By Emma Berry
Thursday marks the start of three days of first-class racing action on Newmarket's July Course, culminating in Saturday's G1 Darley July Cup. In addition to the regular races of the meeting this year is one of the oddities of the racing calendar, but also one with a more redoubtable history than any other contest on British turf.
As Newmarket celebrates its 350th anniversary this year, as important among the Group 1 races and heritage handicaps is the Newmarket Town Plate, which will be run for the 347th time in 2016. The longest-standing race anywhere in the world to have its own original written rules, the Town Plate was inaugurated by none other than the Merry Monarch, King Charles II, himself a keen rider who won the race in 1671. His decree that the race should “be run forever” has thus far been adhered to, though it is not run under the formal rules of racing and it has moved from its traditional October slot to August––and, for this year only, to July.
While four-mile heats were commonplace back in the 17th century, the fact that the distance of the Town Plate––a stamina-sapping 3m6f through National Stud land and onto the July Course––has not been shortened over the last few centuries is remarkable. Only amateur riders can take part and their competence in the saddle must be vouched for by either a trainer or a master of hounds––a rule which harks back to the days when many of the runners were hunters rather than racehorses. In keeping with the race's unusual criteria, the winning rider receives a box of Powter's famous Newmarket sausages.
An extraordinary array of everyday folk, from schoolboys to bookmakers, have contested the Town Plate, and for decades of the last century it was particularly special as it was the only race in which women were allowed to compete. In 1925, Eileen Joel, daughter of owner-breeder and diamond magnate Solomon Joel, recorded her own footnote in history by becoming the first female winner of the Town Plate and the first woman to beat male riders when winning aboard Hogier (watch film here).
It was also the first of what was to become a family tradition. Her daughter Valda Rogerson won the race 30 years later on Vulpes, and grand-daughter Alex Embiricos brought up a notable treble when winning on Summons in 1984. Eileen Joel's great niece Di Haine, the daughter of trainer Harry Thomson 'Tom' Jones, also won the Town Plate in 1964 aboard Stem Turn, as did her mother, Solna, on Filius in 1948.
Di Haine recalls, “I won it a few days after I turned 13––I'm not sure that record will ever be beaten now. When my great aunt Eileen rode in in the Town Plate she rode astride, rather than sidesaddle, which I think was rather looked down upon in those days. Both my children rode in it but sadly neither of them won it.”
Henry Candy may these days be more readily associated with training top-class sprinters but he boasts a fine record in the marathon event, having won it five times with the same horse, Sea Buck. The quirky gelding's first victory came in the hands of Candy's sister, Carolyn Poland, with the trainer's daughters, Emma and Sophie, each landing a brace of wins.
“Sea Buck was such a superstar. He wasn't hugely enamoured with racing generally but there was something he loved about bumbling around in the Town Plate and picking off tired horses,” recalls Emma Erskine Crum (née Candy), whose sister Sophie is still embracing the thrill of amateur races and is currently riding in the Corinthian Challenge Series in Ireland alongside Sheikh Fahad Al Thani.
Erskine Crum continues, “He was just very special and it was quite a training feat to get 'Bucket' fit for the race five times. I still think he was David Minton's finest purchase. I'd watched my sister and my aunt ride in it and 'Bucket' was still around so I thought I'd give it a go. It's a real family thing––I think the second year I rode in it there were two Tinklers riding in the race––and it's almost a rite of passage for young people coming into the game. I hope it remains so.”
Newmarket trainer, former town mayor, and TDN contributor John Berry is another with a soft spot for the racing town's special tradition, having saddled two winners of the race, and ridden one of them to glory himself back in 2011.
“It was one of the most memorable days of my life. I love history and the race is really special, so it was a thrill of a lifetime to win it as owner, trainer and rider simultaneously on my favourite horse Kadouchski. The fact that I was a Newmarket Town Councillor made it a particular honour to be able to play a part in this special chapter of the town's history.
“And the icing on the cake was that we were eating sausages for days afterwards.”
Sheikh Fahad is augmenting his Corinthian Challenge with two special races this year and is among the 15 hopefuls who will line up for the Town Plate on Thursday before he sets off on an epic 1000km quest across the Mongolian steppe for the Mongol Derby in August, with fellow riders David Redvers, Kevin Darley and Peter Molony.
Pitting her wits against him on Thursday will be Frances Stanley––a director of Newmarket Racecourses and owner of the local New England Stud with her husband Peter––as well as Matthew Hancock, MP for West Suffolk, and Senior Steward of the Jockey Club, Roger Weatherby.
Stanley says, “It's quite a challenge. I think I'm having a bit of a midlife crisis!”
But there is a serious mission behind her ride as she has been one of the key organisers in the bid to erect a commemorative statue of Charles II at Newmarket.
“I thought I'd start fundraising for the statue and my supporters have been incredibly generous and raised £23,000. Two of my biggest supporters have been Gai and Robbie Waterhouse, who will be in Newmarket for the race. When I was thinking about how to raise money, the Town Plate reared its head and it seemed the perfect way, with Charles II having won the first ever race,” she adds.
“I've thoroughly enjoyed the last three months, riding out for Michael Bell to begin with and then two lots for Ed Dunlop. I must admit I'm getting rather nervous now but Paul Webber has kindly lent me a hurdler named Honour A Promise and she seems to be the perfect horse for it. There's an illustrious list of people who have won this race but I'm just praying I get round safely and don't finish last.”
Newmarket racegoers will gain their first glimpse of the Charles II statue when it is unveiled at the course on Thursday. By sculptor Henry Weekes, it is a replica of the statue displayed in the Old Bailey in London, and has been largely funded by a donation from owner-breeder Dr Cyrus Poonawalla, whose stallion Roderic O'Connor (Ire) stands next-door to the July Course at the National Stud.
It will be a fitting tribute to the monarch whose passion for horseracing helped to make Newmarket the world-renowned town it is today, as is the continuation––hopefully in perpetuity––of his special race, the Town Plate.
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