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THE ASCOT GOLD CUPS HISTORY Incidents Marking the Running of Englands Most Famous LongDistance Race I With the exception of the classic races there is no event decided that holds such unique distinction as is gained by winning the muchcoveted Ascot Gold Cup In fact it is an unwritten turf law that no animal has set the crowning seal of excellence on its fame until it bus succeeded in winning the old time race on the famous Berkshire Heath There is no race to be found in the files of tiie Racing Calendar that can show such an Illustrious roll of brilliant winners as the returns of the race under review the names not only include many of our homebred champions but absolutely the best of the many celebrated foreignbred race horses which have invaded these shores The first Ascot Cup was founded in 1807 and was decided under the follow ¬ ing conditions viz The Gold Cup of 100 guineas value the remainder in specie a subscription of ten guineas each for threeyearolds 06 pounds fouryearolds 114 pounds fiveyearolds 124 pounds sixyearolds and over 130 pounds mares allowed three pounds the owner of the second horse re ¬ ceived back his stake That year there were twelve subscriptions from which four sent horses to earn silk the race going to the threeyearold Master Tackev In 1ROS the subscription was raised to twenty guineas when the race resulted in a dead heat between Epsom and Brighton a pair of four yparolds The distance then was as now over a course of two miles and a half and the dead heaters ran oft when Brighton won easily from Ins more fancied rival Since those far distant times many changes have taken place and now the winner takes a big prize Here it is worth mention that William the Thirds 1002 race was worth 18300 Then however the subscribers numbered fiftyseven a record until 1010 1010Space Space does not permit a complete return or tue Ascot Cup winners but one cannot pass a certain huriiber without brief mention Flash the winner of 1S12 had in the previous campaign proved too strong for other competitors in the Woodooto Stakes on Epsom Downs Later came Banker 1821 who had walkover for the trophy that 1ms since gained worldwide fame Anticipation the winner of 1816 came again three years later and then with but one rival to meet managed to win a second Cun This feat was more than equaled by Bizarre 184 2 the first horse to carry off the race in successive years A real good performer was the Whisker colt Memnnn I lie hero of the Ascot week in 1S27 As a twoyearold Memnba won the Champagne Stakes of 1S24 on tiie Doncasfer Town Moor where ho was later destined to win a St Leger from the largest Held that ever started for the great race That year no less than thirty starters went to the t ost Many pages of turf history could be writ Ion about the Ascot Clip Miring that decade even concerning be winner of 182 many chapters could be raked tri gethcr The horse referred to is Zingancc and it is often recorded that he won the coveted prize for King George IV But tliis is ah error owing perhaps to the fact that he was at one time in the stable ami owned by the Chifneys However previous to his great hit on Ascot Heath Zinganee had passed into the ownership of Txml Chesterfield for 12500 nnd under that noblemans colors he de ¬ feated the kings champion The Colonel then a fouryearold This famous horse haVl previously won the Sr Leger and was purchased by His Maj esty for 20000 with a sole ambition of winning the Ascot Gold Cup Zinganee did eventually pass into the kings ownership and carried the royal livery in the big race but was unable to catch the judges eye in the year that Lncetta 1830 won The follow ¬ ing race fell to Cetus an animal worth notice as the first winner of the now famous Criterion Stakes which was established in 1829 1829Above Above I have mentioned that Bizarre 182425 won the trophy in two successive years Since then the double event has been landed by Touchstone 183637 The Emperor 184445 The Hero 1847 4S Fisherman 185859 Isonomy 187980 and The White Knight 190708 But of all these dual wiiiriete the immortal Touchstone stands out as the founder of a line of race horses which will live in racing records until the end of time Touchstone was owned by the Marquis of Westminster nnd was one of the sixteen St Leger winners saddled by the famous trainer John Scott Although trained by the wizard of the north Touchstone started as a rank outsider on the Town Moor where he won In a canter although he was the mount of Galloway an unknown lad He won all the longdistance races of the day including in addition to his Ascot vic ¬ tories two Doncaster Cups then as much prized as is the Ascot race now At the stud Touchstone sired many famous Tiorses Including Orlando Newminster and Flateatcher Tiie former It will be recalled by many was Awarded the stakes when the four yearold impostor Running Rein got home first for the notorious Derby of 1844 while Newminster fol ¬ lowed in the footsteps of his sire by winning the St Leger Amongst the descendants of Touchstone through Orlando and Newminster came Teddington Musjid Hermit Pretender George Frederick Shot over St Blaise 3Ierry Hampton Ayrshire and Ladas all winners of the Epsom Derby whilst the Oaks was won by Marie Stuart Apology Jannette Wheel of Fortune Thebais Busybody Lonely Miss Jummy lieve dOr and Airs and Graces Of the Touchstones that woo the St Leger Lord Clifden Hawthorden Wenlock Marie Stuart Apology Pe ¬ trarch Jannette The Lambkin and Throstle all stand prominent j Glcncoe 1835 and Glaucus 1S34 had each pre ¬ ceded Touchstone on the Berkshire Common The former had earlier won the Guineas for Lord Jersey andt started a sequence that is unequaled in racing records as his lordship won the Two Thou ¬ sand Guineas in four successive years with four sons of Sultan and all were ridden by the renowned Jem Robinson in this select quartette the famous Bay Middleton is included Glaucus the other Ascot warrior later got home under 134 pounds for the Goodwood Stakes St Francis twice victorious for the Queens Vase was the hero of the more impor ¬ tant Gold Cup in lS40then came Lanercost a horse which gained fame as the winner of the first Cam ¬ bridgeshire 1839 With this select band that grand old mare Beeswing should surely stand out in bold type During her wonderful career which extended over a period of eight seasons she started no fewer than sixty three times winning in all fifty races Although not a winner of the clas ¬ siest she captured the chief weightforage races of the day Certainly she appropriated the Blue Rib ¬ and of twoyearold racing when she won the Champagne Stakes this was a period before the foundation of the Middle Park and Dewhurst Plates hilt it is In the returns of the great Cup races that her name so frequently appears Beeswing won her only Ascot Cup in 1842v but the Doncaster Cup had fallen to her on four different occasions while still farther north the oldmare had won the Newcastle Cup at that time an important race no less than six times This is not all as at the stud she pro duced Newminster Nunny Kirk and Honeysuckle The former of these celebrities I have dealt with above but there is no doubt that after Stockwell Newrainster was the greatest sire of his time his winning stock numbered 231 and won between them 1057 races worth in stakes 1072665 A redletter year In Ascot history was that of 1844 when thelate queen with prince consort the king of Saxony and Nicholas I czar of all the Russifls were on the royal heath when Defence de ¬ feated Corranna after a great race for the Gold Cup Lord Albemarle renamed the winner The Emperor out of compllmerit to the czar who prom ¬ ised to give a prize each year worth 2500 in place pt the gold cup which had been run without a lapse from 1807 The Emperors Plate was run for in 1845 and fell strangely enough again to The Emperor The new trophy was run for under the same conditiolis and the race was to all Intents and purposes unchanged The first Emperors Plate was an exact model of Falconettis famous statue of Peter the Great at St Petersburg The event was then won by Alarm 1846 The Hero 184748 Van Tromp 1849 The Flying Dutchman 1850 Woolwich 1851 Joe Miller 1852 and Teddington 1853 Of these winners The Hero was one of the most f anious over a distance of ground as he won amongst many races the Doncastei Cup 1846 Goodwood Cup 1847 and Great Ebor Handicap at York under 130 pounds in 1819 Van Tromp which had been mysteriously defeated bv Cossack and War Eagle In the Derbr pf 1847 when backed by his owner Lord Egllrifon to win 100000 and after ¬ wards defeated Cossack in the Leger was a win ¬ ner of the Emperors Plate when five years old A year later the Montgomerie tartan of the Eg linton earl was again carried home this time on that more celebrated horse The Flying Dutchman The latter had been more fortunate in the Blue Riband on Epsom Downs but was defeated by Vol tlgeur the1 winner of the St Leger after a memor ¬ able dead heat in a desperate struggle for the Don caster Cup Joe Miller is worth passing notice if only for the fact that he sailed home a winner under sixtyslxpounds in an priormous field of forty three for a Chester Cup Teddington had of course won the Derby in the great exhibition year and landed an immense fortune in bets for Sir Joseph Hawley and StanleyOwing his confederate J M Stanley Owing to the Crimean war the Gold Cup once again cume on the Ascot program in 1854 Then that sterling horse West Australian after having set up the then unheardof feat by winning the Two Thousand Guineas the Derby and St Leger of 1853 won the race under notice from Kingston and Rata ¬ plan The latter was a brother to Stockwell and rah second in the Gold Cup race that went to Fandango Straiigely Stockwell had earlier also run second to be correct he failed to win Tedding tons Emperors Plate These two famous brothers had been foaled by that marvelous mare Pocahontas absolutely the most wonderful matron in the Stud Book and both gained immortal fame at the stud Stockwell was the recognized emperor of stallions for did not his winning stock whfch numbered 209 carry off between them 1147 races and earn stakes to the amount of 1812255 St Simon of course left these figures a long way in the rear Rata ¬ plans stock won 383570 but his halfbrother sired the winners of 640 races worth 928505 Here It is worth recording that the sire of Pocahontas was Glencoe the herd of an Ascot week far back in 1835 that of Gladiateur in the Gold Cup of 1866 He was undoubtedly the greatest Frenchbred horse that ever ran and there are still many wio consider him to be the horse of the century although we have since seen such unbeaten wonders as St Simon and Or ¬ monde As a threeyearold the avenger of Water ¬ loo won the Two Thousand Guineas the Derby the St Leger Grand Prize of Paris Drawing Room Stakes Goodwood Doncaster Stakes anil beat Long down which lie presented with seven pounds by forty lengths for the Newmarket Derby So much was estimated of his abilities that he was han ¬ dicapped in the Cambridgeshire as a threeyearold with 138 pounds His Gold Cup essay the following year was remarkable He was opposed by Breadal baue and Regalia The former held fully thirty lengths advantage of Gladiateur on passing the stands the first time around while Regalia was be ¬ tween them However he got up nobody will ever know how and eventually won by forty lengths from Regalia whilst Breadalbane never saw the way he went and did not finish at all Other French horses to win the race were Mortemer 1871 Henry 1S72 Boiard 1874 Venicnil 1878 Elf II 1S S and Maximum II 1903 Of these Ver neuil carried the Gladiateur colors of Count La grange and set up the unequaled record by winning during the same week the Queens Vase Ascot Cup and Alexandra Plate while Boiard the winner of a French Derby Prix Royal Oak and the conqueror of Flageolet and Doncaster in the Grand Prize of Paris again beat these two horses when they ran home a dead heat for second place in the Gold Cup of 1874 A real good American was Foxhall 1SS2 He is the only race horse from the United States to win the trophy although Kilmarnock in later years ran up to Santoi 1901 Foxhall was undoubtedly the finest racer ever sent across the Atlantic In England he won the Cesarewitch and Cambridge ¬ shire and in France captured the valuable Grand Prix Bred at the Yardley Stud which Sterling made famous with his sons Harvester Energy Enthusi ¬ ast Enterprise and Pantilox came an even greater celebrity in ills son Isonomy the winner of two Ascot Cups Isonomy was purchased by Mr Gretton as a yearling for 1800 and as a threeyearold won tiie Cambridgeshire of 1878 In a field of thirtyeight when quoted at 40 to 1 As a fouryearold in ad ¬ dition to the Gold Cup and other races Isonomy won the Goodwood Cup Queens Gold Vase tfjJrL ton Cup mider i5fi pounds and the Creat Handicap with KU pounds in the saddle above all his wonderful performances there are that will compare with bis Manchester Clip viii J the following year with JS pounds on his bn i Then hi beat The Ablxt it fortylive pounds J field of twentyone The Ablx t had earlier i season run third in Ietronells Guineas ° in those brilliant days Isonomy lias added to his fai1 at the stud chiefly through Gallinule and Isinglas The latter of course won the triple crown aim the three TenThousandPounders the next year going still higher in 1895 when he set the seal his fame by taking the coveted Ascot Gold Isinglass was only defeated once then the iilgh tried Raeburn lowered his colors in the now cfuc Tornishjre Plate During his four seasons in G 75 which is the largest amount in stakes evf won on the turf turfAltogether Altogether there have been six mares that hav given us a brace of Derby winners but of this select band Perdita II will live forever in turf history riot only from the fact that her offspring won neari S365000 but because her sons Sandringham Flori zel II Diamond Jubilee and Persimmon have an made a name at the stud It was Florizel II halfbrother to the Derby winners which first carried the royal livery into prominence on the Berkshire race course when he carried off the Queens Gol Vase 1805 the same week that Persimmon made his winning debiit in the Coventry Stakes The nex Ascot week saw Florizel II out again this time however he could only get third to Love Wisely and the Frenchman Omnium II in the more inipor tant race By that time Persimmon had shown i7 that he was something out of the common by win ning a hardfought Derby for his late majesty then Prince of Wales But we had to wait until 1897 t know with what class we could compare Persimmon Then the question was soon decided as he literally smashed up a goodclass field and stamped himself as one of the best race horses of modern times timesI I have omitted such winners as St Simon 1SS4 St Gatien 1885 and La Fleche 1894 such celeb ¬ rities are mentioned almost daily when great publb performers of the last half century are quoted However a reference here must be made of Cylleii 1899 toy far the best threeyearold of his year and now that he has sired three Derby winners In Cicero Minoru and Lemberg In so short a time it is a pity he lias been exported to the Argentine It may be recalled by many that he was originally purchased by Sir William Bass for 157500 but lias since changed hands for 125000 Old Merman won the great race when eight years old in 1900 Pre ¬ viously he had shown us that in him the Australians had bred a wonderful stayer William the Third 1902 was undoubtedly a splendid horse and if he could have reached the post fit and well he wonhl have followed in the footsteps of other dual winners as he was stated to be fully fortytwo pounds In front of Throwaway the sensational winner of 1901 Zinfandel which had been keeping Sceptre company in that memorable race made no mistake tiie next year when he defeated the two previous winners in Maximum II and Throwaway Sceptres defeat was a bitter blow to her innumerable admirers but that season the mare was not the animal which had done such wonders she was not In her true form Bache ¬ lors iBnttoa 1906 won another sensational Gold Cun for it was the downfall of the flying Pretty Polly Few who were at Ascot on that afternoon will forget how the public idol unfortunately finished a brilliant career She was a wonderful mare and It was deeply regretted that she suffered her only English reverse in a race which would have sealed her career with fame that draws worldwide attrac ¬ tion Donald O R Adams in London Sportsman
