When Churchill led the nation into battle on the racecourse

1 The mark of a civilised nation is surely for its political leaders to be racehorse owners, and in this field Britain once led the world, with Sir Winston Churchill embracing the Turf fully in later life. His first horse – bought from France in 1949 when the former prime minister was 74 years old and merely leader of the opposition – was the dashing French-bred grey Colonist II, who won 13 times in Churchill's pink and chocolate silks.

2 Before he became a racehorse owner, Churchill had been viewed as one of racing's greatest enemies on account of his introduction in 1926, as chancellor of the exchequer, of a betting tax that prompted strike action among racecourse bookmakers.

3 Current prime minister Theresa May dabbled in ownership as part of the syndicate that raced the William Muir-trained dual winner Dome Patrol, but her involvement lacked the romantic intensity of 19th-century Conservative MP Henry Chaplin, whose win with Hermit in the 1867 Derby came at the expense of Lord Hastings, the man who had run off with his fiancee three years earlier. The lady in question apparently hopped out of Chaplin's carriage, into the wedding hat shop, out the back door and into Hastings' carriage, married the bounder the same day and informed her ex by letter while on her honeymoon. Hastings got his comeuppance, however, losing a fortune on the supposedly injured Hermit's win and dying in poverty the following year.