CHAPTER XXV
THE KING AS A SPORTSMAN
The author is indebted to an authority on sport for kindly revising this chapter.
An account of the King as a sportsman begins, appropriately enough, with the sport of kings, though this is by no means the only pastime with which His Majesty has identified himself. Still, at any rate during his later years as Prince of Wales, he was chiefly associated in the public mind with racing, and his colours—purple, gold band, scarlet sleeves, and black velvet cap with gold fringe—were familiar at all the principal meetings. After his accession His Majesty leased his horses to the Duke of Devonshire for the season of 1901, but it was understood that, following the example of several of his predecessors, the King intended to resume his active connection with the Turf later on. Although His Majesty has been a member of the Jockey Club for over thirty years, his personal interest in racing is a matter of later growth, for it was not till July 1877 that Queen Alexandra honoured Newmarket with her presence to see her husband’s colours carried for the first time. On that occasion the King had no luck, his horse Alep, a pure-bred Arab, which started favourite, being beaten by Lord Strathnairn’s Arab Avowal by twenty or thirty lengths. Five years later the King won the Household Brigade Cup at Sandown with Fairplay.
The Egerton House Training Stables, Newmarket
From a Photograph by Clarence Hailey
The King is generally agreed to be a very good judge of a horse. When at Newmarket he makes it a point to watch the early morning gallops, and at one time he was very fond of attending sales. His Majesty has also given a great impetus to horse-breeding in the United Kingdom. Many years ago he started a thorough-bred stud, a half-bred stud, and a shire-horse stud—works of real public utility, which can only be undertaken, be it remembered, by those who have wealth and leisure, combined with intelligence and a real desire to forward the interests of the British farmer.
The King’s great successes on the Turf during recent years, including two famous Derbys, have been due to the introduction to the Sandringham stables of Perdita II., bought by Mr. John Porter for £900. The union of this mare with St. Simon produced Florizel II., and from that time the King’s fame as an owner and breeder increased until it became second to none.
It was in 1890 that His Majesty put his racers under John Porter, but his total winnings were only £624. The next year, however, the King won £4148; in 1892, £190; in 1893, £372; in 1894, £3499; and in 1895, £8281; and in the last-named year His Majesty’s name stood tenth in the list of winning owners. This satisfactory result was undoubtedly greatly owing to Lord Marcus Beresford, who was entrusted with the management of the King’s racing stable in 1890. The King’s horses were removed from Kingsclere to Egerton House, Newmarket, in 1892, and since then they have been under Marsh’s care. Persimmon was sent there as a yearling from Sandringham in 1894.