A Private Collection of Trophies

A fine George III silver gilt Racing Trophy Cup: The Lincoln Gold Cup, 1823,
won by Thomas Houldsworth’s ‘Palatine’,
by Rebecca Emes & Edward Barnard, London 1823,




the silver gilt twin-handled trophy cup and cover of campana form, the cover mounted with a cast horse and foal finial, applied to a leaf and flower border, above fluted surround, the cup with egg and acanthus rim, the twin handles of organic oak leaf and branch form extending into a cast oak leaf and acorn border, the knopped stem and fluted base decorated with rising acanthus and floral detail, the front engraved:



‘LINCOLN RACES, 1823, JOHN WILLIAMS ESQ.r, M.P.,WILLIAM MILES ESQ.r STEWARDS’, the interior rim inscribed ‘THE GOLD CUP, WON BY MR THOMAS HOULDSWORTH’S PALATINE [BY FILHO DA PUTA] LINCOLN, SEPT. 26TH 1823’,

height 40cm.





£4,000-£5,000

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Private Collection of Trophies.

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Collection

Sotheby’s, Sale 6 November 2002, lot 209.

The Lincoln Gold Cup

The Lincoln Gold Cup was a four mile flat race run annually between 1805 and 1844. In the 1823 race, ‘Palatine’, a brown filly, ridden by Holmes, and bred and owned by Thomas Houldsworth, beat Sir W. Milner’s ‘Angler’, Mr Gascoigne’s ‘Violet’ and three other runners to win the Cup, valued at 100 guineas in the Racing calendar. The filly had been unnamed when winning her first race earlier that year, the Palatine Stakes, at Chester. Thomas Houldsworth then named her Palatine, in commemoration of this victory.


The Lincoln Gold Cup of 1844 was the final running, with an attempt to revive the race made in 1846 which proved unsuccessful.


Palatine

Palatine was a brown filly foaled in 1820, her sire Filho Da Puta, her dam being Treasure. She was bred and raced by Thomas Houldsworth, who also owned her famous sire. Palatine won two other races in 1823, a Handicap Sweepstakes at Manchester and a Sweepstakes at Pontefract. In 1824 Palatine recorded four victories and was then sold to Mr Griffiths for whom she won fourteen races between 1825 and 1828.

Her sire, Filho Da Puta, had been purchased by Thomas Houldsworth from his previous owner, Sir William Maxwell, in 1815, for the sum of 3000 guineas. This proved to be a shrewd investment for Mr Houldsworth, as the fine stallion was to be highly successful, winning 9 of his twelve races including the St Leger Stakes and Doncaster Gold Cup.

The name apparently originated from the ire of Sir William Barnett, owner of the stud farm where the foal was born, who discovered at the time of the the foal’s birth, that his wife had been disloyal. Sir William, who lived in Portugal and knew the Portuguese language well, in a fit of rage gave this name to the future champion.

In his final season, the stallion won the four-mile Richmond Cup and In 1818 he retired to stud. He became the leading sire in Great Britain and Ireland in 1828, standing at Mr Houldsworth’s stud at Farnsfield near Southwell until his death in 1835.


Thomas Houldsworth
Thomas Houldsworth (1771-1852) was a self-made entrepreneur. Apprenticed to a stocking weaver, he joined his brothers in a cotton spinning business in Manchester in 1793. He went on to became a prosperous Manchester cotton manufacturer and in the early 19th century purchased the landed estate, Sherwood Hall, in Nottinghamshire. He also had a passion for horse racing. He became a major owner and breeder and had horses in training from 1816 to 1841. His stud and racing colours of gold and green were famous on the race tracks of the early nineteenth century.

He was also a conservative party politician, being a Member of Parliament for a total of 34 years between 1818 to 1852 - as MP for Pontefract from 1818-1830 and MP for North Nottinghamshire from 1830 to July 1852, when he stepped down from the House of Commons at the General Election, and died two months later aged 80.

Many of Thomas Houldsworth’s champions appear in sporting pictures including the famous paintings by J.F.Herring of Filho Da Puta, painted in 1815 and Vanish with jockey Sam Darling, of 1830.