Marquess a stallion standing at Bath in 1767

In Reginald Heber's "An Historical List of Horse-Matches Run; and of Plates and Prizes Run for in Great-Britain and Ireland In the Year 1766", There is a list of stallions covering in 1767,

In Somerset, only one stallion is listed as standing in Bath at a fee of £1 and 2s.

The stallion's name is given as Marquess by Changeling.

The most likely candidate for Marquess's sire, Changeling, is a horse foaled in 1747[1]. This Changeling was bred by Cade out of a mare referred to as Sister 2 to Miss Partner, bred by Partner a horse by Jigg a son of the Byerley Turk.

Cade was a bay horse foaled in 1734 and bred by Francis, (2nd) Earl Godolphin. Goldoplin had owned and bred from the Arab horse that was one of the famous foundation sires of the thoroughbred horse and is known to history as the Godolphin Arabian. Cade was the fourth and most important son of the broodmare Roxana. He carried on the Godolphin line through his sons, the Matchem and Changeling.

Roxana

Roxana seems to have died on or soon after giving birth to Cade, and so he was hand-reared on cow's milk; Cade was retained in the Godolphin stud for eleven years, then sold to Thomas Meredith of Easby, for whom he won several King's Plates; he died at Easby Abbey in 1756.

Partner was a chestnut horse foal in 1718 and bred by Charles Pelham of Lincolnshire and sold to Mr Cotton of Sussex, who resold him to Lord Halifax, under whose colours he ran. In 1728 he was purchased by John Croft of Barforth, Yorkshire, for his stud. The mares he covered seem to have been limited to Croft's mares and those of Croft's friends but had a major impact on the breed by siringTartar, who continued the main branch of the Byerley Turk line.

1. Thoroughbred Pedigree Query Website

An Act to restrain and prevent the Excessive Increase of Horse Races

The full title of this Act of 1740 is An Act to restrain and prevent the Excessive Increase of Horse Races: and for amending an act made in the last session of Parliament intitled [sic] 'An Act for the more effectual preventing of excessive and deceitful gaming.'

The Act legalised races where owners entered their own horses in races for prizes of £50 and above. The Act intended to restrict racing to wealthy owners who were likely to have the resources to compete by breeding better horses.

By 1739, the rapid expansion of horse racing had begun to worry the government, and the Act of that year included provisions for the restriction of the growth of the activity. Such was the demand for racing and low-stakes gambling that by 1722, over 122 towns and cities were holding race meetings. The Act stated:

'the Great Number of Horse Races for Small Plates, Prizes or Sums of Money, have contributed very much to the Encouragement of Idleness, to the Impoverishment of the meaner Sort of Subjects of the Kingdom'

Racing at Newmarket 1740

The Act of 1740 was one of the first attempts by the aristocracy to keep horse racing the preserve of the rich. Public interest in the sport had removed the cachet of it for the rich and reduced prize levels significantly. This Act's insistence that every race would have to have an entrance fee and a prize of £50, enough to disqualify a large proportion of would-be racehorse owners from entering their horses.

The Act was to prove wholly ineffective, and illegal race meetings were held regularly. Nothing could stop the public's desire for horse racing.

A Derby rematch in Bath in 1780

Starting on the 19th of September 1780, there was a four-day race meeting on Claverton Down.

The first day started with a race for a £50 plate, which only attracted two runners.

The next race was a 50 Guinea sweepstakes for four-year-olds, which was cancelled.

This was followed by a race for three-year-olds over one 2-mile course. The entries advertised before the race were:

His Royal Highness the Duke of Cumberland’s colt Polydore, by Eclipse out of a Spectator Mare

The Duke of Cumberland

Mr Luttrell’s bay colt Tetrarch, by Herod, dam by Careless

Mr R. Brereton’s chestnut colt by Lycurgus, out of an unknown mare

Mr. Davis’s chestnut colt by Conundrum, dam by Chrysolite

Sir John Lade’s brown filly Lady Ann, by Eclipse, dam by Snap

Mr. C Pigott’s bay filly by Cardinal Puff, out of Duenna’s dam

Mr O’Kelly’s colt Budroo by Eclipse, out of a Sweeper mare

Dennis O'Kelly, gambler, pimp, horse breeder
and dealer

Mr Parker’s brown colt by Matchem, out of an Old England mare

Mr Brereton, Mr Davis, Sir John Lade, and Mr Pigott decided to pay a forfeit and withdraw their horses from an impressive entry.

In fact, Budroo and Polydore had competed in the Epsom Derbyfirst running of, Polydore coming 6th and Budroo coming 2nd out of a field of nine.

On this day, Budroo won, and Polydore came last.

The following year, Budroo beat the winner of the first Derby, Sir Charles Bunbury's Diomed,  at a 300 guinea rematch at Newmarket.

Budroo and Polydore were both the progeny of Eclipse, a remarkable animal who changed racehorse breeding and from whom most modern thoroughbreds are descended. Eclipse also connects O'Kelly, who owned him, with The Duke of Cumberland, whose uncle bred him.