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.

"A very fine heat" Bath 1772

The second race on the second day of the 1772 meeting on Claverton Down was a 50 guinea sweepstakes for three-year-olds over a four-mile course. Competed for by:

Mr Parker’s grey filly by Shakespeare

Mr Parker is almost certainly John Parker of Saltram House in Devon, who would go on to win the 1783 Derby. He was a close friend of the Prince of Wales and represented Devonshire in Parliament.

The grey filly was probably a horse called Charlotte out of a Regulus mare. Bred by Sir John Moore, Shakespeare was a not-very-successful racehorse with a solid reputation for breeding good mares.

Saltram House

Mr Wildman’s grey colt by Antinous (named by Mr J Coxe)

Wildman was a wealthy wholesale butcher and stock dealer who had bought the horse Eclipse from the sale of the Duke of Cumberland’s stud on his death. Eclipse is arguably the most important thoroughbred of all time. It is not clear who the J Coxe that entered Wildman’s colt was, but he was almost certainly a connection of the Coxe family who owned Ston Easton Park just outside Bath.

The grey colt was probably a horse called Lamplighter. Antinous was bred by the 3rd Duke of Grafton at Euston and ran for six years, from age 4, beating the top horses of his day in big purse matches.

Wildman and Sons with Eclipse by Stubbs

Mr O’Kelly’s chestnut colt, Young Colin

Dennis O’Kelly was a gambler, horse breeder and “husband” of the leading brothel keeper of the eighteenth century. He had acquired Eclipse from Wildman in slightly mysterious circumstances involving at least one betting coup. O’Kelly earned a significant income from Eclipse's stud fees and progeny.

Dennis O'Kelly

Lord Corke and Mr Coxe paid forfeits of 25 guineas each. Betting before the start was Mr Parker’s filly evens, 6 to 4 against the grey colt and 2 to one against Young Colin. In running, bets were offered that Colin would not come last. A very fine heat won with difficulty by the filly carrying 8st 5lb against the colts' 8st 7lb.

Edmund Boyle, 7th Earl of Cork and 7th Earl of Orrery (21 November 1742 – 30 May 1798) was an Irish peer. A younger son of the 5th Earl of Cork, he had succeeded to his half-brother's titles in 1764. He died, aged 56, in Marston House and was buried in St John's Church in Frome in Somerset.

Marston House

The winner took the prize of 200 guineas or about £24,000 in modern terms.

The Rooms and the Turf 1772

The horse racing in Bath on Claverton Down in the eighteenth century attracted sizable crowds and enormously wealthy owners and gamblers.

Many businesses in Bath sought to profit from this, and tradesmen paid substantial fees to have booths on the course.

The Assembly Rooms were no different. So when a three-day meeting in September 1772 took place, the Upper Rooms put on a pre-season ball, as described in this advert in the Bath Chronicle.

The race week in 1772 started on Monday, 21st September,

The meeting started with a race for a £50 plate, with free entry. The race was contested over two four-mile heats. Four horses started:

Mr Clarke's horse Valentine
Mr Bishop's horse, Daniel
Mr O'Kelly's horse Humble
Mr Morris's horse Pluto

Before the race, punters were persuaded that Dennis O'Kelly's horse was the runaway favourite, and even bets on Humble against the field found few takers. It is perhaps worth noting here that Dennis made much of his considerable fortune through gambling. After the first heat, Valentine won easily over Daniel and Pluto, with Humble placed last. The betting changed to 5 to 4 in favour of Valentine against the field.

Rowlandson's The Betting Post
The mounted figure in blue on the right is believed to be Dennis O'Kelly.

That same day, there was a sweepstake for 4-year-olds for a 50 guinea stake over one four-mile heat. Four horses competed, creating a 200 guinea prize. They were:

Lord Grosvenor's bay filly by Snap, which was entered on Grosvenor's behalf by Mr Coxe.
Mr O'Kelly's bay colt, Batchelor
Mr Parker's chestnut colt by Villager
Lord Castlehaven's brown colt by Merlin entered on Castlehaven's behalf by Mr Yeates.

Lord Corke, Mr King, and Mr Brereton had all failed to enter their horses but paid forfeits, adding 75 guineas to the prize fund worth about £18000 at today's prices.

In a race described by the Bath Chronicle as "exceeding fine," Mr Parker's horse started as favourite, but with few bets being offered on such an evenly matched field. Until the last circuit of the course, Batchelor looked set to win, but Batchelor had a tendency to knap, and so was overtaken by Lord Grosvenor's horse at the post.

On Tuesday, they started the meeting with a race for the Ladies' purse of £50 for 5 and 6-year-old horses. This was completed in over 3 four-mile heats by:

Sir Richard Bamfyldes's bay gelding Banble
Mr Wildman's bay horse, Frolic
Mr O'Kelly's bay horse Catchpenny
Mr Compton Willis's bay gelding

The word ahead of the start was that the race would go to Banble, and bets on him were taken from evens to 5 to 4, with 20 to 1 being offered against the unfancied Mr Willis's gelding. After the first heat won by Catchpenny from the Willis gelding, the punters still kept faith with Banble, who beat Frolic into second place with apparent ease. The betting going into the final heat was 6 and 7 to 4 on Banble, who went on to win.

The next race was a 50 guinea sweepstakes run over 2 miles by three-year-old horses. Before the start, Lord Corke and Mr Coxe withdrew their entries and paid the 25 guinea forfeit. The starting prices at the betting post were even money on Mr Parker's grey filly by Shakespeare, probably a horse called Charlotte, 6 to 4 against Mr Wildman's grey colt Antinous, which had been entered on his behalf by Mr Coxe and 2 to 1 against Dennis O'Kelly's chestnut colt Young Colin. Further bets were placed during the race that O'Kelly's horse would not be last, which he was, in a very close run race won by Mr Parker's filly.

The Bath Cup, worth 100 guineas, and a further prize of £30 raised by subscription, was competed for a day earlier than had been advertised by three horses over four miles. The close race was won by Mr Yeat's brown horse Little David beating Mr Wildman's bay mare by Squirrel, the pre-race hot favourite and Mr O'Kelly's Mileston.

Wednesday started with a £50 give-and-take race over three four-mile heats. The race was competed for by 
Sir Richard Bampfylde's bay horse, Weazel, Mr Strode's bay horse, Gudgeon and Mr Sparrow's grey mare, Heathcropper. The race was won by the evens favourite, Weazel. Sir Richard, his owner, was MP for Devon.

Five 4-year-old horses raced for a £50 plate over three heats on the Thursday following the ball. The pre-race intelligence severely deceived the local punters, making Mr Helyer's bay colt Sprightly the clear favourite. At the betting post, 4 to 1 was offered that neither Dennis O'Kelly's colt Batchelor nor Mr Wildman's colt Slip could win and 10 to 1 against Mr Strode's colt Garcon and Mr Parker's Marquisette.

After Batchelor's easy victory in the first heat, the local punters still supported their chosen favourite, who came third and continued to bet against Batchelor and Slip. After the second heat was won easily by Garcon, the punters started to hedge their bets by offering odds against Sprightly, but there were few takers. The final heat was warmly contested, but victory went to Batchelor ahead of Garcon, with Sprightly placed third. Given that a sizable portion of Dennis's considerable fortune was based on betting coups, one must wonder if there was more to all this than meets the eye.

The meet's final race was the Beef Stakes, to which 21 people had subscribed 10 guineas each. The race rules required that every horse carry 15 stone over the four-mile course and that they must be ridden by gentlemen, i.e. not by paid jockeys. There was little betting, and the prize, worth about £15,000 at today's value, was won by Mr Yeats riding his own horse, Minor, beating Mr Bowen's horse Garret, ridden by Captain Sweedland.

Mr Parker accepted the role of steward for the following year's meeting.

A colt by Tatler and the Arabian connection

On Tuesday, the 16th of September 1777, on Claverton Down, a 50 guinea sweepstakes was run between two horses over four miles. [1]

The winner was Mr Yeat's bay colt Patriot, and the loser is described as Mr Coxe's brown Colt by Tatler Dam by White Nose.

Mr Coxe has not yet been identified with certainty, but he was probably a member of the Hippisley Coxe family of Ston Easton.

We can, however, trace the origins of Mr Coxe's colt.

Tatler, his sire, was a relatively undistinguished horse bred by the very important stallion Blank. Blank was bred by Frances, 2nd Earl of Godolphin, at his stud at Babraham in Cambridgeshire, but sold as a six-year-old to Peregrin Bertie, the 3rd Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven, for his stud at Grimsthorpe in Lancashire. The stallion Godolphin used bears his family name and is one of the three great founding oriental stallions of the thoroughbred horse.

The Godolphin Arabian with Grimalkin the stable cat
painted by George Stubbs

The colt's dam was, we are told, bred using the stallion White Nose. This stallion appears to have been bred either by Sir William Middleton or Thomas Panton in 1742; he never raced. He was, however, remarkably successful at stud and is considered among the top ten of the Godolphin Arabian's sons.

The Godolphin Arabian, who was initially known as Sham or Shami, was foaled in Yemen in 1724 (from Jilfan blood). A brown colt with a little white on his off-hind heel, he stood 14.3 hands high.

He was exported via Syria to Tunis as one of four horses to be presented by the Bey of Tunis to the King of France. In France, an Englishman, Edward Coke, acquired him and sent his purchase to his estate at Longford Hall in Derbyshire.

When Coke died in August 1733, aged only 32, he bequeathed his bloodstock to Roger Williams, proprietor of the St James's Coffee House in London, who also acted as a bloodstock agent. Williams then sold the Arabian to Francis, the 2nd Earl of Godolphin.


1. Bath Chronicle