363 A piece of silver plate removed from a trophy originally presented to Arthur Yates who owned, trained and rode his four-year-old steeplechaser ‘Harold’ to five victories in the calendar year of 1866, the inscription confirming the races as the Croydon Spring Cup, the United Hunt Cup (Waterloo), Sevenoaks Cup, the Hunter’s Stakes (Chertsey) and the Croydon Autumn Cup
Included in this lot is a clip-frame mounted photocopy from Yates’s autobiography, written in collaboration with Bruce Blunt, that features a passage on Harold, with Yates recalling a famous incident in the Croydon Autumn Cup where he faced two opponents Cortolvin and Flyfisher: “Flyfisher and Harold charged the water jump together and both fell. I rose from the mud just in time to see Harold going off on his own. Running after him I seized him by the tail and scrambled into the saddle. Meanwhile Cortolvin had fallen at the next fence, and I passed him just as his jockey, Page, was beginning to remount. Flyfisher, the last to be righted, was toiling a long way to the rear, and, with Cortolvin again falling at the last obstacle, Harold and I had the race in safe keeping and cantered past the post, as Bell’s Life said, “amid deafening cheers.” The crowd swarmed on to the course, but Cortolvin and Flyfisher were not finished by any means. Cortolvin’s jockey was in the saddle again and was fighting a desperate struggle with Flyfisher’s jockey for second money through the midst of the people. Eventually Cortolvin gained second place by two lengths. Of this race the poet of The Sporting Life sang:
A WONDERFUL TAIL AT CROYDON
In racing reports it is oftentimes said That a jockey has cleverly won by a head; But Yates has performed, when all other arts fail, A more wonderful feat - for he won by a tail !
the clip mount also containing a photocopy of an illustration of Yates clutching Harold’s tail, and a portrait of Yates
In the 2000 Dubai World Cup, Dubai Millennium led after a furlong and pulled steadily away from the field in the closing stages to win in devastating fashion beating Behrens by six lengths with the rest of the opposition at least five lengths further back. His performance in winning the world’s most valuable horse race in track-record time was acclaimed as an “awesome display”, whilst Dettori called the colt “the best I’ve ever ridden ... absolutely unbelievable”. £200 - 300
364 An Australian polo trophy: The Brassey Challenge Cup at Moonee Valley won outright by Camperdown Polo Club in 1900,
a two-handled English silver trophy cup, hallmarked Charles Stuart Harris, London, 1896, inscribed PRESENTED BY HIS EXCELLENCY LORD BRASSEY K.C.B., 1897, POLO CHALLENGE CUP, set on an ebonised plinth with three winner’s shields attached chronicling the three successive victories of Camperdown Polo Club in seasons 1897-98, 1898-99 & 1899-1900, height of cup 29cm., 11 1/2in., weight 829gr., 26oz. 13dwt.
The Sydney Mail 20th March 1897 carries a report of the Challenge Cup polo match at Moonee Valley between Camperdown and Colac. After Camperdown ran out comfortable winners the report informs us ‘at the conclusion of the game his Excellency the Governor [Lord Brassey] presented the cup to the Camperdown team, who have now won it for three years in succession, and are thus the owners of it.’
Lord Brassey himself then commissioned a replacement challenge trophy, which is the silver cup being offered at auction here. The competition then became known as the Brassey Challenge Cup.
In 1900 history repeated itself. A report in the Sydney Mail 17th March 1900 covers the match on 6th March and Camperdown’s defeat of Caramut at Moonee Valley Racecourse and explains that ‘after an exciting struggle Camperdown was left in the enviable position of owners of the trophy the match, which they have now won three years in succession.’ Thus Lord Brassey’s trophy was retired after just thee years, with the dominant Camperdown team having now won the annual polo match at Moonee Valley six years in succession.
Thomas Brassey, 1st Earl Brassey, was a British Liberal Party politician and Governor of Victoria, Australia, from 1895 to 1900, residing at Government House, Melbourne. £800 - 1,200
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