I was on the betfair forum and come across this interesting post. Credit to the poster who goes by the name of 'TheAnorak'. I've assumed he won't mind me re posting his article. No, it's not a misprint - the oldest book in my racing library is a McCalls Racing Chronicle, Annual Volume 1913, which gives the result of every race run under rules that year. So whilst my writing about the National Hunt meeting of 100 years ago won't help us to find any winner this year, I'm hoping some forum members will find it interesting. The 1913 meeting was staged over two days, Wednesday March 12th and Thursday March 13th, with six races each day, first race off at 1:30, last race at 4:45. This is how the program looked, with some some familiar race names present: Weds Mar 13th 1:30 Southam Selling Chase 2ml 100 yds £87 2:00 Stayers Selling Hurdle 3 ml £184 3:00 National Hunt Chase 4 ml £815 3:45 Cheltenham Grand Annual Chase (H'cap) 2ml 100 yds £412 4:15 National Hunt Juvenile Chase (for 4-y-olds) 2m 100 yds £395 4:45 Cotswold N.H. Flat Race 2 ml £164 Thurs Mar 14th 1:30 Cleeve Selling Hurdle 2 ml £87 2:00 Swindon Selling Chase 3 ml £184 2:45 Foxhunters Chellenge Cup (Chase) 4ml £831 6s 3:30 National Hunt H'cap Chase 3 ml 2 fur £832 4:15 County H'cap Hurdle 2 ml 2 fur £827 4:45 Gloucestershire Maiden Hurdle 2 ml £164 I'll post further info on each individual race over the next few weeks. One piece of information it would be useful to have is to know how those prize money figures match up against the cost of keeping a horse in training and the wages paid to a stable lad at that time. I've nothing in my library that would give a definitive answer, but my best guess is that an owner would have been paying around £1 10s to £2 per week and that a lad would be paid about 10s per week. But if anyone has more accurate info, please let us know. (For younger readers, 10s is 50p in modern terms) The NH flat race certainly wasn't a bumper as we know it now - the winner had run in the Imperial Cup on his previous start and went on to win a handicap chase at Newbury two days later! Anyway, the details for the opening race, which I somehow doubt produced the sort of roar we get for the Supreme Novices. The Southam Selling Chase attracted 8 runners, all described in the manner of the time as 'aged' - i.e. more than six years old. The result: 1. Buzzy a. 11-6 Mr J George 6/1 2. Nimrod a. 12-0 Capt Paynter 11/8 fav 3. Simon The Diver a. 11-2 Mr Nelson 100/8 Dist 3/4l, 5 lengths Trainer : George (trainers didn't qualify for initials or titles and the owner gets no mention at all) The winner was bought in for 175 gns The jockey on the runner-up may not have been too popular with punters as he put up 3lbs overweight. One other oddity is that the form book reports the off time as 1:29 for a race scheduled at 1:30. In later years that would have led to the race being declared void - I can certainly remember at least one such occurrence in my younger years, a hurdle race at Ascot. But the rules as they applied in 1913 are printed in full in the annual and no mention is made of race off times. Selling races feature at all the major meetings in 1913 with the sole exception of Royal Ascot. Both Guineas were immediately followed by 2-y-old sellers, the Derby meeting had a seller just before the big race, and the Ebor meeting included a 5 furlong race called the Nunthorpe Selling Stakes. The second race, and only five runners for the Stayers Selling Hurdle: 1. Silver Bay a. 12-0 Mr Heasman 7/4 2. Submit a. 12-0 Mr Ussher 5/6 3. Caldwell 5y 11-8 Mr A Smith 5/1 Dist 1 1/2 lengths, 15 lengths Trained by Fitton The winner was bought in for 180 gns. The first two had both contested a 2 ml selling hurdle just five days earlier at Hurst Park, when Submit won and Silver Bay was only 4th. Submit was chasing a five timer in this race, having also won selling hurdles at Hurst Park on Feb 14th and two at Sandown on Feb 27th and Mar 1st. All those wins were over 2 miles, so I'm sure the question of his stamina for this longer trip would have featured prominently at the 1913 Cheltenham preview evenings. Silver Bay had finished second in a non selling handicap hurdle over 2 ml 4 fur at Sandown, but otherwise punters were operating in the dark as hurdle races over 3 miles were extremely rare. The format of opening the meeting with two sellers was quite normal for Cheltenham. The course raced on six days in 1913, these two plus two in mid April, one in early November and one in the week after Xmas. All six meetings followed the pattern of two selling races to open proceedings. One last point of interest from this race is that when Silver Bay was second in that handicap, he was ridden by 'Piggott', which I presume was Lester's father, Keith Piggott, who was certainly a professional jump jockey in his youth. With most of the rides at Cheltenham taken by amateurs, neither he, nor the man who rode the Sandown winner, George Duller, had any rides at the meeting. Duller was known as one of the greatest riders over hurdles of that era and near the end of his career, rode the winner of the first ever Champion Hurdle. He had a handicap hurdle named in his memory at Cheltenham which was run at the April meeting until 1993. I will add to this as 'TheAnorak' does, if people are interested
Fantastic post, thanks Hawkeye. I'm fascinated by historic Cheltenham festival trivia, like the cab driver who showed me the plot of land where the Gold Cup was run as we drove down Cleeve Hill (from Winchcombe). This is also consistent with the theory that the biggest race of the festival was the NH Chase (4m). Thnaks again
