London Clubs: Their History & TreasuresNevill, Ralph
History
London Clubs: Their History & Treasures
Nevill, Ralph
Clubs -- England -- London; London (England) -- Social life and customs
Whilst hardly a club in the sense now usually understood, the Jockey
Club possesses rooms at Newmarket, and a number of sporting prints are
to be seen here. The most interesting relic in the possession of the
club, however, is a hoof of Eclipse, formed into an inkstand. On the
front are the royal arms in gold in high relief, and on the pedestal is
the following inscription: “This piece of plate, with the hoof of
Eclipse, was presented by His Most Gracious Majesty William the Fourth
to the Jockey Club, May 1832.” This hoof was originally given as a prize
in a Challenge race (rather like “The Whip”) run on Ascot Thursday. The
King gave an additional £200, and there was a £100 sweepstake between
members of the Jockey Club. It was run for soon after it was presented,
in the year of the great Reform Bill, on the same afternoon that
Camarine and Rowton ran a dead-heat for the Gold Cup, and over the same
course. One subscriber scratched, and, of the other two, Lord
Chesterfield, with the famous Priam (Conolly up), beat General Grosvenor
and Sarpedon, ridden by John Day. In 1834 Lord Chesterfield won again
with Glaucus (Bill Scott up), beating Gallopade, who had won for Mr.
Cosby the year before. Twelve months later the hoof was challenged for
by Mr. Batson, but there was no reply. It is much to be regretted that
no sporting event is now connected with this historic hoof. Considering
how small an interest the contests for the Whip have excited of late
years, there is little likelihood of this relic being again run for on
Newmarket Heath.
Eclipse is closely connected with the history of the Jockey Club. This
race-horse of historic memory lived for twenty-five years, and the years
in question just coincided with the period during which the Jockey Club
grew into a powerful body. It was also the time of the foundation of the
Derby, the Oaks, and the St. Leger. Then it was that the Jockey Club
first began to be quoted as a real and powerful authority, and when its
rulings were first accepted by racing men. The sentence of “warning
off,” originally established by precedent, was legally recognized in
1827, when, in the case of the Duke of Portland _v._ Hawkins, a man to
whom the Jockey Club objected was successfully proceeded against for
trespass on the freehold property of the club.
Although the memory of Eclipse is intimately connected with the history
of the Jockey Club, it is a rather remarkable thing that his owner never
succeeded in obtaining admittance to that exclusive circle. Colonel
O’Kelly’s one great grievance, which led him persistently to denounce
the Jockey Club, was the stubborn refusal of the members to elect him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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