Museum Treasure - June 2010

Alfred Charles Havell (1855-1928)
Pretty Polly with jockey William Lane
Oil on canvas  31x 43cm - on display in Gallery 1

Gift: The Macdonald-Buchanan Family Charitable Trust, 1996  


                                   

A strong case exists for honouring Pretty Polly as the outstanding female figure of the English Turf. Her achievements set standards that remain mainly unsurpassed:    
 

        The winner of 22 consecutive races in England and prize money, in modern equivalent currency, of over £1M. 
         
        Successes in 13 races now accorded Pattern status.    

        Successes in the modern equivalent of eight Group 1 races, from two years old to five, including the Fillies Triple Crown of 1904.

        Time records for the 1000 Guineas and St Leger.

        Matriarch of a dynasty which, in direct female line, has produced over 60 individual winners of European Pattern Races currently rated Group 1, including each of the English and Irish classics.

In 1987 the National Horseracing Museum published a 100 page book Pretty Polly: an Edwardian Heroine by Michael Tanner to celebrate the mare’s remarkable career. This gem of a book is still available at the Museum’s Gift Shop.

                                         

Tim Cox, of the renowned Cox Library, pays tribute to Tanner's important work:

    'John Randall and Tony Morris in their A Century of Champions (Timeform, 1999) identified Pretty Polly as The Mare of the [20th] Century.  They concluded that it “was impossible to imagine that the product of such a mating [Gallinule with Admiration] would attain incomparable fame as a racemare and broodmare”.

Michael Tanner brings her racing career alive with eye-witness accounts from contemporary newspapers.  As Tanner says “Eighty years have passed since Pretty Polly last trod a racecourse, more than enough time for memories to dim, but hopefully not too long for her story to lose its magic”.  Tanner succeeds in recapturing that magic.'

Pretty Polly: an Edwardian Heroine is available by post by sending a cheque for £7-50 (inc P&P) to National Horseracing Museum (PP), 99 High Street, Newmarket, Suffolk, CB8 8JH. Cheque payable to National Horseracing Museum. Overseas customers are asked to email admin@nhrm.co.uk for overseas postal rate and payment arrangement.