sporting and Rural Records of the Chevelev Estate. !)r 



Marlborough in her own right), by whom he had one son and two ?axton- Hall. 

 daughters, but by the death of their only son William, the title ^ , .p i f 

 passed to Charles Spencer, fifth Earl of Sunderland. Their Godolphin. 

 daughter Henrietta married Thomas Pelham Duke of Newcastle 

 in 1 715, and died in 1776 without issue; the other daughter, Mary, 

 married the fourth Duke of Leeds in 1 740, and was ancestress of 

 the present Duke, who owns the Godolphin Estates. 



Now, as to the racing career of Sidney, first Earl of Godolphin, 

 which was chiefly confined to Newmarket, it is difficult to say 

 precisely when it began. Indeed, it is far easier to follow his 

 transactions at Newmarket as a Minister of State than as an 

 owner of racehorses. There can be little doubt that he entered 

 and ran horses there in the time of Charles II., but no specific 

 reference to any of them is given before the October meeting 

 of 1684, when one of the horses "lost all three heats to Mr. 

 Wharton's grey gelding." Even this race would have been Ili.s Career on 

 unknown to us if it had not been mentioned in a letter written at "*'" ' 



the time by the Duke of York to his niece, the Countess of 

 Lichfield. Fourteen years elapsed before any of his racehorses are 

 next mentioned ; nevertheless he had been a prominent patron of 

 the Turf, a landowner, possessing a permanent residence at New- 

 market for full twenty years anterior to the Spring Meeting of 

 1698, when his horse Yellow Jack (8st. 71b.) paid forfeit to Mr. 

 Bowcher's horse Hag (gst.) in a 4 mile match for ;^5oo. In 1698 

 he became a subscriber to the P^leven Stone Plate, to be run for at 

 Thetford the last Friday in September in that year, the year 

 following, and 1700. (The results of those plates are unknown.) 

 From this time until his death in 1712 he owned, entered, and ran 

 the following horses at Newmarket, viz. : 



1 70 1. Spring Meeting; Paid forfeit for his horse Stout in a match 



with Duke of Devonshire's Robin. F.ost a match to Lord 

 Fitzharding. 



1702. Spring Meeting: Won a match for /'300 with Mr. Hervey 



(Horses not known.) 



N 2 



