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. The loser is described as Mr Coxe, a brown colt by Tatler Dam by White Nose.

Mr. Coxe has yet to be 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 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, initially known as Sham or Shami, was foaled in Yemen in 1724 (from Jilfan blood). A brown colt with a bit of 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, he was acquired by an Englishman, Edward Coke, who 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, 2nd Earl of Godolphin.


1. Bath Chronicle

A Race on Lansdown in 1765

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

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, which has a race length of over 2 miles and 6 furlongs.

The race was won by Lord Staverdale's bay mare Blue Cap. Henry Thomas Fox-Strangways, known as Lord Stavordale from 1756 to 1776, when he inherited the title of Earl of Ilchester on the death of his father, had his family seat at Melbury House, near Evershot, Dorset, some 50 miles from Bath. In 1765, he was 18 and likely to still be 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 the 27th of September at Mr Dover's alehouse, the Coach and Horses in Bell Tree Lane, which ran between Stall Street and Bilbury Lane. He was open to accept 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 what weight it should carry. at the Coach and Horses in "Bell Lane" between the hours of 2 and 6. The Coach and Horses was an alehouse on Bell Tree Lane, which ran between Stall Street and Bilbury Lane.

The entrance money was used to provide a purse for the horse owner that came second, providing a won at least one of the heats.

Before starting, his Lordship would have had to have had 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, all visitors would have been courted by the many booth holders and liquor sellers who had paid a guinea to the organisers for the opportunity to sell their wares to the well-heeled racing crowd.

The main 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 design to ensure it was secure and evenly distributed. Each owner had to pay one shilling to the clerk of the course for the use of the official weights and scales.

Riders were at liberty to wear whatever they chose, but most would wear coloured silk or white holland [a plain woven or dull-finish linen] to help the spectators identify runners, waistcoats and drawers or breeches made of 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 ride might hold a horse back in one heat but had to be careful not to be "distanced, " meaning it would be disqualified. This was a rule brought in 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 would be weighed in great scales and disqualified if they weighed less than they had at the start.

The horse and rider usually had half an hour between heats to recover and for the grooms to rub down the sweating horses until the drum or trumpet, again, sounded 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. Huge amounts of money could be wagered and considerable emotion raised. It was not uncommon for spectators and owners to follow 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. Should anyone have disputed his victory, such a dispute would have been judged by those who had subscribed money to meet the costs of the meeting who had not entered horses.