Michael Church Racing Books
Michael Church has a worldwide reputation as an authority on the history of Thoroughbred breeding. Apart from his lineage chart compilations of the Derby, 2,000 Guineas and Champion Sires, he has also written a dozen books, including the highly acclaimed, The Classic Pedigree, Dams of Classic Winners, and The Derby Stakes.
Archive for the ‘Racing Blog Posts’ Category
Michael at the 1953 Coronation Derby
The 1953 Coronation Derby
An extract from “The Queen In 3D”
A Fortune Lost and Found
A Fortune Lost and Found
To prove even the most meticulous trainer can forget something,
particularly, when returning home after winning the Derby.
Tom Dawson, who trained Ellington to win the Derby in 1856, from his Middleham stables in North Yorkshire, was the first trainer to prepare horses without sweating them. The general practise until then had been to gallop horses in rugs and hoods in order for them to sweat off any surplus flesh and so run fitter. Dawson, however, found that this method would often sour temperamental horses and preferred to exercise them naturally.
Dawson’s new method of training paid off, and the Monday after Ellington’s Derby victory at 20-1, he went into Tattersalls to receive settlement of £25,000 in bets (nearly £2 million today). This was paid to him in bank notes and, to keep it safe, he carried it away in an old leather hat-box tied up with string.
That night he took the train home to Yorkshire, but was asleep on reaching Northallerton where he had to change trains. The guard, recognising him, woke him in time and was much thanked. The hat-box, however, stayed on the train. It was some time later before Dawson realised his loss, whereupon he coolly informed the stationmaster and a series of telegrams were sent down the line. The hat-box, meanwhile, had travelled north to Aberdeen and back again before being returned to Middleham a week later, unopened.
Tom Dawson, born in 1809, was the eldest son of George Dawson of Stamford Hall, Gullane, in East Lothian. After moving to Yorkshire and reaching the age of 21, he began training at Middleham. His major breakthrough came in 1842, when winning both the Oaks with his father’s filly, Our Nell and the St Leger with the 13th Earl of Eglinton’s filly, The Blue Bonnet. Strangely, neither filly had run before, nor ran again.
Returning to Ellington’s Derby victory in 1856, there is no doubt his conformation was suited to the conditions, for he had powerful hind quarters with large knees and feet, but even so the exertions of the day took their toll, for he never won again. In the St Leger he started at odds of 8-13, but finished unplaced behind Warlock, and at the same meeting he was beaten in both the Don Stakes and Doncaster Stakes.
In 1869, and by now his methods of training were standard practice, he struck again, winning the Two Thousand Guineas and Derby with Pretender, for the Master of the Dumfriesshire Hounds, John Johnstone.
At the age of 70, following an internal operation, he interrupted his convalescence to watch a trial on Middleham’s High Moor in mid-winter. As a result, delirium set in which led to his death on 18 February, 1880
Tom Aldcroft (c. 1835-1883), who rode Ellington to victory, lived in Manchester, where his father was proprietor of an omnibus company. Apprenticed to Tom Dawson, he later became the stable jockey. He rode five other Classic winners, the last being Lord Glasgow’s 1864 Two Thousand Guineas winner, General Peel.
A man of elegant appearance, Aldcroft was a dandy dresser and credited with introducing peg-top trousers into Middleham!
The Prince & the Pauper – aka Bend Or & Robert the Devil
The Prince & the Pauper
Bend Or & Robert the Devil
This is the tale of two great horses who vied for supremacy in the seasons 1880-81.
The Prince – Bend Or, was bred by Hugh Lupus Grosvenor, 1st Duke of Westminster, at his Eaton Stud in Chester, with a Classic pedigree. His sire, Doncaster, won the Derby in 1873 and his dam, Rouge Rose, was a daughter of the 1860 Derby winner, Thormanby.
The pauper – Robert the Devil, bred by Charles Brewer, was by the sprinter, Bertram (1872 King Stand Stakes), out of the apply named, Cast Off, by The Promised Land (1862 2,000 Guineas). Cast Off had been barren for many years before mated with Bertram and was left on the Cambridgeshire Fens at Wickham to fend for herself, until Robert the Devil was foaled.
Bend Or, a chestnut with a white blaze on his face, later stood 16.1 hands with a girth of 74 inches.
As a two-year-old he was unbeaten in five races, including the Richmond Stakes at Goodwood and the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at York.
A postcard of Bend Or at stud
Meantime, Robert the Devil, a “slashing” bay horse of 16.2 h.h. had won both his starts as a juvenile, including the valuable Rous Memorial Stakes at Goodwood.
The following year, Robert the Devil, starting at odds-on, was beaten a head in the Biennial Stakes at Newmarket, while Bend Or, not entered in the Guineas, waited for Epsom.
Robert the Devil – the slashing adversary
Bend Or’s Derby in 1880, was regarded as the race of the century, albeit in the run-up to the race, the favourite’s connections suffered great anxiety. First, Bend Or developed sore shins, which had to be treated day and night. Secondly, Fred Archer, booked to ride the colt, was badly savaged by the four-year-old Muley Edris and put on weight whilst under treatment for badly torn arm muscles, scaling 14lb overweight four days before the Derby. However, all the problems were resolved in the nick of time. Archer had a saddle made weighing only a pound and on the day with the help of a purgative known as “Archer’s mixture,” weighed in at the required 8st 10lb.
In a field of 19, Bend Or went off the 2-1 favourite, his chief opponents being Von der Tann, winner of the Bibury Club Champagne Stakes, on 100-15 and Robert the Devil on 7-1. The latter, ridden by Edward Rossiter took up the running at the top of the hill from Teviotdale and Mask. Around Tattenham Corner,
Archer, in a drive to gain the rails position, had to raise his left foot level with Bend Or’s head to prevent crushing it against the rails. His determination saw him through and he made up ground on Robert the Devil to the distance. At this point, although well clear, Rossiter looked back to see Archer bearing down on him with every stride, and immediately appeared to lose his nerve, until the two colts passed the post together. After an agonising wait, the number 7 was displayed on the Stewards Stand, indicating Bend Or was the winner. Twelve lengths behind, Mask finished a bad third.
On July 15, Charles Brewer, the popular bookmaker, who owned Robert the Devil in partnership with his trainer Charles Blanton, wrote to the Epsom stewards objecting to Bend Or on the grounds he “was not the horse which he was represented to be, either in the entry or at the time of the race”. Their information was that Bend Or and Tadcaster (by Doncaster out of Clemence, by Newminster) had been mixed up in their journey from Eaton to Newmarket and from Newmarket to Robert Peck’s stables in Russley, Wiltshire.
As expected the popular press got involved and described it as “The biggest racing scandal since the Running Rein affair in 1844.”
On July 24, after lengthy deliberation, as recorded above, the stewards announced:
“We, as Stewards of Epsom, unanimously decide that the chestnut colt, Bend Or, which came in first in the Derby of 1880, is by Doncaster out of Rouge Rose, and, therefore, the objection lodged by Messrs. Brewer and Blanton is overruled.”
In later years, however, one of the stewards, James Lowther, revealed that addition facts had come to his knowledge that had led him to doubt their decision.
Then in 1914, after a series of articles in Horse & Hound and the Bloodstock Breeders Review, several pieces of evidence came to light that supported the stewards’ decision, as Tony Morris later reported in the Thoroughbred Owner & Breeder.
“Bend Or had very round hoofs, a characteristic common in the family from which Rouge Rose descended. A lot of Bend Or’s stock were crib-biters, a vice for which Rouge Rose was herself notorious. And the Russley blacksmith reported that Bend Or and the other produce of Rouge Rose were always easy to shoe; Tadcaster would not allow him near his hind feet and others out of Clemence were the same. Besides, although both colts were chestnut, Bend Or was of the golden type with black spots, Tadcaster of the red variety and with lop-ears. There could be no mistaking them.”
Morris continued, “An interesting fact that drew no comment in the 1914 debate was that in 1882 Clemence was covered by Bend Or. It is hard to imagine that the Duke of Westminster would have sanctioned that mating, if he believed Clemence was Bend Or’s dam.”
The Bloodstock Breeders Review finally concluded, “There is little likelihood of any further light being thrown on the dispute.”
Eleven days after the Derby, Robert the Devil travelled to France to win the Grand Prix de Paris. He then followed up with victories in the St Leger, connections winning £80,000 in bets, the Cesarewitch and Champion Stakes, adding the Ascot Gold Cup and the Alexandra Plate as a four-year-old.
Bend Or went to Ascot to win the St James’s Palace Stakes, then ran unplaced in the St Leger behind Robert the Devil. He was then beaten a head by Robert the Devil in Newmarket’s Great Foal Stakes and slaughtered by him in the Champion Stakes, when going down by 10 lengths.
The following year, a revitalised Bend Or, returned to Epsom to win the City and Suburban Handicap, carrying the top weight of 9st. 0lb, from 23 rivals.
The final encounter of Bend Or and Robert the Devil took place in the Epsom Gold Cup (forerunner of the Coronation Cup), where the pair having deterred all opposition, ran a match. And although odds of 4-6 were laid on Robert, after a thrilling dual, Bend Or beat his arch-rival by a neck.
Bend Or ran twice more, winning the Champion Stakes from Scobell and Iroquois, then finally, in the Cambridgeshire, under Fred Archer and 9st 8lb, he gave way after a brave run.
After dominating the racing scene for two years the Pauper beat the Prince by three races to two. However, in Bend Or’s defence, his victory’s in the Derby and Epsom Gold Cup were each heralded as the race of the year.
Bend Or retired to stud at Eaton at a fee of 50 guineas and in his first crop got Ormonde (b.c. 1883), winner of the Triple Crown and Kendal (ch.c. 1883), the Champion Sire of 1897, through the efforts of his Triple Crown winner Galtee More. Unbelievably, the victory’s of Ormonde were not enough to make Bend Or the Champion Sire of 1886. His total stakes won of £22,803, were just £14 short of Hermit’s, who became Champion Sire for the seventh time. Bend Or died on 10 January 1903, aged 26.
By contrast, Robert the Devil failed to produce a notable offspring and died of an abdominal malady in 1889. After his death, he was prepared by a taxidermist and remains on show at Gibson’s Saddlery in Newmarket.
As a surprise postscript to this story, a recent DNA comparison of Bend Or to the Tadcaster family, continued the investigation, as Tony Morris reported in the Thoroughbred Owner & Breeder.
“A team led by Mim Bower at Cambridge University got to work on the skeleton of Bend Or, long preserved in the Natural History Museum, to discover whether he came from the No. 1 family to which Rouge Rose belonged or the No. 2 family of Clemence. It’s time to re-write a million pedigrees! The skeleton’s mitochondrial DNA proved characteristic of the No. 2 family, the assumption being he was the son of Clemence. He could not have been out of Rouge Rose, despite all that circumstantial evidence.”
And so, we are to believe that if the Epsom Stewards of 1880 had miraculously been in possession of the DNA samples, Bend Or would have been disqualified as a fraudulent entry and Robert the Devil would have been awarded the Derby.
And so ends a turf Tale of the Unexpected.
The Derby Stakes 1780-2016 – The London Racing Club Review
London Racing Club’s Review of Michael’s latest book
The Derby Stakes 1780-2016 is available from shop1.racingpost.com
Order line 01933 304858
The Derby Stakes 1780-2016 – Racing Post
See below Jim Beavis’s Racing Post review of the The Derby Stakes
The book published by Raceform at £65 is a signed limited edition of 650
Also available from Michael’s Books for Sale
Harzand, 2016 Investec Derby winner
The Oaks Stakes 1779-2015 – Weekender Review
Alistair Whitehouse-Jones’s Weekender
review of Michael’s new book
The Oaks Stakes 1779-2015
The Oaks Stakes 1779-2015 – Racing Post
The Racing Post’s Lee Mottershead’s review of
The Oaks Stakes 1779-2015
To order, go to www.racingpost.com/shop or phone 01933 304858
To see more of Michael’s books visit Books for Sale
The Oaks Stakes 1779-2015 – The Irish Field
The Irish Field 24 October 2015 Leo Powell
A classic in every sense
IT might be unusual to see a book review in a breeding column, but this is no ordinary book. In a few pages more than the number of years that the race has been run, the noted Michael Church has produced one of the most valuable tomes to hit the bookshelves this year.
Limited to just 650 copies, the publication is the history of the Oaks at Epsom, a race that pre-dates the Derby by a year and was influential in having the Epsom centrepiece upped in 
trip from a mile to its now classic trip of a mile and half.
Up to the minute and including details of the 2015 winner Qualify, The Oaks Stakes recounts the history, the details and the breeding of the 238 winners (the result was a dead-heat on one occasion) since the first race was run in 1779.
There are extended essays on the major influences to have triumphed in the classic, such as Pretty Polly, together with wonderful pen pictures of the major people associated with the winners of the race. There is an eclectic listing of records, many suitable for the most ardent anoraks, and a most valuable index.
Michael Church is not one of the most revered racing historians for nothing, and attention to such detail can be assumed. From Bridget in 1779 to Qualify this year, we have seen some exceptional racemares land the Oaks, and many have then gone on to establish their own histories as the progenitors of some of the best racehorses in the intervening almost two and half centuries.
Priced at £70, this is not a cheap book, but then how do you put a value on a book that is priceless? This will solve your Christmas, birthday or any special occasion shopping in one fell swoop.
With just 650 copies available it will sell out, so best to get your order in now. Every serious breeder or student of breeding should have a copy.
To order, go to www.racingpost.com/shop or phone 01933 304858
To see more of Michael’s books visit Books for Sale