at Newmarket’s 2000 Guineas meeting in May 1883 and, with his death, all of St Simon’s nominations for the Classics were invalidated. How right can it be that any horse, particularly one as gifted as St Simon, could be prevented from competing against the best of his generation in the Classics solely because his owner had died? It was a rule which the Jockey Club had to alter, and yet it was only in 1928 that they were able to do so, altering Rule 86 to read, ‘entries and subscriptions shall not become void on the death of the person in whose name they are made or taken, and all rights, privileges and liabilities that could have been attached to the deceased person had he or she been alive, shall attach to his or her representative.’

HM King George VI

Born 1895

Died 1952

SUN CHARIOT (SR 2061) (Fillies Triple Crown 1942)

BIG GAME (SR 2044) (2000 Guineas 1942)

HYPERICUM (SR 1954) (1000 Guineas 1946)

Introduction of the Tote

In August 1928 the Racecourse Betting Bill passed through Parliament to enable Tote betting on racecourses for the first time, although it was late in the day compared to New Zealand, Australia and USA. The very first parimutuel system was invented by Joseph Oller, resident in the Catalan region, in 1867, although it was many decades later that a specialized mechanical machine, known as the totalizator, was invented by George Alfred Julius, an Australian engineer. The first such machine was used at Ellerslie Racecourse in Auckland, New Zealand in 1913 and, 14 years later, at Arlington Park, Chicago, the machine was employed in the USA for the first time. A couple of years after the English Bill the French PMU (parimutuel) was launched in 1930. In Britain the passage of the Bill through Parliament was a long, arduous process with many hurdles to climb, and many powerful opponents of the Bill, including the Church and bookmakers, before it became law. The story began in 1926 when the Gaming Act, initially imposed by Sir Winston Churchill during his time as Chancellor of the Exchequer, was repealed opening the door to a betting tax and wagering on a tote on racecourses. At that time the Jockey Club and National Hunt Committee were still separate bodies, but they joined forces, along with the National Coursing Club, to lobby Churchill to allow for a Private Members Bill to be debated which would legalize the tote. Clearly bookmakers, fearing a tote monopoly would put them out of business, called on their powerful allies in Parliament to either prevent the Bill from being passed, or at the least to limit its powers. Lord Hamilton of Dalzell, who was the driving force behind the tote bill, ably supported by his friend Brigadier-General Sir Loftus Bates, was not against bookmakers, indeed he saw them as a necessity on the racecourse, not only to provide a market place environment, but to, ‘provide owners with the chance to back their horses at a good price, one of the few advantages they get in return for the money which they put into the game.’ However, he appreciated that this meant bookmakers were raking off vast profits from the game and that they should be required to pay their fair share to support the racing industry. It was this fine balance which came to the fore as the Racecourse Betting Bill was going through the stages of the Parliamentary process. The Jockey Club were keen to control the Tote and channel its profits as they deemed appropriate but, in the end, they had to settle for a Racecourse Betting Control Board which was answerable to Parliament and which had to submit annual accounts to Parliament. While the Jockey Club supplied 3 Members to the Control Board, and the National Hunt Committee two, the Home Secretary had the power invested in him to appoint the Chairman. Furthermore, although the Jockey Club would have wished that all profits were used for the benefit of racing, with the proceeds directed as they saw fit, in reality, once all taxes and necessary running expenses had been met, the profits were shared, ‘in accordance with a scheme prepared by the Board and approved by the Home Secretary for purposes conducive to the improvement of breeds of horses, the sport of horse racing, veterinary science and education.’ As expected, the Tote required a huge investment in equipment and manpower before it could be launched, but a loan of £2 million was forthcoming from a supportive bank. It was a close-run thing as to which racecourse produced the first Tote returns, but in the end the 80+ UK and Ireland racecourses whittled down to just two, Newmarket and Carlisle, and on Tuesday 2nd July 1929 Newmarket won the honour of providing the first tote return on its 2.0, the Trial Selling Plate over 6 furlongs, won by Huncoat (33/1) ridden by Harry Wragg, beating Bellarion (3/1), with the favourite, The Urchin, unplaced at 9/4. Just a week before the race Huncoat would have been quoted by the bookmakers as amongst those on 100/8 bar, but, in the event, it was returned at 33/1. The Tote sold 11,654 win units and 6764 place units at 2 shillings each, amounting to £1,841.80. The winner paid 80s 6d for the win, 49s 3d for the place, while Bellarion paid 8s 6d for the place, although ironically, Bellarion (2/1) would have only returned 6s for the win. The other win prices would have been The Urchin 6s 3d (85/40), Friar Grey 6s 6d (9/4), Brendoro 30s 3d (14/1), Rock Tunnel 109s 6d (54/1) and Sanskrit 238s (118/1) giving an over round of 107%. Carlisle was just pipped at the post, issuing its first Tote return on the 2.15, the Holm Hill Plate, won by Lemin (15/8 fav) beating North Riding (7/1). Lemin returned a win dividend of 5 shillings to a 2 shilling stake, equivalent to 6/4, with places 4s 9d and 4s respectively. Just the day before at Newmarket an imaginary race was held to trial the Tote, with a staff of 200 operators brought to the course in half-a-dozen charabancs to give a full dress rehearsal of the working of the Tote. Counters were distributed to the staff and were used by them to back any of the 16 imaginary runners of their choice. Five minutes was allowed for betting, and a minute and a half later the electrical indicator, powered by a lorry at the back of the stands, started to function. A suppositious pool of 173,558 two-shilling units was announced, the winner being number 3 on the card, paying a dividend of 19s 9d per two-shilling unit.

2nd Duke of Westminster, Hugh Grosvenor

Born 1879

Died 1953

17th Earl of Derby, Edward Stanley

Born 1865

Died 1948

FAIR ISLE (SR 1893) (1000 Guineas 1930)

TIDE-WAY (SR 1825) (1000 Guineas 1936)

HYPERION (SR 2248) (Epsom Derby, St Leger 1933)

WATLING STREET (SR 2002) (Epsom Derby 1942)

HERRINGBONE (SR 1988) (St Leger, 1000 Guineas 1943)

GARDEN PATH (SR 1908) (2000 Guineas 1944)

SUN STREAM (SR 2032) (Epsom Oaks, 1000 Guineas 1945)

5th Earl of Durham, John Frederick Lambton

Born 1884

Died 1970

4th Earl of Ellesmere, John Egerton

Born 1872

Died 1944

6th Earl of Rosebery, Harry Primrose

Born 1882

Died 1974

SANDWICH (SR 1913) (St Leger 1931)

BLUE PETER (SR 2089) (Epsom Derby, 2000 Guineas 1939)

OCEAN SWELL (SR 2033) (Epsom Derby 1944)

2nd Viscount Astor, Waldorf Astor

Born 1879

Died 1952

PENNYCOMEQUICK (SR 1906) (Epsom Oaks 1929)

PAY UP (SR 1968) (2000 Guineas 1936)

COURT MARTIAL (SR 1951) (2000 Guineas 1945)

Viscount Portal, Charles Portal

Born 1893

Died 1971

Lord Glanely, William Tatem

Born 1868

Died 1942

ROSE OF ENGLAND (SR 1808) (Epsom Oaks 1930)

SINGAPORE (SR 1924) (St Leger 1930)

COLOMBO (SR 2031) (2000 Guineas 1934)

CHUMLEIGH (SR 1913) (St Leger 1937)

DANCING TIME (SR 1934) (1000 Guineas 1941)

Lord Stanley, Edward Montagu Cavendish Stanley

Born 1894

Died 1938

Sir Abe Bailey

Born 1864

Died 1940

Sir George Bullough

Born 1870

Died 1939

Sir Percy Loraine

Born 1880

Died 1961

The Don Pat race

On Wednesday 13th August 1930 the 5.30 at Kempton Park, the Bedfont Plate High Weight Handicap over 7 furlongs, was won by a length and a half by Don Pat 9/4 favourite trained at Lavant, Sussex by Charles Chapman and ridden by Brownie Carslake. It was an innocuous race, with a prize of just £200, but it had serious ramifications for the Jockey Club. As was customary after the race the vets took samples of sweat and saliva which later indicated that the horse had ingested a large amount of caffeine and led to an investigation by the Jockey Club Stewards.

Washington Singer

Born 1866

Died 1934

The Don Pat doping case

There was only one course of action which the Stewards, Earl of Ellesmere, Earl of Harewood and Lord Rosebery, could take based on the Rules of Racing and that was to take away the training license of Mr Chapman and warn him off Newmarket Heath, also banning the horse from ever running again. They prepared a statement, ‘We have come to the conclusion that Don Pat was doped and is disqualified for life, and that you, as trainer, were directly responsible for the care of the horse, so your license is revoked and you are warned off Newmarket Heath.’ The statement seemed to recognize that, even though the horse was doped, they did not wish to point the finger at Mr Chapman, but that he had to be punished because he had a care of duty to the horse. However, when the statement was published the Stewards did not include the phrase, ‘you as trainer were directly responsible for the care of the horse’ and that changed the emphasis of the statement which then implied guilt on the part of Mr Chapman. The statement was published in a number of newspapers, including The Times and, whilst Charles Chapman accepted the original findings of the Stewards, he was not prepared to accept his implied guilt. He fully accepted that he could not win any case which would give him back his license since the Rules were clear and they had been broken, albeit not directly by him, but he did bring an action for libel against the Stewards and The Times. The case went to trial and the verdict of the jury favoured Charles Chapman and the Judge awarded him £13,000 of which £3000 was against the Stewards of the Jockey Club for the publication of the statement to the news agencies and £10000 for the publication in the Racing Calendar, and a further £3000 against The Times. The Stewards announced that they would appeal the decision and managed to get the original verdict overturned, but the case against The Times stood. Charles Chapman felt that, in the eyes of the public, his reputation was restored, and although he won £3000 damages from The Times, he had lost his livelihood, later becoming a groom and chauffeur.

Overnight Declarations Part 1

In December 1930 Sir Clement Hindley, Chairman of the Racecourse Betting Control Board, suggested that there should be an overnight declaration of the next day’s runners. The outcry after the statement was made was widespread, with prominent owner Major Desmond McCalmont saying, ‘I do not consider overnight declarations by owners and trainers will be of any benefit to racing. It is impossible for a trainer to make his final decision so long beforehand, and quite apart from this, a horse which is in perfect health today may, by tomorrow morning, have developed an ailment.’ Washington Singer, a very successful Classic winning owner stated, ‘I am strongly averse to any such suggestions of overnight declarations and I think all persons having a practical knowledge of the matter would understand the great difficulties that there would be to owners and trainers to carry out such a rule.’ Successful multiple Classic winning trainer Fred Darling said, ‘The declaration of runners overnight would certainly be very unpopular with owners, trainers and the betting public. After having arranged runners overnight the following things may happen to change the situation:- horses may fret badly during the night and develop a temperature; fillies may be affected sexually; heavy rains may make owners change their minds; the next step might be owners having to run their, horses whether they want to or not, under adverse circumstances.’ In the light of all of the adverse publicity nothing changed and th ebookmakers benefitted from punters uncertainty, when all they had to go on were probable runners and also engaged.

Second World War challenges for the Jockey Club

The Second World War is generally thought to have started on 1st September 1939 when Germany, under Adolf Hitler, invaded neighbouring Poland, although Britain and France did not declare War on Germany until 3rd September 1939. As with the horrific First World War, the Jockey Club were faced with a number of challenges, not least whether racing should continue. Immediately the St Leger, due to be contested just a few days after the outbreak of War, was cancelled and not even a makeshift ‘September Stakes’ replaced it. This denied Lord Rosebery’s Blue Peter (SR 2089), who had already won the 2000 Guineas at 5/1 when trained by Jack Jarvis at Park Lodge Stables, Newmarket and ridden by Eph Smith, later going on to win the Epsom Derby by 4 lengths as the 7/2 favourite, the chance to land the Triple Crown. Racing was abandoned completely between mid-June and September 1940, but not before the New 1000 Guineas and New 2000 Guineas were run over Newmarket’s Bunbury Mile of the July Course, being won respectively by Esmond Harmsworth’s Godiva (SR 2047) at 10/1 and Marcel Boussac’s Djebel (SR 1936) at 9/4 favourite. Similarly, the New Derby Stakes was contested at Newmarket on Wednesday 12th June 1940 when won by Fred Darling’s Pont L’Eveque (SR 1974) at 10/1, followed a day later by the New Oaks Stakes which went to Esmond Harmsworth’s Godiva the 7/4 fav. However, the abandonment meant that the St Leger, renamed the Yorkshire St Leger, was held at Thirsk on Sunday 23rd November 1940 and won by HH Aga Khan’s Turkhan (SR 1968) at 4/1. The Jockey Club, under the Senior Stewardship of Lord Sefton, did try to indicate their willingness to act, suggesting that owners should reduce their stock of inferior horses, and liaising with the Ministry of Agriculture to decrease the stock of broodmares by at least 25%. Furthermore, the allocation of what race meetings were available was more equably shared between north and south than had been the case in the First World War. As well as meetings at Headquarters, racing also went ahead in the South at Salisbury, Windsor and Ascot, while in the North meetings were staged at Stockton, Pontefract, Catterick Bridge, Thirsk and Manchester. Some of the famous Royal Ascot races traditionally held at Ascot still went ahead, but were transferred to Newmarket in July, including the Coventry Stakes, Queen Mary Stakes, Gold Cup and later the Royal Hunt Cup, and both HM The King and HH Aga Khan enjoyed significant success. The Coventry stakes, in 1941 was won by Big Game owned by HM The King; in 1942 by Nasrullah owned by HH Aga Khan; in 1943 by Orestes owned by Miss Dorothy Paget; in 1944 by Dante owned by Sir Eric Ohlson, and in 1945 by Khaled owned by HH Aga Khan. The Gold Cup in 1941 was won by Finis owned by Sir H Cunliffe-Owen; in 1942 by Owen Tudor owned by Mrs Macdonald Buchanan; in 1943 by Ujiji owned by Mr A E Allnatt; in 1944 by Umiddad owned by HH Aga Khan, while in 1945 it was won by Ocean Swell owned by Lord Rosebery. The Queen Mary Stakes in 1941 was won by Sun Chariot owned by HM The King; in 1942 by Samovar owned by Lord Wyfold; in 1943 by Fair Fame owned by Mrs Lavington; in 1944 by Sun Stream owned by Lord Derby, while in 1945 it was won by Rivaz owned by HH Aga Khan. Handicaps fared less well that Pattern races, although the Royal Hunt Cup was staged in 1945 and was won by Battle Hymn owned by Colonel J H Whitney. As well as preserving some of the historic Royal Ascot races, similar consideration was given to Glorious Goodwood races and York Summer meeting races. The 1941 Molecomb Stakes over 5 furlongs and Sussex Stakes over a mile were staged at Newmarket on Thursday 31st July 1941 to the benefit of Lord Glanely. The Molecomb was won by his Feberion (13/2) ridden by Dick Perryman, while the next race, the Sussex Stakes, was won by his Eastern Echo (100/8) ridden by Michael Beary. Such triumphs were followed by disaster in 1942 when Lord Glanely was killed by a stray bomb at his home in Weston-Super-Mare. Although starting out as a humble shipping clerk, he had become a millionaire, founded Chepstow racecourse in August 1926 and done so much to help his beloved sport of horse racing. The Stewards Cup over 6 furlongs was initially transferred to Newmarket in 1941, although it was renamed the Stewards Handicap for the occasion, and was held the day after the popular jockey Brownie Carslake died from a heart attack. It was won by Fred Butter’s Valthema (100/8). Thereafter, the race was given to Windsor and was dominated by Major Bonsor’s Sugar Palm. In 1942 it was named the Stewards Plate, Sugar Palm winning at 7/2 favourite, and returning the next year to land the Stewards Handicap as 6/5 fav. In 1944 Sugar Palm (4/6 fav) failed by a short head to overhaul Mr T Bartlam’s British Colombo (100/7), and was made favourite again in 1945, but was unplaced behind Happy Grace (5/1) owned by a Jockey Club Steward of the meeting Sir William Cooke. Not much of the traditional York Ebor meeting survived, but the Nunthorpe Stakes over 5 furlongs was held at Newmarket in 1942 when Mr A E Saunder’s Linklater (100/8) was victorious. A year later Linklater (9/2) completed the double in the hands of Charlie Elliott, while in 1944 Sugar Palm (8/1) owned by Major A Bonsor was triumphant. As the War dragged on, with no end in sight, the Jockey Club Stewards were forced to take some unpalatable decisions which led to the culling of a large number of horses. In 1942 they announced that the drastically reduced number of handicaps would no longer allow entries from horses aged 5 or more, meaning there was no longer a reason for owners to keep such horses. Throughout the War, with the exception of the 1939 St Leger, the 5 Classics were contested each year. In 1941 the winners were, 2000 Guineas Lambert Simnel (SR 1940) owned by 2nd Duke of Westminster; 1000 Guineas Dancing Time (SR 1934) owned by Lord Glanely; New Derby Stakes Owen Tudor (SR 2111); New Oaks Stakes Commotion (SR 1959(; St Leger Stakes at Manchester Sun Castle (SR 2030) owned by Viscount Portal. The year 1942 proved to be a huge triumph for King George VI, and a fillip for the country, when he won 4 of the 5 Classics, 2000 Guineas Big Game (SR 2044), 1000 Guineas, Oaks and St Leger Sun Chariot (SR 2061), the one Classic which eluded him was the New Derby Stakes won by Watling Street (SR 2002) owned by 17th Earl of Derby. In 1943 the winners were 2000 Guineas Kingsway (SR 1926); 1000 Guineas and St Leger Herringbone (SR 1988) owned by 17th Earl of Derby; New Derby Stakes Straight Deal (SR 2051), New Oaks Stakes Why Hurry (SR 1882). In 1944 the winners were 2000 Guineas Garden Path (SR 1908) owned by 17th Earl of Derby; 1000 Guineas Picture Play (SR 1924); New Derby Stakes Ocean Swell (SR 2033) owned by 6th Earl of Rosebery; New Oaks Stakes Hycilla (SR 2019), The St Leger Stakes (September Stakes) Tehran (SR 2081) owned by HH Aga Khan. In 1945 the 2000 Guineas Court Martial (SR 1951), 1000 Guineas and New Oaks Stakes Sun Stream (SR 2032) owned by 17th Earl of Derby; New Derby Stakes Dante (SR 2155), St Leger Stakes run at York Chamossaire (SR 2029).

Racehorse Owners Association Second Incarnation

Although the fledgling Racehorse Owners Association first came to life in 1905, that initial attempt to gain power and influence failed within 4 years, mainly because it lacked the power to tackle the wealthy railway companies, and the influence to change the way racecourses, particularly Sandown Park, operated. It was to be a further 32 years before the idea was aired again. One of the founders of the reincarnated ROA was James Voase ‘Jimmy’ Rank, son of Joseph Rank who founded a flour milling business in 1875, although he had to rent a windmill to develop his company in the early days. However, the company grew and eventually merged with two other companies to form Rank, Hovis, McDougal. James was an avid supporter of all types of racing, although he has to be classed as one of the unluckiest of owners, especially in the four years 1935 to 1938; in the 1935 Waterloo Cup he owned Joker’s Resort (1/6 fav) beaten in the final by Dee Rock (7/2) owned by Mr J E Dennis; in the 1936 Grand National, his horse Bachelor Prince (66/1) was third, beaten 18 lengths by Reynoldstown, owned and trained by Noel Furlong and ridden by Fulke Walwyn. The next year his horse Cooleen (33/1) was runner-up, beaten 3 lengths by Royal Mail owned by H Lloyd Thomas, trained by Ivor Anthony and ridden by Evan Williams, while Cooleen (8/1) was 4th in 1938 beaten over 20 lengths by Battleship owned by Mrs Marion duPont Scott, trained by Reg Hobbs and ridden by his 17 year old son Bruce Hobbs. Also, in the 1938 Epsom Derby he owned runner-up Scottish Union (8/1), beaten 4 lengths by Bois Roussel, owned by Peter Beatty, trained by Fred Darling and ridden by Charlie Elliott. The ROA and Jockey Club did not always see eye to eye and, possibly as a consequence of helping to found the ROA, James Rank was not elected to the Jockey Club until he was 70, and he died 2 years later in 1952. The first President of the new Racehorse Owners Association was Sir Malcolm McAlpine and he remained in post until 1956 and was followed by his son Sir Robin McAlpine. Although membership was low in the early years, seldom reaching 700, the Association had important issues to face, including the opening of betting shops in the early 1960s, and the very low prize money offered by most racecourses. However, it eventually grew and remains an important Association to this day.

Post-War future of racing

Whilst the War had a devastating effect on racing, all connected with racing, including owners, trainers, breeders, and the paying public looked to the Jockey Club to set out its vision for the sport once the War had ended. Two years into the War, and without an end in sight, in 1941 the Jockey Club set up another committee, but with the specific task of planning a course for the future of racing. The Committee was chaired by Lord Ilchester, but involved such prominent, knowledgeable, influential Jockey Club Members as the Duke of Norfolk, Lord Zetland, Viscount Portal and Sir Humphrey de Trafford. It is not surprising that the committee took 2 years to produce its findings, concluding that racing was in a recession and that immediate action was needed. They felt that there would be no better time after the War to modernize facilities and widen the appeal of racing beyond those immediately connected with racing. They believed that the Jockey Club was the right body to take ownership of racecourses, putting the interests of the ordinary racegoer before directors, and investing money in facilities to improve the experience for the racing public rather than in the pockets of shareholders. It was to take a further 21 years, and the loss of a large number of racecourses before the findings were implemented.

Relations with the Press Part 3

From strained relations between the Jockey Club and the Press in the 1870s, to tolerance of each other straight after the First World War, at the end of the Second World War there was a further improvement in 1945 when the Jockey Club created a post, Public Relations Officer, with its first appointment J H Freeman who had previously worked as Sports Editor of the Daily Mail.

Photo-finish cameras

One of the most important innovations which the Jockey Club worked on towards the end of the Second World War was the photo finish camera. In 1944 Sir Percy Loraine chaired a Jockey Club committee formed to examine the feasibility of installing cameras on all racecourses. The debates were endless and it took 3 years before the first camera was used in 1947 at the Epsom Spring meeting, but eventually cameras were installed at every racecourse funded, through Tote profits, by the Racecourse Betting Control Board. However, while everyone agreed that the installation of a camera killed all doubts about the result, albeit with a few unexplained hiccups, and silenced all critics, in the early days the Jockey Club were confronted with a finance problem. Installation and operating costs were high, each camera costing in excess of £1000, and the operating costs amounted to about £100 for a two-day meeting, requiring the services of at least 4 experts. Leading up to the first use of the camera at the Epsom Spring meeting, a trial took place at Birmingham racecourse on Monday 7th April 1947 which went well, so the go-ahead was given for the Epsom meeting on Tuesday 22nd April 1947. The Epsom Spring meeting was momentous not only for the camera use, but also women were admitted to the Members’ Stand for the first time, the Stand previously being known quaintly as ‘The Cockpit’.’ On Tuesday 22nd April 1947 the camera was not required in the opening race, the Effingham Selling Plate when Highsteem, ridden by Ken Gethin, won by a comfortable 4 lengths, nor was it required in the next race, the April Plate won by Manilleur ridden by Eph Smith even though he only got home by a neck. However, in the Great Metropolitan Handicap which followed, the judge called for the camera to determine the second and third places, and after a lapse of a few seconds he announced that Parhelion was second a head to the good over Salubrious in third. A week later the photo-finish camera was used at Newmarket for the first time on Tuesday 29th April 1947. The use of the cameras worldwide had begun in the late 1930s, and in October 1953 the first triple dead-heat occurred at Freehold Raceway, USA when the photo-finish could not separate Patchover, Payne Hall and Penny Maid.

Stud Book

In the 1913 edition of the Stud Book the Jersey Act had consigned many American bred horses to be classed as half-breds merely because they could not trace their pedigree back without flaw on both sire’s and dam’s side of its pedigree, to horses and mares already accepted in the earlier volumes of the book. Indeed, the very next year the French horse Durbar II, winner of the 1914 Epsom Derby, fell foul of the new rule as his dam Armenia descended from an unknown mare. In 1947 My Babu won the Champagne Stakes, the New Stakes (later the Norfolk Stakes at Royal Ascot), and the Woodcote Stakes, while in 1948 he won the Craven Stakes, the 2000 Guineas and the Sussex Stakes, but the bloodline through Djebel, Tourbillon, Durban and Durbar II meant that the excellent My Babu should be excluded from the Stud Book and classed as a half breed. In the same year Black Tarquin won the St Leger having already been victorious in the 1947 Royal Lodge and Gimcrack Stakes, and in 1948 won the St James’s Palace Stakes, yet his USA bloodline via Vagrancy, Valkyr, Princess Palatine and Frizette meant that he should not have qualified for inclusion in the General Stud Book. A ludicrous situation was occurring where star performers would be used by breeders despite them not being included in the Stud Book, and the problem could only worsen if action was not taken.

Boston Boro doping incident

On Wednesday 26th March 1947 at Lincoln Racecourse Mr R Hardy’s Boston Boro (4/1) won the John O’Gaunt Plate by 6 lengths, trained by Mr Jim Russell at the Old Hall, Mablethorpe and ridden by P J Crawley and all seemed well with the result. Prior to coming to England Jim Russell had trained in South Africa where he used to gallop his horses on the sands around Durban. On his arrival in England he employed similar methods on the sands near Mablethorpe and had enjoyed some big successes, including winning the Lincoln Handicap in 1934 with Play On and 1936 with Overcoat. Just after the John O’Gaunt Plate Boston Boro had samples taken which showed traces of alkaloid for which the horse was banned for life and Russell had his licence withdrawn. He thought this was unjust and decided to sue the 3 Jockey Club Stewards, Duke of Norfolk, Lord Rosebery and Lord Willoughby de Broke for alleged breach of contract by withdrawing his licence when they had given him a contract to train. It was almost a year before the case reached court on 24th February 1948 before Lord Goddard. After a lengthy court hearing, and a failure by the jury to reach a decision, Lord Goddard ruled that there was no case to answer. This case, and the previous case involving Charles Chapman, meant that trainers threatened with having their licence withdrawn would think twice before taking their case to court.

A decade on

After the first official list of Jockey Club Members was printed in 1834, updated lists were included in the Racing Calendar on an annual basis. The list of Jockey Club Members in 1937 is shown below.

Sir Leonard Brassey (ST)
Sir William Bass (ST)
Earl of Ilchester (ST)
HM King George VI
HRH Duke of Gloucester
HRH Duke of Kent
HRH Duke of Windsor
Duke of Connaught
Prince Arthur of Connaught
HM King Alfonso
Marquess of Abergavenny

Viscount Allendale
Viscount Astor
Sir Abe Bailey
Comte de Baillet Latour
Brig Gen E W Baird
Major H T Barclay
Sir George Bullough
Lt-Col R B Charteris
Major J S Courtauld
Marquess of Crewe
Earl of Derby

Duke of Devonshire
J L Dugdale
Earl of Durham
Hon Thomas Egerton
Earl of Ellesmere
Earl Fitzwilliam
Marquis de Ganay
Lord Glanely
Lord Hamilton of Dalzell
Sir Edward Hammer

Earl of Harewood
M James Hennessey
J P Hornung
HH Aga Khan
Rh Hon T K Laidlaw
Hon Charles Lambton
Lt-Col Giles Loder
Marquess of Londonderry
Earl of Lonsdale
Capt Charles Moore

Duke of Norfolk
Lord Penrhyn
Sir Laurence Philipps
Duke of Portland
Viscount Portman
Earl of Rosebery
Anthony de Rothschild
Baron Ed. de Rothschild
James A de Rothschild
M Evremond de St Alary

Sir Samuel Scott
Earl of Sefton
Sir Berkeley Sheffield
Lord Stanley
Col W F Story
Sir Humphrey de Trafford
E M Weatherby
Duke of Westminster
C W Sofer Whitburn
Marquess of Zetland

A decade on

After the first official list of Jockey Club Members was printed in 1834, updated lists were included in the Racing Calendar on an annual basis. The list of Jockey Club Members in 1947 is shown below.

Duke of Norfolk (ST)
Viscount Allendale (ST)
Lord Irwin (ST)
HM King George VI
HRH Duke of Edinburgh
HRH Duke of Gloucester
HRH Duke of Windsor
Marquess of Abergavenny
Viscount Astor
Earl of Athlone

Brig-Gen E W Baird
Sir William Bass
Lord Brassey of Apethorpe
Lt-Col G C Buxton
Lt-Col R B Charterist
Earl of Derby
J A Dewar
Sir Thomas Dugdale
Earl of Durham

Hon. Thomas Egerton
Earl of Ellesmere
Brig-Gen. Earl of Gowrie
Lord Hamilton of Dalzell
Sir Edward Hanmer
E Holland-Martin
Earl of Ilchester
HH Aga Khan
Hon Charles Lambton

Lt-Col Giles Loder
Marq. of Londonderry
Sir Percy Loraine
Major D McCalmont
Major Macdonald Buch.
Maj Durham Matthews
Jonkheer Van Verduynen
Lord Milford
Captain Charles Moore

Lord Penrhyn
Viscount Portal
Earl of Rosebery
Anthony de Rothschild
Baron E de Rothschild
Duke of Roxburghe
Earl of Sefton
Earl of Shaftsbury
Col R Straker

Sir Richard Sykes
Sir Humphrey de Trafford
Major J B Walker
E M Weatherby
Duke of Westminster
C W Sofer Whitburn
Lord Willoughby de Broke
F E Withington
Marquess of Zetland

HM Queen Elizabeth II

Born 1926

CAROZZA (SR 1893) (Epsom Oaks 1957)

PALL MALL (SR 2047) (2000 Guineas 1958)

HIGHCLERE (SR 2000) (1000 Guineas 1974)

DUNFERMLINE (SR 2061) (Epsom Oaks, St Leger 1977)

Paddy Prendergast and the Blue Sail incident

In October 1953 Blue Sail, a 2-y-o trained by the crack Irish trainer Paddy Prendergast, ran in the Cornwallis Stakes at Ascot, and despite two mediocre runs in his previous two races in Ireland, albeit over 6 furlongs when the Cornwallis was over a mile, Blue Sail was heavily supported down to 5/2 favourite, failing by a neck to overhaul Plainsong. The Jockey Club Stewards believed that the variation in form between his Irish races and the Ascot race was unacceptable, stating that ‘no further entries would be accepted from Paddy Prendergast’. But how just and arbitrary was such a decision, and would it be supported by the Irish Jockey Club? By mid-October both the Irish Jockey Club and the owner of Blue Sail, Mr Joe Griffin, considered the implications of the Jockey Club’s decision, the former decided to hold their own enquiry before exonerating Paddy Prendergast, while the latter met with the Jockey Club Stewards and was reassured that his horse could still run in England, and even hold its engagements in the 2000 Guineas and Epsom Derby, but only if it was not trained by Paddy Prendergast. It was the first time a decision by the UK Jockey Club was challenged by the Irish Jockey Club and made for an uncomfortable stand-off not supported by every member of the Jockey Club. In 1954 the Bloodstock Breeders Review did indeed review the Blue Sail saga and concluded, ‘The calm of the racing community in England and Ireland was disturbed by news of the temporary suspension of the training licences of P J Prendergast (towards the end of 1953) and of M V (Vincent) O'Brien and Michael Dawson in 1954, all of whom had their licences restored. Blue Sail came slowly to hand, for his first appearance on the racecourse was deferred until Navan’s August meeting, when in the 6-furlong Dowth Maiden Two-Year-Old Plate he finished eighth of 28 runners, and, approximately a month afterwards, he was seventh of 15 runners in the 6-furlong 63 yards Railway Two-Year-Old Plate at the Curragh. Three weeks later he was one of 11 runners in the mile Two-Year-Old Cornwallis Stakes at the Ascot Heath October meeting, and was beaten a neck by Plainsong. Raceform, for 1953, shows Blue Sail finished second and was 5/2 favourite backed in from 3/1. The Racefrom notes state "useful colt, 5th entering the straight, strong run 2f out: no extra close home, beaten a neck." The account continued, ‘Stewards of the Jockey Club published in The Racing Calendar a notice that the running of Blue Sail in the Cornwallis Stakes at Ascot on October 10th was inconsistent with his previous running in Ireland and that horses trained by P J Prendergast would not be allowed to run under their Rules, and that no entries would be accepted from him. As Prendergast held a trainer's licence from the Stewards of the Turf Club and Irish National Hunt Steeplechase Committee, both bodies, acting conjointly, deemed necessary an enquiry by them into the Jockey Club's ruling. Thirteen witnesses were examined, and the verdict was that, "The evidence before the Irish Stewards showed that their three senior officials were satisfied with the running of Blue Sail in Ireland. The Form Books of both countries were examined and the Stewards took note of the fact that the race at Ascot was over a distance of one mile, and that the race in Ireland, at the Curragh, in which Blue Sail ran, was over six furlongs and 63 yards. The Irish Stewards were of the opinion that, on the evidence given before them, there was no unexplained discrepancy.’ Prendergast's training in Ireland was, of course, uninterrupted, and when in August 1954 the Jockey Club's ban on horses trained by him from running in England was lifted, he marked his return to favour by bringing ten horses to York August meeting, winning with four of them, including the Prince of Wales 2-y-o Stakes with Panalley (5/2 jt fav), the Rous 2-y-o Stakes with Gipsy Rover (2/1 fav), the Nunthorpe Stakes with My Beau (7/1) and, ironically, the Voltigeur Stakes with Blue Sail (3/1). When the Jockey Club did eventually lift the ban the Jockey Club Senior Steward, Sir Humphrey de Trafford shook Paddy Prendergast by the hand, saying, " Welcome back! Well done Paddy.”

2nd Earl of Halifax, Charles Ingram Courtenay Wood

Born 1912

Died 1980

6th Earl of Rosebery, Harry Primrose

Born 1882

Died 1974

3rd Viscount Astor, William Waldorf

Born 1907

Died 1966

Lord Howard De Walden, John Scott Ellis

Born 1912

Died 1999

Sir John Jacob (Jakie) Astor

Born 1918

Died 2000

Sir Percy Loraine

Born 1880

Died 1961

Sir Robin McAlpine

Born 1906

Died 1993

Sir Philip Oppenheimer

Born 1911

Died 1995

Sir Humphrey De Trafford

Born 1891

Died 1971

ALCIDE (SR 2031) (St Leger 1958)

PARTHIA (SR 2047) (Epsom Derby 1959)

Horseracing Levy Board Part 1

On 28th March 1961 the Betting Levy Act 1961 came into being and with it a new statutory body called the Horserace Betting Levy Board, known universally as the Levy Board. Two years later the Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Act was amended and became the new framework under which the Levy Board operated. Its first chairman was Field Marshall Lord Harding of Petherton who held the post until 1967 when he was replaced by Lord Wigg. The Levy Board, part of the Department for digital, Culture, Media and Sport, is a non-departmental public body but, unusually, receives no grants from the Government, and when the National Lottery came into being the Levy Board did not benefit from its funding structure. Between 1972 and 1974 Sir Stanley Raymond took over the Chair, being replaced by Sir Desmond Plummer until 1980. The Levy Board collects the statutory levy from bookmakers and is then able to share the funds to improve horse racing in all its forms, and in research and development of veterinary science. Between 1980 and 1991 Sir Ian Trethowan took over the Chair from Sir Desmond Plummer.

Forensic Drug Testing Authority

In 1962 the Forensic Laboratory was set up in Newmarket to help the Jockey Club and racecourse authorities to combat the evolving doping practices which still blighted the sport on British Racecourses. Today the Sports and specialized analytical services, part of the LGC Group based at Fordham, on the edge of Newmarket, provide forensic drug testing services to the Jockey Club, which they have done since 1963, and to the BHA since 2007. In 1960 the Duke of Norfolk, Senior Jockey Club Steward, had chaired a committee to look at the on-going doping issue, although its conclusions were insufficiently far-reaching and a further Report was commissioned in 1970 under the chairmanship of Professor W D M Paton.

Turf Board

In 1964 the Howard Committee met to discuss the amalgamation of the various Turf Authorities into a single Turf Club which met for the first time on 1st January 1965. In March 1965, Turf Club Chairman Sir Randle Feilden addressed the Racehorse of the Year dinner to give feedback on the first 74 days of the Turf Club’s life. In particular he main two points the main on concerning security, emphasizing that security at racecourse stables had to improve. He went on to stress that the average trainer’s stables, and the quantity of labour employed, made it impossible to obtain adequate security, but he did not think that same argument could be used at racecourse stables. He went on to say that trainers must have somewhere they could send their horses 24 hours before a race, certain his horse would be safe and secure in those 24 hours. Unless that happened then trainers would begin to lose confidence in the system.

Benson Committee Report

In October 1967 the Benson Committee, chaird by Sir Henry Benson, was set up to look into the long term financing of racing, and in July 1968 its 157 page report was published, calling for radical changes in both the organisation and financing of the sport. Its principal recommendations were two-fold, firstly to establish a British Racing Authority which would have complete control over racing and its development, taking in the Levy Board which was in place at that time, and secondly, to press for a significant increase in prize money from £3.9 million to £9.1 million per annum. It appreciated that the changes would not be possible without the support of the Government, but argued that it would be to the long term benefit of the Government and, in particular, the Treasury. It suggested that if the Government took 4%, rather than 5% of betting tax, then 1% could be diverted to fund the extra prize money, allowing the Racing Authority to take replace racecourses in funding prize money, leaving the courses to fund the improvement of its amenities, or even to reduce admission money, thereby attracting more customers. The earlier Norfolk Report had led to a Race Planning Committee being formed in May 1967 under the chairmanship of Lord Carnarvon, and the findings of that Committee received the full support of Benson in his report when he stated, ‘Pattern races are those races which are necessary to provide a comprehensive system of tests for the best horses of various ages over various distances in accordance with the officially accepted Pattern of racing.’  Later, in 1971, Pattern races were divided into 3 groups, Group I, Group II and Group III, with further work being carried out between 1971 and 1975 resulting in the Joint Racing Board Report on the Pattern of Racinfg being released in 1975. The Benson Report also touched on the issue of Sunday racing, believing its introduction to be inevitable, although it was a further 24 years before that change finally happened.

Merging the Jockey Club and National Hunt Committee

On 13th December 1968 it was announced by the Senior Steward, Major-General Sir Randle Feilden, that the Jockey Club and National Hunt Committee had amalgamated to form one single body to control the whole of racing, both on the Flat and National Hunt. The new body would have the imaginative name, ‘The Jockey Club’ and would operate from 1st January 1969. Feilden retained his position in the new 9-man hierarchy made up from both of the old bodies. He said, ‘The Committee think this will allow us to do a better job cheaper, for now there is one body which can talk to the Government and anyone else on all forms of racing, and it will be run as a business.’ New Rules for both codes were issued prior to the formal launch on New Years Day, and the best parts of each of the old codes were kept. The Jockey Club concentrated on organisation and administration, transferring Newmarket racecourse and associated properties to a new group, the Newmarket Estates and Property Company, although Jockey Club Members owned at least 40% of the shares in the new company.

Racecourse Holdings Trust Part 1

The Jockey Club Committee, chaired by Lord Ilchester, and involving such prominent, knowledgeable, influential Jockey Club Members as the Duke of Norfolk, Lord Zetland, Viscount Portal and Sir Humphrey de Trafford, met between 1941 and 1943. They had concluded that there would be no better time straight after the War to modernize facilities and widen the appeal of racing beyond those immediately connected with racing. Most importantly, they believed that the Jockey Club was the right body to take ownership of racecourses, putting the interests of the ordinary racegoer before directors, and investing money in facilities to improve the experience for the racing public rather than in the pockets of shareholders, but it was 21 years before the findings were implemented. Between 1960 and 1965 at least 9 racecourses had closed, including Buckfastleigh (1960), Hurst Park (1962), Manchester (1963), Woore (1963), Lewes (1964), Lincoln (1964), Birmingham (1965), Rothbury (1965) and Bogside (1965), but the final straw was the flagship Cheltenham Racecourse was threatening to go the same way. In 1964 the Jockey Club formed the Racecourse Holdings Trust with the aim of purchasing the racecourse, securing its future, and investing money into its Tattersalls facilities for the immediate benefit of the racing public. They continued to invest in the racecourse, helping to fund the building of its main grandstand in the early 1970s. Similar projects and investments were needed in other racecourses, notably Wincanton in 1966, Nottingham in 1967 and Market Rasen in 1968. Such was the success of the Trust that the Newmarket July course and Rowley Mile course joined the Group in 1974, with Haydock and Aintree following in 1978 and 1982 respectively. However, in the interim a further 4 racecourses fell by the wayside, notably Alexandra Park (1970), Wye (1974), Lanark (1977) and Stockton/ Teesside Park (1981).

Starting Stalls

The issue of starting gates was first debated in early 1898 led by Lord Durham, a Senior Steward on no less than 5 occasions. The Jockey Club agreed a trial period in 1898 which proved to be successful, so the next year further discussions took place about extending the scheme, and by 1900 all races for two-year-olds were started by starting gate. All seemed well, the artful senior jockeys like Gordon Richards, Harry Wragg, Charlie Elliott and Charlie Smirke were skilled in gaining an advantage at the start, but that was part and parcel of the equation which punters had to solve. In the mid-1930s the American Clay Puett invented the electric starting gate for use in horse racing and its inaugural use on a racetrack was at Exhibition Park, Vancouver, British Columbia in 1939. The American version of the transportable electronic starting machine was imported into Australia from USA in 1946, but it was a further 19 years before the Jockey Club sanctioned the use of starting stalls in England. The first race to make use of starting stalls was the Chesterfield Stakes which took place on Thursday 8th July 1965 at Newmarket and was won by Track Spare (4/6 fav) by 3 lengths when owned and trained by Ron Mason and ridden by Lester Piggott. The trial was deemed a success and it was agreed that it should be expanded, although once again financing the project was a potential sticking point. Initially the scheme was financed by the Jockey Club, but once it became widespread Levy Board money financed Racecourse Technical Services to oversee the roll-out of the project.

Cohen Report

In 1969 Sir Rex Cohen chaired a further Jockey Club Working Party on Racecourse Management, releasing his report in June 1969 in which he recommended that racecourses should be grouped into blocks of four or five under the management of one newly-styled Clerk of the Races, with one manager for every 3 or 4 tracks. Grouping on a regional basis was a main consideration of the Report, with a particular concentration on improving facilities for the occasional racegoer to encourage them to attend the sport more often, and on the non-racegoer to interest him in the sport and to ensure that their first experience is a favourable one. The Racecourse Association, which was formed in 1907 to serve the interests of its member racecourses, took careful note of the Report and adopted a new constitution and elected a new board of Directors led by the Director General Brigadier H J Waller and chaired by Mr Charles Grieg. The board included representatives from the South, Midlands and North, in keeping with the findings, and nominated Mr Ralph Hubbard (Goodwood), Major David Gibson (Wincanton), Mr John Tilling (Devon & Exeter), the Hon J P Phillipps (Newmarket), Mr Bryan Robinson (Cheltenham), Mr Jack Kenny (Uttoxeter), Mr Freddie Newton (Newcastle) and Mr William McHarg (Ayr). Whether the all-white, all-male nominees did fully represent the truly diverse nature of the new crowd of racegoers they were hoping to encourage is another matter.

Horserace Anti-Doping Committee

In February 1970 Professor W D M Paton, Professor of Pharmacology at Oxford University, was commissioned by the Joint Racing Board to look into a Scheme for the Suppression of Doping. His committee met for just over a year, publishing the Report in March 1971 stating, ‘Doping of racehorses cannot be entirely eliminated, and a really determined operator can succeed at some point between the trainer’s yard and the start of the race. It is believed that great and costly efforts are justified, even if they only result in making successful doping more difficult and maintaining its incidence at a very low level. In spite of the opportunities for doping, the facts remain that from statistics available to the racing authorities it would appear that the situation is under control.’ The Report provided some worrying statistics, stating that over the period 1963-1970 the average incidence of a positive was one in 630 horses tested, and that over 50,000 declared runners a year this would amount to an average of 80 horses per year which might be doped. The Report recommended that the Senior Veterinary Officer to the Jockey Club, as well as the forensic laboratory director and inspector of security, should attend meetings of the newly formed committee and be given direct access to doping matters. The committee examined the potentialities of pre-race testing, which they considered to be the only procedure, despite its obvious difficulties and costs, that could take the profit out of doping. Immediately after the Report was published the Horserace Anti-Doping Committee was established.

Vayraan & Aliysa incidents

On Saturday 17th October 1981 a field of 16 lined up for the Champion Stakes over 10 furlongs at Newmarket and was won by Vayraan (15/2) owned by HH Aga Khan IV, trained by Francois Mathet and ridden by Yves Saint-Martin, beating Cairn Rouge (8/1), owned by American multi-millionaire Craig Singer by 2 lengths. As was customary, a routine dope test was carried out on the winner which resulted in a positive result due to traces of anabolic steroids. As a consequence, Vayraan risked disqualification and a lifetime ban, the Aga Khan risked losing the first prize of £66,732, and the trainer, Francois Mathet, faced disqualification. After an 8-month investigation the Jockey Club used a 7-hour Disciplinary Committee meeting, held on Monday 7th June 1982, to conclude that Vayraan, in certain circumstances, produced his own anabolic steroids, and the result was allowed to stand. In a post-script to this, in 1985 HH Aga Khan’s Lashkari finished 4th in the Breeders Cup Turf but tested positive straight after the race and was initially disqualified. Once again Aga Khan questioned the decision and the disqualification was, yet again, overturned.

On Saturday 10th June 1989 the Epsom Oaks resulted in a victory for Aliysa (11/10 fav), owned by HH Aga Khan IV, trained by Sir Michael Stoute and ridden by Walter Swinburn, beating Snow Bride (SR 1909) by 4 lengths. After the usual routine dope test, the samples were sent to the Newmarket Horseracing Forensic Laboratory for analysis, who later announced a positive result of the banned substance camphor in her urine sample for which the filly risked disqualification. However, there followed a number of inquiries and appeals before the filly’s disqualification was confirmed. In December 1989 a Jockey Club spokesman said that legal papers containing all of the evidence and lab results collated by the Jockey Club had been sent to Michael Stoute for him to prepare his defence. In October 1990, after almost 16 months, the case was again adjourned when David Pipe, the Jockey Club director of public affairs said, ‘The adjournment is necessary because scientific evidence on behalf of the Aga Khan, which has broken previously untested ground, was not made available to the Horseracing Forensic Laboratory until 21st September 1990, giving insufficient time for the fresh information to be fully considered.’ In November 1990 the Aga Khan’s filly Aliysa was disqualified from her victory in the 1989 Epsom Oaks because of a positive analysis of hydroxycamphor taken from the filly straight after the race. Responding to the decision the Aga Khan’s spokesman said, ‘His Highness and Mr Stoute reject these findings as being against the weight of the facts and scientific evidence. The verdict bears no relation to the evidence.’ He left open the decision about whether to appeal in the High Court. The long-running saga finally came to an end in December when the Court of Appeal judges held that the ruling by racing’s controlling body was not open to judicial review, and its appeal procedure was confined to public law decisions of government bodies and tribunals. The Aga Khan had already withdrawn his 90 strong string of thoroughbreds from Britain two years ago in protest, and it was stated that his horses would remain exiled in Ireland and France until such time as drug-testing procedures in Britain are changed to his satisfaction.

A decade on

After the first official list of Jockey Club Members was printed in 1834, updated lists were included in the Racing Calendar on an annual basis. The list of Jockey Club Members in 1957 is shown below.

Duke of Norfolk (ST)
Ld Willoughby de Broke (ST)
Ld Howard De Walden (ST)
HRH Duke of Edinburgh
HRH Duke of Gloucester
HRH Duke of Windsor
Marquis of Abergavenny
Lord Allendale
Earl of Athlone

Brigadier E W Baird
Lord Brassey
Lt-Col G C Buxton
Lt-Col R B Charteris
Sir Winston Churchill
Lt-Col A P Curzon-Herrick
Gen Sir Miles Dempsey
Earl of Derby
Sir Thomas Dugdale

Earl of Ellesmere
Major-Gen Sir R G Feilden
J E Ferguson
Earl of Feversham
Sir Edward Hanmer
E Holland Martin
Colonel J D Hornung
Lord Hothfield

Earl of Ilchester
Lord Irwin
H J Joel
HH Aga Khan
Lt-Col Giles Loder
Sir Percy Loraine
Major D McCalmont
Maj R McDonald Buchanan

Lord Milford
Captain C Moore
Earl of Rosebery
Anthony de Rothschild
James de Rothschild
Duke of Roxburghe
Earl of Sefton
Earl of Shaftesbury

Lord Stavordale
Sir R Sykes
Col R Thomson
Sir Humphrey de Trafford
Major J B Walker
E M Weatherby
Sir Francis Weatherby
Marquis of Zetland

A decade on

After the first official list of Jockey Club Members was printed in 1834, updated lists were included in the Racing Calendar on an annual basis. The list of Jockey Club Members in 1987 is shown below.

HM The Queen (Patron)
HM Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother (Patron)
HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
HRH the Prince of Wales
Marquess of Abergavenny
Dame Elizabeth Ackroyd
Viscount Allendale
Hon. Sir John Astor (Steward)
J U Baillie
J K Barlow
Hon Wentworth Beaumont
Lt-Col P H G Bengough
Rt Hon Lord Benson
Colonel Hon Julian Berry
R A Bethell
General Sir Cecil Blacker
T F Blackwell
Mrs C Brudenell-Bruce
A M Budgett
Maor-General Sir George Burns
Earl Cadogan

Major E M Cameron
Colonel Sir John Carew Pole
Lt-Colonel J E S Chamberlayne
Viscount Chelsea (Steward)
Sir Rex Cohen
Lt-General Sir George Collingwood
E M S Collingwood-Cameron
C D Collins
J B Daly
Major-General Sir James D’Avigdor-Goldsmid
Earl of Derby
Duke of Devonshire
Sir William Dugdale
T E S Egerton
Lord Fairhaven
Louis Freedman (Deputy Senior Steward)
Major W D Gibson
Lt-Colonel Sir Martin Gilliar
Captain H M Gosling
Brigadier H J L Green

Brigadier Lord Grimthorpe
Raymond R Guest
Earl of Halifax
Ruth, Countess of Halifax
Jocelyn Hambro
Marquess of Hartington
Brigadier C B Harvey
Mrs P Hastings
J R Henderson
J L Hislop
T D Holland-Martin
R D Hollingsworth
Lord Howard de Walden
B P Jenks
H J Joel
Mrs G T Johnson-Houghton
HH Aga Khan
Rt Hon Lord Kilmany
Lady Kilmany
Sir Freddie Laker

Viscount Leverhulme
Sir Harry Llewellyn
C L Loyd
Lord McAlpine of Moffat
R J McAlpine
Sir Robin McAlpine
Major Victor McCalmont
A J Macdonald-Buchanan
Captain J Macdonald-Buchanan
Lord Manton (Senior Steward)
Lord Margadale
J A Marshall
Paul Mellon
A J B Mildmay-White (Steward)
Major J C Vernon Miller
Hon James Morrison
Sir Noel Murless
Brigadier F B B Noble
Sir Philip Oppenheimer
Lt-Col A H Parker-Bowles

Hon J P Philipps
N H Phillips
Sir Thomas Pilkington (Steward)
Lord Porchester
Earl of Ranfurly
Sir Gordon Richards
R N Richmond-Watson
J Rogerson
Earl of Ronaldshay
Evelyn de Rothschild
R E Sangster
C R Saunders
Earl of Scarborough
J S Schilizzi
Hon David Sieff
Rt-Hon Lord Soames
Sir Michael Sobell
C H Sporborg
Hon Richard Stanley
A J Struthers

J B Sumner
Duke of Sutherland
Sir John Thomson
R R Tweedie
Lord Vestey (Steward)
J J Warr
A T A Wates
M Wates
P M Weatherby
Lord Weinstock
Hon G A Weir
Lord Westbury
W H Whitbread
Major Derek Wigan
R S Wilkins
P S Willett
Lord Willoughby de Broke
M H Wrigley
Major M G Wyatt
Marquis of Zetland

The Racecourse Holdings Trust which was formed in 1964 to ensure the future of Cheltenham racecourse had, by 1988, secured the future of a further 7 racecourses, namely Wincanton (1966), Nottingham (1967), Market Rasen (1968), Newmarket July course and Rowley Mile course (1974), Haydock (1978) and Aintree (1982). The venture had proved to be very successful, not only securing the future of the racecourses, but also improving their facilities for the good of the racing public. In 1992 Huntingdon was added to the Group, followed by Epsom, Sandown Park and Kempton in 1994.

Overnight Declarations Part 2

After much debate, and 30 years in the making, the Jockey Club eventually introduced a system for overnight declaration of horses in March 1961, but it was a further 3 decades before there was overnight declaration of Jockeys, the draw and which horses would wear blinkers. In early 1991 the Jockey Club announced that they favoured a system for the overnight declaration of jockeys, although they appreciated that it might take at least a year to fully implement. In June 1992 the Turf Club Stewards agreed in principle to the introduction, although at that point they still had to meet with Trainers and Owners Associations. On 6th July 1992 the Jockey Club launched the system, and began considering the next stage of the process, the overnight declaration of which horses would wear blinkers, and the draw for each horse’s starting stall. Horses have been equipped with blinkers since the early years of the 20th century, although in Australia they were first allowed on 1st August 1957, while the draw became a necessity first race on Thursday 8th July 1965 at Newmarket with the introduction of starting stalls in the Chesterfield Stakes, and has been needed ever since. Some time after overnight declaration of jockeys was introduced on 6th July 1992 there followed the overnight publication of the draw and which horses would be wearing blinkers.

Bravefoot & Norwich incidents

Two days before Richard Quinn piloted the Paul Cole trained and Martyn Arbib owned Snurge (SR 1948) to victory in the 214th Doncaster St Leger on Saturday 15th September 1990 rumours were rife that the sport had been hit by 2 potential doping cases. On Thursday 13th September 1990 the Barry Hills trained Norwich, unbeaten in its last 3 races, was made 11/4 jt fav for the Group 3 Kiveton Park Stakes but ran unplaced behind Green Line Express (11/4 jt fav) ridden by Frankie Dettori. The next day the unbeaten colt Bravefoot, trained by Major Dick Hern, was expected to be odds on to land the Group 2 Lauren-Perrier Champagne Stakes but drifted in the betting to 11/8 and finished last behind the William Haggas trained Bog Trotter (8/1). Barry Hills suspected that Norwich had been ‘got at’ and requested a blood test saying, ‘I just had a feeling the horse was not right and I was suspicious at the time.’ Observers of the Laurent-Perrier Champagne race said that Bravefoot had run listlessly with his tongue hanging out, while his jockey Walter Swinburn confirmed he had run a lifeless race. Samples were taken from both horses and sent to the Horseracing Forensic Laboratory in Newmarket which confirmed the first cases of doping in Britain in 25 years. The Jockey Club released a statement which said, ‘Following the tests on Norwich and Bravefoot, preliminary findings indicated both samples contained traces of tranquilizers, fast acting drugs, and that security at racecourse stables would be tightened further.’

Horserace Betting Levy Board Part 2

The Betting Levy Act 1961 came into being in 1961 leading to the formation of a new statutory body called the Horserace Betting Levy Board, known universally as the Levy Board. Two years later the Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Act was amended and became the new framework under which the Levy Board operated. Between 1980 and 1991 Sir Ian Trethowan took over the Chair from Sir Desmond Plummer. In 1991 Sir Ian Trethowan Sir Ian Trethowan was replaced by Sir John Sparrow during a period when the Levy Board must have hoped for some funding from the National Lottery. The state-franchised National Lottery, operated by the Camelot Group, was launched in 1994 and regulated by the Gambling Commission. It distributes its profits to good causes, including investing in UK Sport with the aim of maximising the performance of UK athletes, both able bodied and disabled, in the Olympics and Paralympic Games. Sir John Sparrow could have reasonably expected some of the National Lottery profits to be directed to racing, but it was not to be.

British Horseracing Board

Prior to 1993 the Jockey Club was accountable for every part of racing, including those areas where it had no direct control or influence, but on 10th June 1993 the British Horseracing Board, the BHB, came into being to take over some of the responsibilities previously held by the Jockey Club, which more and more was seen as a private members’ club and which some felt was impeding progress being made in some specific areas of racing. The BHB was given responsibility for shaping the direction of racing, help to modernise racing, and would be the body to negotiate with the Government on levy-related issues. This change meant that the Jockey Club could focus more on the regulation of horseracing, its discipline, integrity and equine health. The BHB continued to operate until 30th July 2007 after which it was merged with the Horseracing Regulatory Authority to create a new organisation called the British Horseracing Authority, the BHA.

10th Duke of Roxburghe, Guy Innes-Ker

Born 1954

Died 2019

Racecourse Holdings Trust Part 3

The Racecourse Holdings Trust, formed in 1964 to ensure the future of Cheltenham racecourse had, by 1998, secured the future of a further 11 racecourses, namely Wincanton (1966), Nottingham (1967), Market Rasen (1968), Newmarket July course and Rowley Mile course (1974), Haydock (1978), Aintree (1982), Huntingdon (1992), Epsom (1994), Sandown Park (1994) and Kempton Park (1994). The venture continued to be very successful, not only securing the future of the racecourses, but also improving their facilities for the good of the racing public. In 2001 another course in the north of England, Carlisle, was added to the Group to join Haydock Park and Aintree. After much discussion in 2006, the Racecourse Holdings Trust was replaced by the Jockey Club Racecourses on 1st January 2007, after which Exeter racecourse was added to the Group in April 2007.

19th Earl of Derby, Edward Richard William Stanley

Born 1962

Lord Arnold Weinstock

Born 1924

Died 2002

British Horseracing Board

The BHB, which came into being on 10th June 1993 to take over some of the responsibilities previously held by the Jockey Club, was given responsibility for shaping the direction of racing, help to modernise racing, and would be the body to negotiate with the Government on levy-related issues. It continued to operate until 30th July 2007 after which it was merged with the Horseracing Regulatory Authority to create a new organisation called the British Horseracing Authority, the BHA.

Horserace Betting Levy Board Part 2

The Betting Levy Act 1961 came into being in 1961 leading to the formation of a new statutory body called the Horserace Betting Levy Board, known universally as the Levy Board. Two years later the Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Act was amended and became the new framework under which the Levy Board operated. Sir John Sparrow chaired the Board up to the end of the century, but was replaced by Robert Hughes between 1999 and 2008. Thereafter, Paul Lee took over the Chair in 2009 and remained in post until 2020, being replaced by Paul Darling.

British Horseracing Authority

On 31st July 2007, through a merger of the British Horseracing Board and the Horseracing Regulatory Authority, the British Horseracing Authority was formed both to govern and regulate the sport, freeing up the Jockey Club to focus on investing in and generating returns from its commercial interests, to plough back into the sport.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I am grateful to Richard Nash, Professor Emeritus of English at Indiana University, who has provided copies of his work, shared his ideas, given freely of his time, and provided an insight into projects which he is currently undertaking on the History of the Jockey Club and the History of Horse Racing in general. Whenever Richard’s ideas have been used in some of the sections on this webpage, I have given appropriate acknowledgement. He has written numerous papers and articles on the subject, including:-
'Sporting with Kings'
'Turf Wars in Newmarket'
'Beware a Bastard Breed: Notes Toward a Revisionist History of the Thoroughbred Racehorse'
'Noble Brutes: How Eastern Horses Transformed English Culture'
'Honest English Breed: The Thoroughbred as Cultural Metaphor'

I am grateful to Dr Mike Huggins, Emeritus Professor of Cultural History at the University of Cumbria for his support, encouragement and helpful ideas, as well as providing extracts from his books and papers. He has written, and continues to write, a number of books and articles on the subject, including:-
Horse racing and British society in the long eighteenth century. Woodbridge : The Boydell Press, 2018
A Cultural History of Sport in the Age of Industry (London: Bloomsbury 2021).
A Short History of Richmond Racecourse and its Grandstand; Mike Huggins et al (Richmond: RPPPB, 2021)
'The Purposes of Sport in the Early Modern Age' for Bloomsbury Cultural History of Sport in the Age of Enlightenment ed. Rebekka Mallinckdrod (Bloomsbury, 2021), pp. 29-50.
Sport and the English 1918-1939 (Routledge, 2006)
The Victorians and Sport (Hambledon/Continuum, 2004, reprinted 2007)
Flat Racing and British Society 1790-1914: A Social and Economic History. (Frank Cass, 2000). Reprinted by Routledge 2013.
Horseracing and the British 1919-1939. (Manchester University Press, 2003).
A Cultural History of Sport in the Age of Industry ed. Mike Huggins (Bloomsbury, 2021)
How Many Flat race Jockeys were there in 1861?(March 2022)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The Jockey Club, Or, A Sketch of the Manners of the Age: Charles Pigott. H.D. Symonds, 1792
The Jockey Club and its Founders in three periods: Robert Black 1891
The Jockey Club by Roger Mortimer (Cassell and Co 1958)
Running Racing: The Jockey Club Years since 1750: by Tyrell, John