‘Even the rich ones tend to be cash-poor and racing requires you to be cash-rich’ - the changing role of the aristocracy in racing
Eleanor Doughty explores the place of the aristocracy in racing through the years
It was Newmarket, autumn 1942, and Peter Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, Viscount Milton, was buzzing. The young Grenadier Guards officer had long been obsessed by horses and by racing – never mind the war; in recent years attending sales had become one of his best-loved pursuits.
Earlier in the year he had become a new patron of the trainer George Lambton and had acquired a reputation for buying fashionable yearlings – not least a filly by the Derby winner Hyperion, out of Entrance.
Suddenly, a fly buzzed in front of his face. Rubbing at his eye to remove it, he drew the auctioneer’s attention, who thought he was bidding. After all, it wouldn’t be unusual.
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Published on inIn Focus
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