

A HISTORY OF NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 



Clawson, whose merits were so equal that they in- 

 variably provided an exciting finish. Other horses 

 of some note that appeared on the course were 

 Johnny Longtail, owned by Mr. T. Price ; 

 Prince Paul, the property of Captain Tomasson, 

 the chief constable of the county ; and Worball. 

 The last meeting was held on 10 May 1897, 

 but it cannot have been from any want of popu- 

 larity that the fixture was abandoned, for on 

 that occasion the attendance was larger than it 

 had been for years. 



With regard to other meetings, it only re- 

 mains to add that point-to-point races are run 

 annually in connexion with the Earl of Har- 

 rington's hunt and the Ruffbrd Hounds, and 

 are so well managed that they have enjoyed 

 deserved support from hunting people and far- 

 mers and have been productive of capital sport. 



Among celebrities past and present promi- 

 nently associated with the racing history of 

 Nottinghamshire we must mention, besides 

 those already named, Lord George Bentinck, 

 the Napoleon of the racing world in his 

 day. Born at Welbeck, 27 February 1802, 

 he was the second son of the Duke of Portland 

 who won the Derby with Tiresias in 1819. 

 His first great victory on the turf was won in 

 1836, three years after he started a racing stud, 

 when he carried off the St. Leger. Grey 

 Momus placed the Two Thousand and the 

 Ascot Cup to his credit, and Crucifix won for 

 him the Two Thousand Guineas, the One 

 Thousand, and the Oaks, besides eleven good 

 races as a two-year-old, bringing her owner in 

 stakes alone upwards of 12,000. A colossal 

 bettor, he stood to win 150,000 on Gaper for 

 the Derby of 1843, and his net winnings by 

 betting in 1845 amounted to upwards of 

 100,000. His abandonment of the sport 

 was as dramatic as it was sudden. In a moment 

 he parted with the finest racing stud in the king- 

 dom, including Surplice, the winner of the 

 Derby and St. Leger of 1848, for 10,000. 

 Four months later Lord George was found dead 

 in a meadow on his father's estate at Welbeck, 

 the strange verdict of the coroner's jury being, 

 ' Died by the visitation of God, to wit, a spasm 

 of the heart.' 



Descended from the same race of sportsmen, 

 the sixth Duke of Portland is one of the foremost 

 patrons of the turf. Since Mowerina took the 

 Portland Plate at Doncaster in 1 88 1, his grace 

 has had a remarkable career. In 1888 he won 

 the Two Thousand Guineas and Derby with 

 Ayrshire, and the Middle Park and Dewhurst 

 Plates with Donovan. That colt carried off 

 the Newmarket Stakes, Derby, and St. Leger in 

 1889, while Ayrshire won the rich Eclipse 

 Stakes. In 1890 Semolina secured the One 

 Thousand Guineas, and Memoir was the heroine 

 of the Newmarket Stakes, Oaks, and St. Leger 

 contests. The duke has not since added to 



his Derby successes, although in 1893 Raeburn 

 finished third, in 1900 Simon Dale was second, 

 in 1901 William the Third also was second, 

 and in 1902 Friar Tuck ran third. Other 

 ' classic ' victories were, however, achieved by 

 Mrs. Butterwick, which won the Oaks of 1 893, 

 by Amiable, whose successes in 1894 included 

 the One Thousand Guineas and Oaks, and by 

 La Roche, which in 1900 won for her owner 

 his fourth Oaks. 



The Duke of Portland experienced in 1889 

 a most extraordinary run of good fortune on 

 the turf. His winnings in that year amounted 

 to the huge sum of 73,857 ioj., 3 and this 

 amount was put together by only nine horses, 

 who among them captured thirty-four races. 

 The sum mentioned has never been approached 

 by any other owner as the result of a season's 

 work, and held the world's record until the 

 end of 1907, when it was announced that the 

 famous American sportsman, Mr. James R. 

 Keene, had succeeded in passing the duke's 

 figures. It must be observed, however, that in 

 America racing goes on practically all the year 

 round. The duke had several other good years 

 besides 1889 ; but that season, as indicated, stands 

 out by itself, and to emphasize this it is only 

 necessary to state that in 1907 a sum of consider- 

 ably under 20,000 was sufficient to place an 

 owner at the head of the list. In addition to the 

 Newmarket Stakes, the Derby, and the St. Leger 

 won by Donovan and the Eclipse Stak-.-s won by 

 Ayrshire, Donovan carried off the Prince of 

 Wales's Stakes worth i 1,000 at Leicester and 

 the Lancashire Plate of the value of 10,131 at 

 Manchester, whilst Ayrshire landed the Kemp- 

 ton Park Royal Stakes worth 9,500, his 

 Eclipse success securing 11,165. Semolina, 

 too, was an important factor, for out of fifteen 

 races she won fourteen, her efforts yielding 

 nearly 10,000. Thus it will be made clear 

 how his grace came to reach such a wonderful 

 total as 73,857, the extraordinary thing being, 

 of course, that a single owner should possess a 

 string of horses capable of winning all the big 

 stakes in a year when these mammoth prizes 

 were more common than at any other time. 



Not only, however, in this respect does the 

 Duke of Portland truly deserve to be called 

 ' the lucky duke.' On the death of 

 Prince Batthyany, the breeder of St. Simon, 

 that horse passed into the possession of the 

 master of Welbeck. St. Simon, foaled in 1 88 1, 

 was a son of Galopin, the Derby winner of 

 1875, and during his racing career remained 

 unbeaten. As a two-year-old he won the Hal- 



1 It should be mentioned, perhaps, that at this 

 period there was a boom in big prizes, but these 

 were found to be so expensive to their promoters 

 that most of them have dropped out, so that at the 

 present time it would be almost impossible for one 

 man to compile so big a total in stake-winnings. 



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