A Derby rematch in Bath in 1780

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

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

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

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

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

The Duke of Cumberland

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The age of a racehorse

Whatever its foaling date in the eighteenth and early nineteenth (before 1834) centuries, a racehorse's age is given from "last grass", which was conventionally assumed to be Mayday.

The age at which horses are raced has gradually reduced. In the early days of the eighteenth century, it was rare for horses younger than 6 to be raced. Over 6-year-old horses were just referred to as aged.

Owners experimented with running 3 and 4-year-olds in the 1730s, but it did not really catch on until 1770.

The first recorded race for two-year-olds took place at Newmarket in 1769.

A betting coup goes wrong?

Bath races for 1771, as reported in the Bath Chronicle, opened with a 50 guinea plate, competed for by four horses, including Dennis O'Kelly's bay horse Humble, which started as even favourite but with very few people willing to take those odds.

Dennis O'Kelly 1773
Note the severely cropped tail and ears of the horse
typical for the period.

The first heat went to Mr Clarke's brown horse Valentine by a good margin, with Humble trailing in last. This shifted the odds considerably, 5 to 4 being offered for Valentine against the field.

The second heat was suspiciously very different. Humble led from the off and, whipped on by his jockey, stayed ahead of the field until they reached the distance post 240 yards from the finish when Valentine slipped past him. The two horses finished the race neck-and-neck, but ultimately, victory went to Valentine.

Given O'Kelly's reputation as a professional gambler and pimp and his known history of rigging the results of sporting events, the suspicion must be that this was a betting coup which went wrong.

1771 the start of the O'Kelly Years on Claverton Down

The first recorded racing on Claverton Down was in 1729, but the racing there was at its zenith between 1771 and 1781 when the town was visited by the extraordinary Col Denis O’Kelly, his much-envied horses, his friends and possibly by his infamous “wife” Charlotte Hayes.

O’Kelly had come to England from Ireland and initially earned his living as a sedan chair carrier as a series of adventures eventually led him to the Fleet prison, where he met and joined forces with Charlotte Hayes. Together, they made a considerable fortune through gambling, brothel-keeping, and horse-dealing. It was this latter that led him to acquire the extraordinary horse Eclipse, which is the horse from which 95% of today’s racehorses are descended.

O’Kelly is first recorded as coming to Bath races in 1771

At the betting post
O'Kelly is in the blue Coat.

On Tuesday, 24th September, the four-day meeting began with a race 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 8 st 7lbs except for horses that 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. In the event, only two heats were run by three horses. Mr Hugo’s grey mare Frolic, beating Mr Carpenter’s grey horse, Danger, and Mr Brereton’s bay horse, Star. Frolic won the first heat with ease, 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 the second. However, despite Danger having run much better, Frolic won by several lengths. Two other horses had been initially entered but Mr Bishop’s Daniel had gone lame, and Dennis had been paid not to start his horse, Helen. Helen was likely a nine-year-old mare that appears in the records as having been bred by the noted stallion and winner of the Jockey Club Plate, Spectator.

The following day, Wednesday, they ran the annual Ladies Purse of fifty pounds open to five and six-year-olds. Five-year-olds carrying 8st 4lb and six-year-olds 9st. Plate winners in 1771 carried an extra 3lbs, and winners of a King’s Plate at any time carried an additional 7lbs. The race was settled over three four-mile heats. The race was won by the Duke of Cumberland’s chestnut mare Riddle. Riddle was bred by the very important and successful stallion Matchem, a grandson of the Godolphin Arabian. Every heat was hotly contested, with O’Kelly’s bay horse Humble finishing second and Mr Wildman’s Frolic third.

William Wildman, owner of Frolic
with his sons and the horse Eclipse
Wildman was a wealthy meat wholesaler 

Next came what was billed in the Bath Chronicle as “the great Sweepstakes” for colts carrying 8st 7lb and fillies 8st 4lb. Ten owners put up £50 each for their horse to compete over 4 miles. 

The horses that were entered were:

Lord Corke’s Colt by Gibson’s Arabian Out of a Mare by Blank

Mr King’s filly by Match’em out of a Regulus Mare

Lord Craven’s Colt Mechanic by Engineer

Mr Parker’s colt by Short-hose, out of a Babraham mare

Mr Coxe’s filly by Lightfoot

Mr Fettiplace’s Colt by Snap out of a Blank Mare

Mr Yeat’s filly by Tantivy out of a Babraham mare

Mr Bolton’s filly by Bell’s Arabian out of a Regulus mare

Mr O’Kelly’s colt by Squirrel out of a Cade mare

Mr Wildman’s colt by a son of Babraham out of a Cullen mare

However, when it came to it, only two horses actually started. Under the rules of the race, this meant that eight owners had to put up £25 forfeits. Dennis O’Kelly’s colt ended up beating Mr King’s filly in a very close race to claim the £250.

"Col" Dennis O'Kelly

On Thursday the 26th, the proceedings were started by a plate for fifty pounds handicapped by age and height, with aged horses of 14 hands carrying 9st. Winners of one plate in 1771 carried an extra 3lbs and two or more plates 5lbs. The plate was to be competed for over three four-mile heats. 

The following horses were entered:

Sir Richard Philips’s Macaroni

Mr Birley’s Venom

Mr Parker’s Oberon 

Mr Brereton’s Star

Capt. O’Kelly’s Milksop

The plate was awarded to Oberon, with a late entry brown horse belonging to Mr Yeats placed second, and Milksop coming in third. The starting price for Mr Yeat’s horse was 6 to 4, but after the first heat moved to evens. 2 to 1 was on offer that Milsop would not win, and 10 to 1, Oberon did not win, but after the third heat which was won by Oberon his price moved to 3 to 2 for the fourth heat required to establish the winner. In the first heat, My Yeats' horse finished well ahead of the field but passed the wrong side of the finish post, and so was placed last.

Mr Parker was almost certainly John Parker, who was elected to the House of Commons for Bodmin in 1761, a seat he held until 1762, and then represented Devon between 1762 and 1784. In the latter year, Parker was raised to the peerage as Baron Boringdon of Boringdon in the County of Devon. Apart from his political career, he was also a collector of paintings at his seat, Saltram House in Devon. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in April 1767. In 1783, Parker's horse Saltram won the fourth running of the Epsom Derby.

John Parker

Dennis O’Kelly and Mr Yeats had arranged a separate 100 guinea [about £17000 at today's prices] bet on which of their horse would be placed before the other in this race, so Mr Yeats could console himself for not winning the £50 as his horse came second, but Denis's horse came third.

A 1771 Guinea

On Friday the 27th, they ran for a plate worth £50, which was free to enter for any four-year-old colts or fillies carrying 8st 7lb and fillies 8st 5lb, with winners of other plates or the Wednesday sweepstake to carry 3lbs more. 

The following horses competed over three heats:

Lord Chedworth’s Bay colt Bauble

Mr Strode’s bay colt, Prizefighter

Mr King’s Filly by Match’em

Mrs Dover’s black filly

Mr Foley’s bay colt, Young England

The starting price at the betting post made Bauble favourite, and he remained favourite after the first heat, which he won. However, when Prizefighter won the second heat with some ease, he became the favourite, but Bauble won the third heat and took the prize. Young England was disqualified after running out of bounds in the first heat.

Lord Chedworth was Henry Frederick Howe of Stowell Park in Gloucestershire 

The Chronicle declared the racing at this meeting to be equal, if not superior, to any meeting in the kingdom that may reflect O’Kelly’s impact.

The huge popularity of the races can be judged from the estimate of 1000 carriages on the Down on the Wednesday.

The meeting was overseen by a Steward, Richard Hippisley Coxe of Ston Easton, who was MP for Somerset.

Ston Easton Park

There was a grandstand erected on the Down for the convenience of spectators and owners. 

There were special fixed-price meals on offer and special balls at both Simpson's and Gyde's rooms.

At this meeting, a match for a prize of £400 was arranged between Mr Bowles' Jugurtha and Mr Parker’s Skim to take place on the 22nd of October. That match went to Skim.

Sir John Lade, Steward of Bath Races

The Bath Races of 1780 were overseen by Sir John Lade as steward. Sir John, who was then 23 years old, was already established as a member of the Jockey Club.

Sir John Lade

He was born the posthumous child of the first Baronet, John Lade of Warbledon. His mother was the sister of the brewer and MP Henry Thrale.

Through his close connection with the Thrales, Samuel Johnson was his godfather. One piece of advice he offered Lady Lade was "Endeavour, Madam, to procure him knowledge; for really ignorance to a rich man is like fat to a sick sheep, it only serves to call the rooks about him." 

As Lade grew up, Johnson became increasingly disillusioned about the young man's abilities, so much so that he responded angrily when asked for advice about Sir John and the possibility of marriage.

"I would advise no man to marry, Sir, who is not likely to propagate understanding;" and left the room.

However, this did not stop Johnson from proposing "half in earnest" a marriage between Sir John and the novelist and long-term Bath resident Fanny Burney.

At the age of twenty-one, he gained control of the vast fortune his father had left him, which he proceeded to dispose of through a combination of extravagant spending and gambling. 

On the positive side, he did develop a reputation as a remarkable judge of horseflesh. Particularly notable, in retrospect, was his discovery of the horse Medley, a grey which was one of the first thoroughbreds to be imported into America. His racing colours were familiar at races throughout England, including Bath.

Taplow Lodge near Clivedon
 at one the home of Sir John's stud

Left to indulge his passions, Sir John spent most of his time in the stables and at race meetings; Lade chose to wear riding clothes and carry a whip to most occasions and places. According to the dandy Thomas Raikes, his "ambition was to imitate the groom in dress and in language".

Sir John driving four in hand.

He was widely regarded as an excellent horseman, and his skill as a driver earned the nickname 'Jehu', 

He was one of the founding members of the 'Four-Horse Club' – also known as the 'Four in Hand Club'. He famously drove a team of six greys, except when he sat up with the Regent in place of the latter's coachman, driving six matched bays on the road from Brighton to London.

His fondness for the track and for driving, as well as for gambling, caused him to wager vast sums of money on horses as well as on inconsequential feats of skill. In 1795, he bet Lord Cholmondeley that he could carry him on his back, from opposite the Brighton Pavilion twice round the Old Steine that faced it. Lord Cholmondeley was a big man, and as news of the challenge spread, a crowd, including several ladies, assembled. As his Lordship was preparing to mount, Lade stopped him and ordered him to strip, saying: "I betted I would carry you, not your clothes; your clothes are more than two pounds overweight. So strip and do not keep the ladies waiting." Lord Cholmondeley proved himself a shy man by withdrawing and settling the bet.

In 1789, Sir John wagered 1000 gs with the notorious 4th Duke of Queensbury, known as Old Q, that he could beat him in a race where they were both mounted on mules. Sir John lost.

Lade racing the Duke of Bedford at Newmarket.

Letitia, who became Lady Lade, was a woman of obscure origins. A portrait painted circa 1785 by Reynolds was identified in the press as Letitia (Mrs Smith) and in the marriage register of 1787, she gave her name as Letitia Darby. Before being discovered by the royal circle, she was probably working in the Drury Lane district and was almost certainly associated with the sex trade in some capacity. 

She befriended and was perhaps the mistress of the highwayman "Sixteen String Jack" Rann. After Rann, who was born near Bath, was hanged in 1774, she became the mistress of the Duke of York. Not only was Letty a beauty, but she was also hugely admired for her seat on a horse and her skills as a whip. So it was probably inevitable that Lade would be attracted by her, and they were married, after a long affair and in spite of his family's and polite society's disapproval, in 1787. 

Letitia Lade by Stubbs

Letitia Lade was a great favourite with the Regent and his set. The Regent commissioned the equestrian portrait of Letty by Stubbs to hang in his chambers. She was more than willing to join them in their wild excesses and once wagered on herself in a driving contest at Newmarket races and bet five hundred guineas on an eight-mile race against another woman. She was particularly noted for her casual use of profanity, and the phrase "swears like Letty Lade" entered common usage. 

It was to Sir John that the Prince turned in the greatest crisis of his racing career. Known as 'the Escape affair, ' the issue at stake was whether the Prince's regular jockey, Samuel Chifney, had deliberately and dishonestly ridden the Prince's horse Escape to lose to manipulate the odds in a subsequent race that he won. A letter from Sir John commanded Chifney to attend the Prince at his home in Carlton House. At this interview, the Prince informed him that Sir Charles Bunbury, the leading figure in the Jockey Club, had told him that "if he suffered Chifney to ride his horses, no gentleman would start against him". The  Prince said he had told Sir Charles that rather than abandon Chifney, he would leave racing. Shortly after this, the Prince and Chifney went to Sir John Lade's house, where the Prince declared that he believed Chifney to be an honest man and would grant him a pension of £200 a year.

Chifney in action

In addition to his interests in and wagering on the Turf, Sir John was an active member of the "Fancy", who supported prizefighting. In 1807, he was in the vast crowd who had gathered to see Belcher fight Cribb, where he stood alongside the Duke of Clarence, later William IV, the Duke of Beaufort, the Marquess of Tweedsdale, Sir John Shelley and Lord Byron, all of whom were happy to ignore the fact that boxing was at that time illegal.

Sir John's chosen lifestyle meant that even the vast Lade fortune was eventually exhausted, and he spent some time in a debtor's prison. Lade was rescued by the Prince Regent and received a pension as George's "driving tutor".

Lade's marriage, debts, and disdain for polite society caused him to be generally regarded as a disreputable figure. When Lord Thurlow, a friend of George III, met the Prince, Sir John, and Lord Barrymore, a notorious ruffian, in Brighton, the Prince asked Thurlow to come and dine with him. Thurlow replied, "I cannot do so until your Royal Highness keeps better company". 

On another occasion, when Thurlow had accepted an invitation, the Prince apologised for the party being larger than he had intended but added: "that Sir John was an old friend of his, and he could not avoid asking him to dinner." Thurlow answered, "I have no objection, Sir, to Sir John Lade in his proper place, which I take to be your Royal Highness's coach-box, and not your table."

Letitia died in 1825, and Lade lived quietly on his stud farm in Sussex until his death in 1838. Queen Victoria records in her diary that shortly after she came to the throne, she discovered that she was paying a pension to "a Sir John Lade, one of George IV.'s intimates".

Lady Lade

The Bath meeting of August 1729

According to Cheny's "Historical List of all horse-matches run etc.", for 1729, two days of racing took place on the 25th and 26th of August.

On the 25th, four horses competed for a £30 plate. The race was only open to horses that had never won a King's Plate. King's plates were prizes given by the Monarch and were run under strict rules specifically designed to encourage the breeding of bigger, stronger animals with real stamina.

"The Round Course at Newmarket, Cambridgeshire,
Preparing for the King's Plate" -
Peter Tillemans (1684-1734)

Each horse carried 10 st over two heats. The entry fee for the race was 2 gs.

This was a selling race, with the winner put up for sale for 150 gs, or about £13,000 at current values.

The prize was won by Mr Jones's Chestnut mare, who gloried in the name Sweetest When Naked.

On the following day, four horses competed for a £20 plate again for any horse that had not won a King's plate or won the plate on the previous day. This was known as a give-and-take, where horses carried weights determined by their height, giving or taking weight relative to a 14 hh horse that carried 9 st. The entry fee was only one guinea, and again, the winner was to be offered for sale at 150 gs.

This race, run over two heats, was won by Mr Robinsen's [sic] chestnut horse Cupid

Entries had to be made 10 days before the start of the meeting,

Cheny funded the "Historical Lists", which he started publishing in 1727 by asking subscribers for a seven-year commitment with a half-crown to be paid with the order, 5s. Annually for the first six years, and, as a reward for loyalty, only a further half-crown in the seventh year. This sum was to be paid to various named persons, but could also be given personally to the author, as he travels to take his accounts. In fact, Cheny rode all over England to attend race meetings, obtain breeding information, and solicit subscriptions. He continued to publish his calendar until 1750, with a total of twenty-four issues. From 1743, these included particulars of the pedigrees of all the significant racehorses of the day.

"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.