HORSE RACING ON CLAVERTON DOWN The O’Kelly years.

The first recorded racing on Claverton Down was in 1729 [1], but racing there was at its zenith between 1771 and 1783, when the town was visited annually by the extraordinary Col. Dennis O'Kelly, his much-envied horses, his enormously wealthy friends, and, possibly, by his infamous 'wife' Charlotte Hayes.

Dennis is the figure in blue.

O'Kelly had come to England from Ireland and initially earned his living as a sedan chair carrier. A series of adventures led him to the Fleet prison, where he met and joined forces with Charlotte Hayes. Together, they amassed an immense fortune from gambling, brothel-keeping, and horse-dealing. It was the latter that led him to acquire 'Eclipse,' the horse from which some 95% of today's racehorses are descended.1771 was an important year for Dennis and racing as it was the year 'Eclipse' went to stud and his progeny feature in all the Bath races from 1776. It was also a big year for Bath with the opening of the New Assembly Rooms: race meetings took place just before the season's opening and generally lasted three or four days.

Claverton Down was used for many equestrian activities; the racecourse was laid out over two miles in front of Claverton Down House, facing Hampton Down, and, from at least 1773, a grandstand was erected on the course. Still, Genteel spectators were either mounted or in coaches. Racing in the 18th century was as much a test of stamina as of speed, and was typically settled by running four one-mile heats. Claverton Down horse racing attracted sizable crowds, as well as enormously wealthy owners and gamblers. HRH, the Duke of Cumberland, regularly sent horses to run there and may have attended in person. Many businesses in Bath sought to profit from this, and tradesmen paid substantial fees to have booths on the course and provide services such as shoeing. The Assembly Rooms would also take advantage of the crowds by hosting special pre-season balls, while local eateries would offer special meals.

A typical race was the first at the 1771 meeting, for a prize of £50 (about £ 3,000 today). The race was open to any horse, and all runners had to carry a minimum of 8st 7lbs except horses who had won a King's Plate, which had to carry 9st. The result was to be determined by the outcome of three, four-mile heats. As it happened, only two heats were run by only three horses. Mr Hugo's grey mare 'Frolic' beating Mr Carpenter's grey horse 'Danger' and Mr Brereton's bay horse, 'Star'. This could be the same Mr Brereton who was banned from the Jockey Club coffee rooms for making accusations of cheating against two fellow members. 'Frolic' won the first heat easily, the general opinion being that the other two had not really tried. Surprisingly, the odds going into the second heat went as high as 20:1 against 'Frolic' winning again. However, despite 'Danger' having run much better, 'Frolic' won by several lengths. Two other horses had originally been entered, but Mr Bishop's 'Daniel' had gone lame, and Dennis had been paid not to start his horse, 'Helen.' It's quite likely that 'Helen' was a nine-year-old mare that appears in the records as having been bred out of Daphne, a daughter of the Godolphin Arabian, one of the three founding Arab stallions of thoroughbred breeding,  by the noted stallion 'Spectator,' winner of the Jockey Club plate. This first race set a precedent with the crowd, who were surprised by and often suspicious of how races were run and the curious movements in the betting market.

At the end of the meeting, Gyde's Rooms held a ball, and The Chronicle declared the meeting to be equal, if not superior, to any meeting in the kingdom, which may reflect the impact of O'Kelly. The massive popularity of the races can be judged from the estimate of 1000 carriages on the Down on the Wednesday of that week. Another typical race was a sweepstake, such as the second race on the second day of the 1772 meeting. A fifty guinea sweepstake for three-year-olds over a four-mile course, which was competed for by:

Mr Parker's grey filly. Mr Parker is almost certainly John Parker of Saltram House in Devon, who represented Devonshire in Parliament and who would go on to win the 1783 Derby. The grey filly was probably a horse called 'Charlotte' out of a Regulus mare, and the stallion 'Shakespeare,' 'Shakespeare,' bred by Sir John Moore, was not a very successful racehorse but had a solid reputation for breeding good mares.

Mr Wildman's grey colt was entered on his behalf by Mr Coxe. Wildman was a wealthy wholesale butcher and stock dealer who had bought the horse 'Eclipse' from the Duke of Cumberland's stud sale. It's not clear who the J. Coxe that entered Wildman's colt was, but he was almost certainly a connection to the Coxe family, which owned Ston Easton Park. The grey colt was probably a horse called 'Lamplighter' and was bred from 'Antinous' by the 3rd Duke of Grafton at Euston. 'Antinous' ran for six years from age four, beating the top horses of his day in big purse matches.

Mr O'Kelly's chestnut colt, Young Colin.

Lord Corke and Mr Coxe paid forfeits of 25 guineas each to withdraw their horses.

Betting before the start was: Mr Parker's filly, evens. 6 to 4 against the grey colt and 2 to 1 against 'Young Colin.' In running, bets were offered that 'Colin' would not come last. The race reports described it as a very fine heat won with difficulty by the filly carrying 8st 5lb against the colts' 8st 7lb. The winner won 200 guineas (about £24,000 today).

The third race of the 1780 season was for three-year-olds over a two-mile course. The field consisted of HRH, the Duke of Cumberland's colt 'Polydore' by 'Eclipse' out of a Spectator Mare. Mr Luttrell's bay colt 'Tetrarch' by Herod, dam by 'Careless.' Mr O'Kelly's colt 'Budroo' by 'Eclipse' out of a Sweeper mare. Mr Parker's brown colt by 'Matchem' out of an Old England mare. In fact, 'Budroo' and 'Polydore' had in May competed in the first running of the Epsom Derby, 'Polydore' coming 6th and 'Budroo' coming 2nd out of a field of nine. But 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.

In addition to pre-advertised races, two owners would often agree to race their horses against each other in a match. In 1774, the match that had been planned between Dennis's 'Catchpenny' and Mr Fenwick's 'Playfellow' for 200 gn was called off because O'Kelly objected to how Fenwick was proposing to pay with a credit note payable in America. This undoubtedly reflects his concerns about the rapidly deteriorating relationship between the British government and the American colonists.
At the end of each meeting, the subscribers chose one of their number to be the steward who organised the following year's meeting. Among the many colourful characters who undertook this role in Bath was the notorious Sir John Lade, Dr Johnson's godson and soon-to-be husband of the even more notorious Letty Lade.

It's not clear why O'Kelly stopped coming to Bath, but by 1783, he was 58, with only four more years to live. There were increasing disputes with landowners on the Down, who resented the damage and disruption caused by the racing. But Dennis was also starting to distance his family from all that had made him rich with the intention of making his heirs gentlemen, and in that, he succeeded.

1. An Historical List of All Horse-Matches Run, and of All Plates and Prizes Run for in England ... in 1729. ... by John Cheny 

The 1792 Races

A four-day meeting was held on the New Course on Lansdown starting on 18th September 1792, with a maiden plate of fifty pounds open to any horse that had never won more than £50 as a prize. The race was run over 4-mile heats[1]. Horses were. Handicapped by age and sex.

The first day opened with a Maiden Plate for 50l, for 3-year-olds, 6st 3lb; 4-year-olds, 7st 7lb; 5-year-olds, 8st. 4lb.6yr olds, 8st. 10lb. and aged, 8st 12lb. Mares and geldings allowed 2lb. - 4-mile heats.

The first race was won by Lord  Courtenay's 3-year-old bay filly Adeline, bred by Highflier, who bested the field in the first two of the heats. This race was a selling plate requiring that the winner be put on sale for 50g to anyone applying within 15 minutes, with the owner of the second horse having first refusal.

 William "Kitty" Courtenay, 9th Earl of Devon (c. 1768 – 26 May 1835), was the only son of William Courtenay, de jure 8th Earl of Devon, 2nd Viscount Courtenay and his wife Frances Clack. He attracted infamy for a homosexual affair with art collector William Beckford from boyhood, when it was discovered and publicised by his uncle. From October 1788 until 1831, his official title was The Rt. Hon. The Viscount Courtenay of Powderham. Although following the scandal, Courtney lived abroad for most of his life, there is every indication that he had returned to Britain in the early part of the 1790s, as not only does he seem to have entered his own horse in this race, but he had his portrait painted by the London-based miniaturist Richard Cosway in 1793.

Highflyer was one of the most influential sires of the Georgian era.

This race was followed by a match where Mr Dottin's Conjuror, by Highflyer, 6 yrs old, 10st. I0lb beat Mr Chichester's Minister, aged 11st. 3lb. Ridden by their owners, over four miles, for 50gs.

Mr Dottin has not been positively identified but is likely to be one of the Dottin family of prominent Barbadian plantation owners, possibly Abel Rous Dottin, the son of Abel Dottin of Grenada Hall, Barbados, who was High Sheriff of Oxfordshire in 1764 and who had died in 1784 when his son inherited the family estates. At the time of this match, Abel was in his early 20s and a Cornet in the Life Guards.

1. Bath Chronicle

Advice for the novice in the 1760s

The Complete Sportsman Thomas Fairfax 1765

0f Horse Racing.

'As to the method of ordering running-horses, or what is called keeping, it will be found under the article running-horses, and therefore we will only here suppose a horse set to run for a plate, and that the hour of starting is at hand, when the drum beats or the trumpets found, according to the custom of the place where you run, to give notice for stripping and weighing; be sure in the first: place, to keep out the wind, and to strengthen you: if you are light, that you must carry weight, let it be equally quilted in your waistcoat; but it is better if you are just weight, for then you have no more to do than just to dress you, according to your own fancy; your clothes should be of coloured silk, or of white holland [a plain woven or dull-finish linen], as being very advantageous to the spectators; your waistcoat and drawers must be made close to your body, and on your head a little cap tied on; let your boots be gartered up fast, and your spurs must be of good metal ; then mount and come to the starting place, where going off briskly or gently, as occasion requires, make your horse perform the course or heat, according to your intended design ; particularly, if you would win the same, and that your horse excels in goodness more than speed, start him roundly, and run him to- the very top of what he can do, during the whole course or heat; and by that means, if the horse you run against be not so good at the bottom, though he has more speed, you will beat him, because he will run off it a great way before he comes to the end. But on the contrary, if your horse's talent be speed, all that you can do is to wait upon the other horse, and keep behind till you come almost to the end, and then endeavour to give a loose by him. Sometimes when you are to run more heats than one, it will be your policy to lose a heat; and in that case you must, for the easing and safeguard of your horse, lie behind as much as you can, provided you bring him in within distance.

The posture to be observed is, that you place yourself upon your twist [the part of the saddle the rider feels between their upper inner thighs], with your knees firm, and your stirrups just at such a length, that your feet, when they are thrust home in them, you can raise yourself a little in the saddle, for your legs, without that allowance, will not be firm when you come to run; the counter-poise of your body must be forward, to facilitate your horse's running, and your elbows must be close to your body; be sure, above all things, that you do not incommode your horse by swaggering this or that way, as some do, for since weight is a great matter in running, and that a troublesome rider is as bad as so much more weight, there is no need to say how necessary it is to take great care of your seat and hand; you must therefore beware of holding yourself by the bridle, or of jobbing your horse's mouth upon any occasion; you must take your right rein in the same hand, holding up horse, &c. as you find it necessary, and every now and then remove the bridle in his mouth. But these things are best learned by experience and practice.

A plate being run for by heats, every man that rides must be just weight at starting, in great scales for that purpose, and at the end of the lame heat, for if you want of your weight at coming in, you shall lose your heat, though you are the first horse: you have half an hour between the first and second, to rub your horses, and at the warning of the drum and trumpet again, you mount, &c. as before, and so till all is done, which is three, and sometimes three heats and a course.

If you do not breed racers yourself, be sure you buy no horse that has not extraordinary good blood in his veins, for the charge of keeping is great, and a good one eats no more than a bad, and requires no more attendance; some to save twenty or thirty guineas in the price of a young horse have lost hundreds by him afterwards.

A horse that you have tried once or twice at a twelve stone plate, you may be sure will make an extraordinary good hunter: and you are to observe, that the posture, manner of riding &co is the fame in a match as in a plate race, only that there being but a single course to be run, you must push for all at that one time; whereas when there are several heats, there is more saving, and variety of play.'

The Appointment of a Steward

In the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre archives is a letter that sheds light on the rarely documented process of appointing officials to oversee races.

The letter is signed by J Benet Esq, sometimes written as Benett.

The letter is addressed to the subscribers to the races at Salisbury, referred to in the letter as Sarum, and is a reply to their invitation to be the Steward of their next race meeting.

The Steward's function was and still is to ensure that the rules of racing are observed. Stewards were first officially appointed in 1771. Before then, disputes had to be settled by a vote among the subscribers to the meeting

The Benetts of Norton Bavant, a long-established Wiltshire gentry family, were distantly related to the Bennetts (or Bennetts) of Pythouse, a few of whom had sat in Parliament in the seventeenth century. 

Benett’s grandfather, Thomas, of Norton Bavant, who married Etheldred, daughter of William Wake, archbishop of Canterbury, purchased Pythouse in 1725 and died in 1754. His eldest surviving son, another Thomas, who controversially secured a fellowship at All Souls, Oxford in 1754 and was sheriff of Wiltshire, 1758-9, married in 1766 Frances (who died, childless, two years later), daughter of the Rev. Richard Reynolds, chancellor of the diocese of Lincoln, of Little Paxton, Huntingdonshire. With his second wife Catherine (d. 1780), whom he married in 1771, he had three sons and two daughters.

The tall and thin John Benett, whose elder brother Thomas died in 1789, evidently entered the Wiltshire yeomanry cavalry as a private soon after he came of age, as he later boasted of his long service record.
Following his father's death on 16 May 1797, he inherited considerable wealth and property in Wiltshire, Dorset, Hampshire, and Somerset under his will dated 23 July 1795. He resided at Pythouse, which was extensively remodelled to his own architectural specifications, and greatly expanded and improved his agricultural estates, becoming a combative proponent of tithe commutation.

His house at Norton, which was occupied by his sisters Etheldred, a pioneering geologist, and Anna Maria, an amateur botanist, was in William Cobbett’s favourite part of the country despite derisively dubbing Benett ‘the gallon loaf man’.

Cobbett admitted that if Benett would give him a farm there, ‘I would freely give up all the rest of the world to the possession of whoever may get hold of it. I have hinted this to him once or twice, but I am sorry to say that he turns a deaf ear to my hinting’. Although strongly Whig in his political outlook, he had no time for radicals, condemning, for instance, the activities of Henry Hunt, an old antagonist, when supporting a loyal address to the Prince Regent at the Wiltshire county meeting in March 1817. Hunt, who in turn held Benett in contempt, called his speech on that occasion ‘a violent, dastardly and unmanly attack upon me’ and commented that ‘he knew that his dirty hirelings would protect him against a reply from me, and he therefore gave a loose to a most malignant spirit’. A swaggering squire, Benett, foreman of the Wiltshire grand jury (from 1820), had a reputation for oppressing his tenants.5 The Irish poet Tom Moore, who subsequently became a friend of the family, described him in 1818 as a very haranguing-minded gentleman - his wife odious - full of airs, with a hard, grinding Tartar voice, and presuming beyond anything.

Sir 

I am very sensible of the honor you & the Gentlemen intend me in offering me the stewardship of the next Sarum Race, & no consideration would induce me to decline such an offer but my being a complete stranger to horse race concerns.

Since however you are so good as to promise me assistance, of the Gentleman who are encouraged by the Racers that desire me to serve the Races I will however unequal impose on it and in proof of my reading a coming with yours & with their wishes.

J Benets Esq

Bath Races 1756

In 1756, a two-day Bath race meeting took place on Claverton Down on Wednesday, September 22nd, and Thursday, September 23rd.

Any owner who wished to enter his, almost all owners were men, had to take their horse to The Lamb Inn in Bath, which was overseen by a Mrs Figg, on Saturday the 18th. 

The Lamb Inn was on Stall Street in Bath. The more recent establishment, the Lamb and Lion on Lower Borough Walls is a remodelling of the Lamb's stables. It is known that the Lamb was an Inn by 1718 but had probably been established at least a century before. By 1756, the Inn was the starting point for coaches to Devon and Cornwall [2]

At the Inn, the owners would need to provide evidence that their horse met the qualifying conditions for the race they wished to enter. This was usually done via a Certificate completed in a standard format, as in the example below from the Sporting Kalendar of 1755.

If the certificate was not produced on the Saturday, it had to be shown before the race.

Both races require at least three horses to be 'reputed Running horses &c'. Owners had to pay a two guineas entrance fee if a subscriber to the meeting and, in addition, a five-shilling fee to the Clerk of the Course; a non-subscriber had to pay three guineas and five shillings to the Clerk of the Course or pay double at the starting post. If only one horse was entered for a race, the owner would be given Ten Guineas and have his entrance money returned. Any disputes and objections were to be settled by 'Gentlemen at the Stand', i.e. those who had subscribed to be in the grandstand.

At the races, horses could only be fitted with their racing plates by one of the Smiths, who had half a guinea for the privilege. People who wanted to set up a stall to sell liquor on the Down had to pay a fee of one guinea. 

Horses placed first or second on the first day were forbidden from entering races on the second day.

On both days, the organisers promoted back-sword contests on the Course to add to the entertainment. Backsword contests involved fencing with the wooden sticks used for training in the use of single-edged weapons.

The first day of the meeting consisted of a race for a £50 purse for any horse that had not won the value of fifty pounds in 1756 (matches between two horses were not included in this calculation). The race was a handicap with five-year-olds carrying eight stone seven pounds and six-year-olds carrying nine stone seven pounds. Older horse (referred to as aged) twelve stone. As happens today, the bridle and saddle were included in these weights. The race consisted of three four-mile heats.[1]

This race was won by Mr Corker's Dishonestly, a 6-year-old bay horse. It is not certain who Mr Corker was, but he may have been a scion of the Cornish Corkers who were prominent in the African slave trade.

The next day, Thursday the 23rd, the race was for a purse of fifty pounds and was open to any horse, mare or gelding that had yet to win more than one fifty-pound plate in 1756. As with Wednesday, the race was a handicap with five-year-olds carrying ten stone four pounds; six-year-olds carrying seven stone four pounds. Older horse (referred to as aged) twelve stone. This race was also run over three four-mile heats. This race was won by Lord Craven's chestnut horse, Barforth Ball.

Lord Craven was Fulwar Craven, 4th Baron Craven (died November 10th 1764), educated at Rugby School and Magdalen College, Oxford. He became High Steward of Newbury and was about to stand for Parliament for Berkshire when his brother William's death in 1739 brought him the Barony of Craven.
He was famously fond of racing and hunting. He hunted on his Berkshire estates at Hamstead Marshall and Ashdown Park, kept his own stud of racehorses, and founded a racecourse at Lambourn. He and his brother William founded the Craven Hunt, and he appears in James Seymour's 1743 A Kill at Ashdown Park. 

Via the Tate Gallery

Craven resided at Coombe Abbey, near Coventry in Warwickshire, when not hunting. He continued to hunt until his death at Old Benham Park in 1764 after a long illness. He was buried at Hamstead Marshall and, being unmarried and childless, was succeeded by his nephew William. The early Craven Barons were soldiers and courtiers and, as a result of the service, gained large colonial estates, particularly in America.

The Barforth part of the winner's name suggests breeding from one of the horses of the Croft family stud at Barfoth in County Durham, whose stud and breeding lines were important in the creation of the thoroughbred race horse.

1. Boddely's Bath Journal August 16th 1756
2. Bath Pubs Kirsten Elliot and Andrew Swift

John Gully and the Prizefighters of Bath

John Gully was born on 21 August 1783 at The Crown Inn, Wick, near Bristol, where his father was the landlord. During Gully's boyhood, the family moved to Bath, where his father became a butcher, and he was brought up in his father's trade. After his father's death, the business gradually declined, and at the age of twenty-one, Gully became an inmate of the King's Bench Prison, London. He had long taken an interest in prize-fighting matches, and in 1805 this led to a visit from an acquaintance, Henry Pearce, the 'Bristol Game-Chicken', the champion of England. The two men had a 'set-to,' which impressed the onlookers so much that several prize-fight promoters paid Gully's debts and took him to Virginia Water, where he trained for a more serious fight with Pearce. The contest took place at Hailsham in Sussex on 8 October 1805 before a huge crowd, among whom was the Duke of Clarence (afterwards William IV). After a fight of seventy-seven minutes, during which there were sixty-four rounds, Gully, who was nearly blinded, gave in.

Ill health forced the 'Bristol Game-Chicken' to retire in December 1805, and Gully was regarded as his legitimate successor, although he was never formally nominated champion. No challenger came forward for his title for two years. At length, he was matched to meet Bob Gregson, the Lancashire heavyweight, for 200 guineas a side. His opponent measured 6 feet 2 inches and was famously strong, while Gully was 6 feet tall. The fight took place on 14 October 1807 at Six Mile Bottom, on the Newmarket road. This encounter was remarkable for its brutality; both men became quite exhausted, but in the thirty-sixth round, Gully landed a blow which prevented Gregson from continuing. Captain Barclay took the winner off the ground in his carriage and drove him in triumph onto the Newmarket racecourse the next day. Gregson, not being satisfied, again challenged his opponent. This match, for £250 a side, took place in Sir John Sebright's park, near Market Street, Hertfordshire, on 10 May 1808, with about a hundred noblemen and gentlemen on horseback and in carriages watching. The crowd was so great that it was rumoured the French had landed, and the volunteers were called out. The two men fought in white breeches and silk stockings, without shoes. After the twenty-seventh round, Gregson was too exhausted to continue. In this contest, which lasted an hour and a quarter, Gully, who had commenced with his left arm in a partially disabled condition, showed a complete knowledge of prize-fighting and a remarkable quickness of hitting.

In June 1808, with Tom Cribb, Gully took a joint benefit at the Tennis Court in London when he formally retired from the ring. By this time, he had become the landlord of The Plough Inn, 23 Carey Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London. He began devoting himself to the betting business and, in 1812, became the owner of horses of his own, Cardenio being his first. He moved around this time to Newmarket and became more seriously involved in racing in 1827 when he gave Lord Jersey 4000 guineas for his Epsom Derby winner, Mameluke. He backed his purchase for the St Leger that year, but James Robinson on Matilda took the race, and Gully lost £40,000. In 1830, he became a betting partner with Robert Ridsale when their horse Little Red Rover ran second to Priam for the Derby. Their best year, however, was 1832, when they won the Derby with St Giles, and Gully took the St Leger with Margrave, making £50,000 on the former and £35,000 on the latter race. However, having fallen out with Ridsale in the hunting field, he horsewhipped him, which led to his having to pay £500 damages for assault. In partnership with John Day, Gully won the Two Thousand Guineas 1844 with Ugly Buck. In 1846, he took both the Derby and the Oaks (with Pyrrhus the First and Mendicant), an event previously accomplished only once, when Sir Charles Bunbury's Eleanor carried off both prizes in 1801. Gully was again the winner of the Two Thousand Guineas with Hermit in 1854, and in the same year, he won the Derby with Andover, having the bookmaker Henry Padwick for his partner in the latter horse. During this period as a racehorse owner and gambler, Gully purchased Upper Hare Park, near Newmarket, from Lord Rivers, but he subsequently sold it to Sir Mark Wood. He then bought Ackworth Park, near Pontefract, Yorkshire, becoming MP for that pocket borough from 10 December 1832 to 17 July 1837. Politically, he described himself as a reformer, supporting the ballot and shorter parliaments. In 1835, he brought a legal action against the editor of The Age for slander in connection with the Pontefract election. He unsuccessfully contested the seat again in June 1841. Having amassed a considerable fortune from his racing interests, he also acquired a degree of respectability. In 1836, he was presented at court. He married twice and had twelve children, with each wife. His first wife was the daughter of a London publican; his second, Mary, survived him.

Having sold Ackworth Park to Kenny Hill, Gully took up his residence at Marwell Hall, near Winchester. He had, however, invested his winnings in coalworks in the north and in land. He purchased a number of shares in the new Hetton Colliery, which he held until they had risen to a high premium. Around 1838, he helped set up the Thornley collieries and held a share in the Trindon collieries. In 1862, he became sole proprietor of the Wingate Grange estate and collieries. By this time, he had moved to Cocken Hall, near Durham. He died at the North Bailey in Durham on 9 March 1863 and was buried at Ackworth, near Pontefract, five days later.

Horse Racing in the Complete Sportsman of 1764

Of Horse Racing.

0f Horse Racing.

As to the method of ordering running-horses, or what is called keeping, it will be found under the article running-horses, and therefore we will only here suppose a horse set to run for a plate, and that the hour of starting is at hand, when the drum beats or the trumpets found, according to the custom of the place where you run, to give notice for stripping and weighing; be sure in the first: place, to keep out the wind, and to strengthen you: if you are light, that you must carry weight, let it be equally quilted in your waistcoat ; but it is better if you are just weight, for then you have no more to do than just to dress you, according to your own fancy; your clothes should be of coloured silk, or of white holland, as being very advantageous to the spectators; your waistcoat and drawers must be made close to your body, and on your head a little cap tied on; let your boots be gartered up fast, and your spurs must be of good metal ; then mount and come to the starting place, where going off briskly or gently, as occasion requires, make your horse perform the course or heat, according to your intended design ; particularly, if you would win the same, and that your horse excels in goodness more than speed, start him roundly, and run him to- the very top of what he can do, during the whole course or heat; and by that means, if the horse you run against be not so good at the bottom, though he has more speed, you will beat him, because he will run off it a great way before he comes to the end. But on the contrary, if your horse's talent be speed, all that you can do is to wait upon the other horse, and keep behind till you come almost to the end, and then endeavour to give a loose by him. Sometimes when you are to run more heats than one, it will be your policy to lose a heat; and in that case you must, for the easing and safeguard of your horse, lie behind as much as you can, provided you bring him in within distance.

The posture to be observed is, that you place yourself upon your twist, with your knees firm, and your stirrups just at such a length, that your feet, when they are thrust home in them, you can raise yourself a little in the saddle, for your legs, without that allowance, will not be firm when you come to run; the counter-poise of your body must be forward, to facilitate your horse's running, and your elbows must be close to your body; be sure, above all things, that you do not incommode your horse by swaggering this or that way, as some do, for since weight is a great matter in running, and that a troublesome rider is as bad as so much more weight, there is no need to fay how necessary it is to take great care of your seat and hand; you must therefore beware of holding yourself by the bridle, or of jobbing your horse's mouth upon any occasion; you must take your right rein in the fame hand, holding up horse, &c. as you find it necessary, and every now and then remove the bridle in his mouth. But these things are best learned by experience and practice.

A plate being run for by heats, every man that rides must be just weight at starting, in great scales for that purpose, and at the end of the lame heat, for if you want of your weight at coming in, you shall lose your heat, though you are the first horse: you have half an hour between the first and second, to rub your horses, and at the warning of the drum and trumpet again, you mount, &c. as before, and so till all is done, which is three, and sometimes three heats and a course.

If you do not breed racers yourself, be sure you buy no horse that has not extraordinary good blood in his veins, for the charge of keeping is great, and a good one eats no more than a bad, and requires no more attendance; some to save twenty or thirty guineas in the price of a young horse have lost hundreds by him afterwards.

A horse that you have tried once or twice at a twelve stone plate, you may be fare will make an extraordinary good hunter: and you are to observe, that the posture, manner of riding, is the same in a match as in a plate race, only that there being but a single course to be run, you must push for all ”

A Race on Lansdown in 1765

Wednesday, 2nd October 1765, was the first day of a three-day race meeting on Lansdown in Bath. For some reason, Heber's calendar does not record this meeting. 

It featured a race for "a handsome silver tankard by any horse mare or gelding, not exceeding 14hh, carrying 9 stone allowing 7 pounds for every inch under, the best of 3 four mile heats." By comparison, the longest flat race run in the UK today is the Queen Alexandra Stakes at Royal Ascot, 2 miles and 6 furlongs.

Lord Staverdale's bay mare Blue Cap won the race. Henry Thomas Fox-Strangways, known as Lord Staverdale from 1756 to 1776, inherited the title of Earl of Ilchester on his father's death and had his family seat at Melbury House, near Evershot, Dorset, some 50 miles from Bath. In 1765, he was 18 and likely still riding his own horses in races.

His Lordship would have paid 5 shillings, about £30 at today's values, to enter Blue Cap if he had subscribed to the race costs and prizes or half a guinea, about £60, if not. These prices only applied if he entered his horses by Friday, 27th September, at Mr Dover's alehouse, the Coach and Horses, in Bell Tree Lane, which ran between Stall Street and Bilbury Lane. He accepted entries from 2 to 6 each day. If he had not entered by the 27th, he would have had to enter "at the post" on race day at twice the price.

On receiving the horse's entry, Mr Dover would have had the horse officially measured to determine its weight between 2 and 6 at the Coach and Horses in "Bell Lane." The Coach and Horses was an alehouse on Bell Tree Lane, between Stall Street and Bilbury Lane.

The entrance money provided a purse for the owner of the horse that came second, provided it won at least one of the heats.

Before starting, his Lordship would have had to have his horse shod with racing plates by one of the blacksmiths who had paid the organisers a subscription for the privilege.

On arrival at the course, many booth holders and liquor sellers would have courted visitors, having paid a guinea to the organisers for the chance to sell their wares to the well-heeled racing crowd.

The primary race was scheduled to start at 3 o'clock each day, but an hour before this, a drum or trumpet would alert runners to the need to weigh in to determine whether or not the rider needed to carry extra weight in pockets usually specially built into their waistcoat and designed to ensure it was secure and evenly distributed. Each owner had to pay one shilling to the Clerk of the course to use the official weights and scales.

Riders were at liberty to wear whatever they chose. Still, most would wear coloured silk or white holland [a plain woven or dull-finish linen] to help spectators identify runners; waistcoats and drawers or breeches made of a light fabric designed to hug the body; and on their head, a little cap tied on; tight-fitting boots and spurs.

Thus equipped, the rider would mount and ride down to the appointed start. Books from the time advise on tactics. If the horse had more stamina than speed, they recommend trying to win from the front, forcing the pace as much as possible from the start to break the spirit of faster horses. If you had a fast horse, by contrast, they advise holding him behind and coming with a late rush. To conserve a horse's stamina, a rider might hold a horse back in one heat but had to be careful not to be "distanced, "meaning it would be disqualified. This rule was introduced to discourage riders from giving horses an easy ride in one heat. The distance was a point approximately 240 yards from the finish.

The Complete Sportsman by Thomas Fairfax describes the riding style in vogue at this time.

'The posture to be observed is, that you place yourself upon your twist [the part of the saddle the rider feels between their upper inner thighs], with your knees firm, and your stirrups just at such a length, that your feet, when they are thrust home in them, you can raise yourself a little in the saddle, for your legs, without that allowance, will not be firm when you come to run; the counter-poise of your body must be forward, to facilitate your horse's running, and your elbows must be close to your body; be sure, above all things, that you do not incommode your horse by swaggering this or that way, as some do, for since weight is a great matter in running, and that a troublesome rider is as bad as so much more weight, there is no need to say how necessary it is to take great care of your seat and hand; you must therefore beware of holding yourself by the bridle, or of jobbing your horse's mouth upon any occasion; you must take your right rein in the same hand, holding up horse, &c. as you find it necessary, and every now and then remove the bridle in his mouth. But these things are best learned by experience and practice.'

At the end of each heat, riders were weighed on great scales and disqualified if they weighed less than when they weighed in at the start.

The horse and rider usually had half an hour between heats to recover, while the grooms rubbed down the sweating horses until the drum or trumpet sounded again to announce the start of the next heat.

At the end of each heat, owners and spectators would gather at the betting post to exchange bets and set odds on the race's outcome. Vast amounts of money could be wagered, and considerable emotion could be raised. Spectators and owners often followed their chosen horse on horseback over the last part of the race, adding to the confusion and excitement.

On winning the race, Lord Stavordale could claim his prize but, on receiving it, was required to pay 5 shillings to the Clerk of the Course. If anyone disputed his victory, those who had subscribed money to meet the costs of the meeting and who had not entered horses would judge the dispute.

The General Stud Book

The General Stud Book is a breed registry for horses in Great Britain and Ireland. It documents the breeding of Thoroughbreds and related foundation bloodstock, such as oriental horses (which modern DNA studies have shown are erroneously described as Arabian. Today, Weatherby's publishes it every four years.

John Cheny of Arundel announced in 1726 his intention to publish a list of all races annually for seven years. The first volume appeared in 1727 with the title "An Historical list of all Horse-Matches Run, and of all Plates and Prizes Run for in England (of the value of Ten Pounds or upwards)." 

In his preface, he says he 'travelled the Kingdom over, contracting a correspondence in every part wit persons who, at the very time of the sport, are to take accounts for me where I do not appear.' He included in his books a large number of pedigrees directly to identify individual horses competing in races. In 1739, the King's Master of the Horse, Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond, commanded him to publish revised rules for the running of King's Plates. In 1741, he conceived a plan to take the pedigrees out of his Calendars and put them in a separate stud book, but he had not done so by the time he died in 1750.

Reginald Heber, in his Racing Calendar for 1756, explored the idea of a stud book and even created a template to guide its compilation.

Despite the obvious merits of this suggestion, no further progress was made until 1786, when turf historian William Pick published his 'Authentic Historical Racing Calendar,' which recorded races run in Yorkshire from 1709 to 1785 and included pedigrees and performances for the leading stallions.

James Weatherby had served the Jockey Club as 'Keeper of the Match-book at Newmarket' since 1770 and was the proprietor of the only racing calendar then in publication. In 1791, he promoted the publication of The General Stud Book, a definitive record of the pedigrees of approximately 400 horses, which were seen as the foundation for all thoroughbred stock worldwide.

Weatherby published 'Introduction to a General Stud Book' in the same year. For pre-1750 pedigrees, he relied heavily on publications by Cheny, Heber, and Pick, old sales catalogues, and his own private enquiries.

The 'Introduction to a General Stud Book' was full of errors and far from complete, but it was popular and led, in 1793, to the first volume of the General Stud Book, which had many more pedigrees and was more accurate. Volume one was revised many times, most notably in 1803, 1808, 1827, 1859, and 1891.

Since then, the business James Weatherby and his brother created has owned and maintained the General Stud Book.

Racing Women

In 1748, the Bath Journal of August 8:

‘Advertisement, the following ASSES were entered to run on the Town-Common Thursday last; the Names they were enter’d by were Merry Pintle, Spanking, Roger, Morecock, Turpin, Mouse, Perrdy, Spider, Picksey, Pug, Jan Parsons, Roger &c. They were rode by Boys, and the Plate was won by Jackey Skares’ Ass Merry Pintle - There were Six Thousand Persons on the course, and some of Distinction who came many miles to see the Sport - a Smock and Hat were run for at the same Time by Girls.’

There are a couple of things of interest here; firstly, how popular ass racing was and how well-known many of the asses were. The second is that it is an early Bath reference to the popular Georgian sport of smock racing. It probably also tells you something about contemporary attitudes toward working-class women: the Asses were the main attraction and are named.

Another advert for a similar event featuring asses and girls provides further information. The Smock race would consist of three heats; the winner would get the smock, the second would get the hat, and the third would get half a crown, which gives some idea of the considerable value of the clothing. Women who wished to compete were required to report to the Common House by 3 p.m. on the day. The asses won a guinea for first, 5 shillings for second and half a crown for third. 

Smocks, or shifts, were the basic all-purpose undergarments for Georgian women worn beneath stays and gowns during the day and often also in bed at night. The smocks offered as prizes were usually made of high-quality linen and often trimmed with lace and ribbons. The prize smock was often displayed hanging from a nearby flag pole or tree branch. 

Rowlandson 1811

Smock races were popular entertainment throughout the Georgian period partly because they served the almost insatiable demand for gambling opportunities but also, and perhaps primarily, because they allowed opportunities for the male spectators to see young women wearing loose clothing, which often became disarranged and flushed from physical exertion. This is amply illustrated in the above Rowlandson print.

From all the reports and the many prints, competition among the often desperately poor women was fierce. There do not seem to have been any actual rules, and the women freely tripped and barged their rivals, often knocking them into the dust. The more violent the race became, the more audiences would roar their approval and the more acclaim the eventual victor would receive.

Smock races took place in various locations around Bath throughout the eighteenth century, including the Parades and Lansdown and were a feature of many fairs.

Bath races in 1728

According to Cheny's "Historical List of all horse-matches run etc", for 1728, racing took place on the 25th of September.

On the 25th, four horses competed for a 50 guinea purse. The race was only open to horses who had never won a King's Plate. King's plates were prizes given by the Monarch and run for under strict rules designed to encourage breeding bigger, stronger animals with real stamina. All the horses were carrying 12 stone in weight.

The race was run over 3 heats, probably a mile each, with all heats being won by the Earl of Essex's horse Smiling Ball.

William Capell, 3rd Earl of Essex, KG PC, was a courtier and diplomat.

The next racing at Bath took place on the 1st of October for a purse of 20 guineas with horses carrying 11 stone. The first heat was won by Mr. Longton's grey horse, but in the second, he was bested by Mr. Kerby's black horse, Collier, but took the third heat to win the purse.

The next day, they raced Galloway ponies handicapped on height over the same course for a 10 guinea purse. The race was won by Mr. Practor's grey mare, Northern Nancy.

Cockfighting in Georgian Bath

Official city cockfights, as opposed to the many casual contests between individual owners, ran over 3 or 4 days and started with everybody showing the cocks they intended to use in the cockpit. Each cock would be carefully assessed to ensure that its owner was not cheating in the way he had prepared his bird. Fines for cocks judged to be fraudulent were levied at around 3 shillings and 4 pence a bird, and birds were banned from fighting for the rest of the year.

Cocks would then have their feathers trimmed in accordance with the rules agreed upon with other owners. Anyone breaching the terms of this agreement would be fined around 10 shillings. Birds were matched by weight and wore metal spurs, which inflicted terrible injuries.

Cockfights were controlled by an official known as the "Master of the Match", whose decisions were final.

Sometimes, matched cocks refused to fight and had to be withdrawn after 10 attempts to get them to do so.

The official matches received national publicity by being recorded in the annual racing calendars and in the London press.

Cockfighting prior to the eighteenth century had taken place in a purpose-built building in Timber Green on the edge of what is now Saw Close. By 1725, however, when Gloucester met Somerset, the cockpit had fallen out of use, and the match took place at the White Lion inn. The next county clash, this time between Gloucester and Dorset in 1729, took place at the Lamb, which provided the venue for most major meetings.

Also, in 1729 at the beginning of March Mr Cains and Mr Figg fought a match, 31 cocks a side for 2 Guineas for each match and 20 for the overall result known as the "main". The match was won by 2 battles, with birds weighing between 3lb  8 oz and 4lb 8oz. The winner would, therefore, have received 24 guineas, but this would have been a trivial amount in comparison to the side bets made around the pit.

The next year April 1730, saw a match between Mr Cain, who showed 31 Cocks, against Mr Johnson at 4 Guineas and 40. In the end, after the birds were inspected and some were rejected, the match comprised 22 Battles, 12 of which were won by Mr Cain and 10 by Mr Johnson. This was a return match for one that had been fought in Oxford the previous year.

The following year in March, a team of bird owners from the  City of Bath fought a team from the  City of Bristol, showing 41 cocks a side for 6 Guineas and 100 for the main, the match was won by Bath by 6 or 7 Battles.

In 1735 In the "City of Bath, on the first Tuesday in May Mr Segar fought Mr Ball showing as they had at a previous match at Meere in March, 41 cocks a side for 6 guineas and 100, in this match, there were 24 battles 16 of which were won by Mr Segar and 8 by Mr Ball"

In May 1744, Champney Esq. fought the gentlemen of Bristol and Wells, showing forty-one cocks on each side, for ten Guineas a battle and a hundred the main. The main consisted of twenty-eight battles, each side winning fourteen, which rendered it a draw.

In August 1761, an advert appeared in the chronicle "A COCK-MATCH TO be Fought at Mr Charles Smith's, at the Sign of the Coach, in the Parish of Twerton, in the County of Somerset, (one Mile from Bath) between the Gentlemen of Somerset-shire and the Gentlemen of Gloucestershire flew and weigh 31 Cocks each side in the Main, for Four Guineas a Battle, and Twenty Guineas the odd Battle; and 15 Cocks for Bye-Battles.— To weigh the 10th Day of August, and fight the three following Days."

In 1771, the Bath Chronicle, after decrying petty horse races and boxing matches, observed that "Petty cock-matches are no less than the others the source of vice, profaneness, and immorality" 

1772 The Rev. James Woodforde recorded that his "Brother John set forth this morning for 

Bath to a Cock Match." And later, "Brother John returned this evening and supped etc. at Parsonage; he says that he has won fifty Pounds at Bath."

As the century progressed, cockfighting fell out of fashion, and major matches in the city became less frequent. However, as late as 1798, Somerset and Wiltshire breeders fought a two-day match near Grosvenor Gardens.

Prizefighters and prizefighting in Georgian Bath

This is an article about professional prizefighters and prizefighting. Throughout this period, men and women fought with and without weapons in the streets and taverns of Bath to provide entertainment and gambling opportunities for their neighbours and visitors to the City, but theirs is a story for another time.

Prizefighting was still admissible, even condoned, at Bath during the Coronation festivities of 1728, but was banned from the strict confines of the City sometime around 1755. However, it continued to flourish in the countryside around Bath. [1] Reporting on a backsword tournament in 1760, the Bath Journal tells us that the "Heroes of the Fist likewise made no small part of each Day's Diversion".

In 1762, George Meggs, the Bristol-born champion of England, fought "a pitched battle for a considerable sum" with one Millsom, a baker of Bath at Calne in Wiltshire, when, after a fierce battle lasting 40 minutes, the Bath boxer was declared the winner. Meggs later challenged Millsom to a rematch, which he also lost.

By 1765, Millsom was reported as fighting and beating another noted west country boxer named Parfitt Meggs on Lansdown. The Bath Chronicle of 1771 reported with approval the action taken by courts in Northumberland to control petty horse race meetings places of "drunkenness, gambling, profane turfing and swearing, quarrelling and fighting, and other breaches of the peace and good behaviour" and which brought "together the greatest number cf the lower classes of the people, and robbing the public of their labour." It noted that "Similar evils arise to the community from the brutal practice of boxing matches, between a banditti of human monsters. Not withstanding these abominable exercises are a disgrace to a civilised nation, and even to humanity, yet, in several parts, and not far from the most polite City of Bath, they are frequently exhibited, not to say authorised.— ls not the suppression of these infamous premeditated bruiting matches as necessary and political as those of the gladiators." From approximately 1780 to 1820, boxing was arguably the most popular spectator sport in England. For major matches, it was not unusual for crowds to gather, numbering tens of thousands. This was even though the sport was illegal for much of this period.

Martin the Bath butcher who had a considerable provincial reputation came to London in 1786 to fight the boxer Richard Humphrey's "the Gentleman" who took an astonishing 105 minutes to beat him.

In the following year, Daniel Mendoza, destined to become one of the leading figures of Georgian boxing, fought Martin the Bath Butcher at Barnet, which he won in 20 minutes, gaining a purse of 25 guineas and effectively ending Martin's London career. The Bath baker George Ring was defeated in a 37-minute fight at the Hay Field, Bloomsbury, in 1788, which seems to have ended what, up to that point, had been a promising entry into the London boxing scene.

In 1789, the newspapers reported a complaint about riotous boxing contests regularly distracting the working people of Bath from attending to their employment on Mondays.

Martin the Bath Butcher, who had for some time been a resident of Oxford, was reported by the Bath papers in 1791 to have signed a contract to fight John Blythe the Coventry Weaver on a stage of 20 feet in diameter for a purse of 20 guineas a side and two-thirds of the gate. The result was to be determined by a boxer falling from exhaustion. 

In October, an advert appeared in the 1793 Bath Chronicle saying that "several gentlemen of this city" had raised a subscription to bring professional boxers to the Tennis Court to put on a display of sparing. This event featured the leading boxers Johnson, Mendoza and Lee. This reflected a Regency fashion for gentlemen training in pugilistic skills with leading exponents of the sport. The most famous adopter being Lord Byron.

The newspapers of 1797 carried complaints that one Sunday bare-knuckled local bruisers, stripped to the waist, had slugged it out on Lansdown, urged on by "horrid imprecations" from the assembled crowd.

In Bath in 1797, London boxing promoters decided to hold a match they had arranged between Tom Jones and the Bristol boxer George Nicholls on Lansdown. The two fighters stripped for the contest when Nicholls, noticing that Jones was considerably taller, refused to fight.

George Nicholls had earlier been matched against the Bath Champion boxer Leonard for 5 guineas a side on Lansdown in a programme that also included a match between two well-known men, Spaniard Harris and Bob Cox. The Bath Champion was severely beaten, and his eyes were so swollen that he could not see to go on.

Charles Williams, a Bath locksmith, pummelled his Bristolian opponent to a standstill in an unremitting two-hour "milling" at Newton St Loe in October 1793.

In 1819, the great chronicler of sports and Regency society, Pierce Egan, wrote: "At no great distance from the Race-Ground stands the Blathwayte Arms, close to which the Fair at Lansdown is held annually on August 10. It is a very large fair, and is distinguished for the sale of horses and large quantities of cheese: great numbers of cattle and pigs are also brought here. It is a most convenient spot for the numerous assemblage of persons that arrive from Bristol, Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, &c. and it proves quite a jubilee-day for the country people to enjoy the fun with which it abounds. The gingerbread - stalls form a long street; and numerous shows from different parts of England, of every description, to obtain the money from the pockets of the lads and lasses, are not wanting. Lansdown Fair is also notorious for a number of pitched battles which are fought by the pugilistic heroes of Bristol."

There was a match made between Bickens, a Bath man, and Jem Ward, part of a London stable of fighters, for £20 a side and a subscription purse. The battle took place on the racecourse at Lansdown on Friday, July 2, 1823, and Ward won it without a scratch on his face or body.

Horse-racing and boxing often shared locations, and the "Fancy" who financed and bet huge sums on boxing were mostly the same wealthy punters and aristocrats who owned and bred thoroughbred racehorses. These links are particularly manifest in the extraordinary life of John Gully, the most famous boxer connected with the City of Bath.

John Gully was born on August 21 1783, at The Crown Inn, Wick, where his father was the landlord. During Gully's boyhood, the family moved to Bath, where his father became a butcher, and he was brought up to his father's trade. After his father's death, the business gradually declined. An inability to pursue his trade or pay his debts meant that Gully, at the age of twenty-one, became an inmate of the King's Bench prison. He had for some time taken an interest in prizefighting matches, which led in 1805 to his receiving a visit from an acquaintance, Henry Pearce, the 'Bristol Game-Chicken', the champion of England. The two men had a 'set-to' which so impressed the onlookers that a number of prize-fight promoters paid Gully's debts, and took him to Virginia Water, where he was trained for a more serious fight with Pearce. The contest took place at Hailsham in Sussex on October 8 1805, before a huge crowd, among whom was the Duke of Clarence (afterwards William IV). He was beaten after fighting fifty-nine rounds, which occupied an hour and ten minutes. However, his performance in this contest greatly enhanced his reputation. The reason for this can be seen in Pierce Egan's description of the last few rounds: "Thirty-seventh to forty-third.—In the last six rounds the Chicken displayed a manifest superiority: their figures were bloody in the extreme; but Gulley was literally covered from the torrents which flowed down from his ear, and who now began to appear somewhat shy—his head was truly terrific, and had a giant-like appearance, from being so terribly swelled, and the effect was most singular, for scarcely could his eyes be seen.Forty-fourth.—The Chicken, with considerable science and force, planted his favourite hit in Gulley's throat, when he fell like a log of wood. The fortitude that Gulley had displayed in this most trying conflict had raised him considerably, not only in the estimation of his friends but of sporting men in general. He had been so severely punished that he was not able to face his man with his former resolution and propriety— his brave heart was reluctant to acknowledge superiority, and he endeavoured now and then to put in a hit, and falling until the fifty-ninth.—When his friends interfered and positively insisted that he should fight no longer, as the chance was against him; and, at length, he complied …."

Ill health forced the 'Bristol Game-Chicken' to retire in December 1805, and Gully was regarded as his legitimate successor, although he was never formally nominated champion. 

No challenger for his title came forward for two years. He was then matched against Bob Gregson, the Lancashire Giant, for 200 guineas a side. His opponent was measured at 6 feet 2 inches in height and was famously strong, while Gully himself was 6 feet tall. The fight took place on October 14 1807, at Six Mile Bottom, on the Newmarket racecourse. This encounter was remarkable for its brutality. Both men fought to near exhaustion, but in the thirty-sixth round, Gully landed a blow with such force to Gregson's face that it ended the fight. Captain Barclay, a prominent member of the fancy, took the winner off the ground in his carriage, and the next day drove him in triumph onto the Newmarket racecourse. 

Gregson, not being satisfied, again challenged his opponent. This match, which was for £250 a side, took place in Sir John Sebright's Park in Hertfordshire, on May 10 1808. This contest was watched by nearly a hundred noblemen and gentlemen on horseback and in carriages, and a crowd of more modest people that was so great that it caused a rumour that the French army had landed. The two men fought in white breeches and silk stockings, without shoes. After the twenty-seventh rounds of a match which lasted an hour and a quarter Gregson was too exhausted to continue. Pierce Egan summarised the contest as follows. 'Gregson's strength was manifest to his opponent, who endeavoured to ward off its potent effects by his thorough knowledge of the science, and Gulley put in another dreadful facer, which made the claret fly in all directions, when Gregson fell. '

Gully earned large sums of money from boxing, through prizes, purses given by grateful punters and side bets, and now began to think of investing in a different future.

In June 1808, with fellow boxing champion Tom Cribb, Gully took a lease on a Tennis Court in London and formally retired from the ring. He also became proprietor of The Plough Inn, 23 Carey Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London. 

He also decided to take his interest in gambling into the world of horse racing.

In 1812, he bought his first horse, Cardenio, and around this time moved his residence to Newmarket, the centre of racing and home of the all-powerful Jockey Club.

In 1827, he gave Lord Jersey 4000 guineas for his Epsom Derby winner Mameluke. He backed his purchase for the St Leger that year, but James Robinson on Matilda took the race, and Gully lost £40,000. 

In 1830, he formed a racing partnership with Robert Ridsdale, another wealthy race horse breeder and gambler. The partnership prospered, and in 1832, they won the Derby with St Giles, and Gully took the St Leger with Margrave, making £50,000 on the former and £35,000 on the latter race. However, having fallen out with Ridsale in the hunting field, he horsewhipped him, which led to his having to pay £500 damages for assault. In partnership with John Day a racehorse trainer, Gully won the Two Thousand Guineas in 1844 with Ugly Buck, and in 1846 he took both the Derby and the Oaks (with Pyrrhus the First and Mendicant), an event previously accomplished only once, when Sir Charles Bunbury's Eleanor carried off both prizes in 1801. 

Gully was again the winner of the Two Thousand Guineas with Hermit in 1854, and in the same year, he won the Derby with Andover, having the bookmaker Henry Padwick for his partner in the latter horse. 

During this period, Gully, as a racehorse owner and gambler, purchased Upper Hare Park, near Newmarket, from Lord Rivers, but he subsequently sold it to Sir Mark Wood. He then bought Ackworth Park, near Pontefract, Yorkshire, becoming MP for that pocket borough from December 10, 1832, to July 17, 1837. Politically, he described himself as a reformer, supporting the ballot and shorter parliaments. 

As an MP and having amassed a considerable fortune from his racing interests, he acquired a degree of respectability and in 1836 was presented at court. He married twice and had twelve children with each wife. Having sold Ackworth Park, Gully took up residence at Marwell Hall, near Winchester. He began investing in coal extraction, purchasing shares in the new Hetton colliery. He was also involved in setting up the Thornley collieries and took a share in the Trindon collieries. In 1862, he became the sole proprietor of the Wingate Grange estate and collieries. By this time, he had moved to Cocken Hall, near Durham. 

Gully died at Durham on March 9 1863, aged 79. His body was returned to Ackworth, where he was interred with his daughter. Lord Lennox summed up Gully's character as follows:
'His unpromising deportment, his great common sense, and his absence of false shame when it came to his career, fairly earned him that respect which I, and I believe many others, retained for him. The memory of John Gully will be cherished by all Englishmen who can appreciate manly courage.' 

1. Fawcett - Bath Entertained