Winston Churchill’s Racehorses

Churchill loved horses, army, hunters and polo ponies. This book investigates his less appreciated but highly successful ownership of racehorses from 1949 when his first runner, Colonist II, won at Salisbury in September, until his last in October 1964 at Newmarket when Honeycomb was unplaced. Churchill died three months later. Although Churchill only owned 40 horses, they competed in 394 flat and 30 National Hunt races, of which they won 70 on the flat and 8 over jumps. Considering how relatively few horses ran in his colours, he had a remarkably high percentage of good or well above average ones, notably Colonist II, High Hat, Vienna, Dark Issue, Welsh Abbot, Tudor Monarch on the flat and the good hurdler Sun Hat. The book devotes separate chapters to each of these horses and includes details of all his horses' 424 starts and lists the 78 winners in chronological order. AUTHOR: Sir Rupert Mackeson has written many very well reviewed books on horse racing, under the pen name of Rupert Collens. He is the ideal author for this fascinating book about Churchill's racehorses, for they both went to Harrow, both started in the fourth form, and both were in the same house (The Head Master's). Rupert saw Churchill four or five times when the great man visited the school and the boys entertained him with songs. Furthermore, like Churchill, on leaving Harrow Rupert was commissioned into a cavalry regiment. 25 b/w illustrations