(This week I'm running "Amusing Oldies;" posts that have been "up" before but which may still make you smile, and give you a story or two to share with family and friends this holiday season. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. John)
Most people know horses were an important part of Churchill's life. He rode pony's as a child; trained in horsemanship at Sandhurst; was commissioned as a cavalry officer; rode as a lancer in the famous charge at Omdurman; played polo into his fifties; and kept and bred horses at Chartwell and other properties.
But most people don't know that for many years Churchill owned a racing stable. And he wasn't one of those celebrity owners who preen and eye the cameras while putting their feet in - oops - the wrong places. As with everything else he cared about, Churchill the race horse owner was informed and "hands on."
Churchill's most successful horse was a grey, Colonist II. He bought him against the advice of many racing experts. Churchill thought he saw something - a special determination - in Colonist that would make the horse "a winner."
Colonist proved Churchill right. "This tough and indomitable grey horse has performed miracles," said one racing writer in 1950. "No horse in living memory has put up such a sequence of wins in good-class races in one season." Among the prestigious races Colonist won were The Winston Churchill Stakes and The Jockey Club Stakes.
As Colonist's racing days came to a close, his trainer reminded Churchill that Colonist would be very valuable as a stud horse. The trainer offered to arrange matters.
Churchill pondered a moment, then laughed and replied,
"To stud? And have it said that the Prime Minister of Great Britain is living on the immoral earnings of a horse?"Churchill's official biographer, Martin Gilbert, does not say what ultimately happened to Colonist. We can wish the horse had a green old age.
I wasn't able to learn what Churchill’s racing colors were. Can anyone help with that?
[Update 12-26-06: Churchill's father had owned race horses. Lord Randolph's colors were pink and chocolate and pink; and Churchill selected those as his own.]
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Martin Gilbert, Never Despair. (pgs. 488, 522, 524, 528, 563)
1 comments:
WSC first owned racehorses as a sub altern in India.The Prince(Edward) of Wales advised him to dispose of them as Indian racing had a bad reputation.(I don't know what this meant.Perhaps fixed races?)Churchill declined to divest himself ,but informed Edward,"I want to be an example to Indain sport ,as HRH is to Britain."
Aside from your work on the rape hoax,it's a pleasure to read these vignettes.
Merry Christmas,Corwin
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