On Saturday at Doncaster, Aidan O’Brien will attempt to win his 41st English Classic, thereby surpassing the 40 English Classic successes held jointly with the 19th century Yorkshire based trainer, John Scott. However, although St Leger success would be Aidan’s 7th win in the sport’s oldest Classic, Scott’s achievement of 16 St Leger victories stands unique. His first win, Matilda in 1827, recalls the days when, in the absence of horse boxes, his horses walked the 60 miles from his Malton stables to Town Moor. Indeed, his first five St Leger winners followed this practice, and it wasn’t until his sixth winner, Don John, in 1838, that a crude form of horse box was used. This followed on the back of unexpected and secret developments two years earlier, in 1836….. Lord George Bentinck was a Nottinghamshire born aristocrat who, besides his British Army and political careers, had an obsessive love of horses and gambling. Prior to 1836, he had been known to suffer heavy losses from gambling, not to mention several ‘duels at dawn’ whenever his arrogant haughtiness was challenged. However, in early 1836, his top class colt, Elis, contested the 2000 Guineas, having enjoyed a successful two year old season. After a good second behind the hot favourite, Bay Middleton, he was installed as 5/1 favourite for the St Leger- not having an entry for the Epsom Derby. Given that Elis was housed at Bentinck’s Goodwood stables, this would incur a journey of about 230 miles to Doncaster, taking up to three weeks at a leisurely pace. Yet Bentinck had other ideas , having formulated a secret plan which would cause Elis’ ante-post price to drift and enable him to land a substantial gamble…. This involved the secret construction of a large, padded, wooden horse box, driven by six horses and mounted on 18 inch wheels. Funnily enough, no loading ramp was built, so horses had to load and unload on a mound of earth. At the start of St Leger week, bookies and pundits were aware that Elis had not left his Goodwood stables and suspected that something was amiss. Either way, how could he possibly reach Doncaster in time? His price quickly drifted to 12/1 and Bentinck made his move with a £10,000 wager. Elis left his stables on the Monday and , after covering 80 miles per day, arrived two days early at Doncaster. As the race started, Elis was made 7/2 second favourite. He made his move and won comfortably, securing a fortune for his worldly duke. I suppose that, if Elis had ever been mated with the mare and previous winner, Matilda, she would have undoubtedly said to him… I walked it! You didn’t!
