Museum Treasure - September 2011
The silks worn by Frankie Dettori at Ascot on
Saturday 28th September 1996 when he achieved his
Magnificent Seven
At 5.39pm on Saturday 28th
September 1996 Frankie Dettori won the Gordon Carter Handicap at Ascot on
Fujiyama Crest for the second year running.
But this time his win represented something much more significant. He was winning his seventh race of the
afternoon. He had won every race on a
seven-race card. This was the first time
that this feat had been achieved on an English racecourse. And it had been achieved on one of the most
important racing days of the year. The
Roll of Honour was as follows:
Race Horse Trainer Owner
Cumberland Lodge Stakes Wall Street Saeed
bin Suroor Godolphin
Racal Diadem Stakes Diffident Saeed bin Suroor Godolphin
Queen Elizabeth Stakes Mark of Esteem Saeed bin Suroor Godolphin
Tote Festival Handicap Decorated hero John Gosden H.
Allen
Rosemary Rated Stakes Hcp Fatefully Saeed
bin Suroor Godolphin
Blue Seal Stakes Lochangel Ian Balding J. C. Smith
Gordon Carter Handicap Fujiyama Crest Michael Stoute S.
Hata
The four brightly coloured jackets
donated by the four winning owners and the boots that he wore on that afternoon
are on display in Gallery 4.
Godolphin Royal Blue
Herbert Allen White, Red cross belts, White sleeves, Red
diamonds, hooped cap
Jeff Smith Purple, Light Blue chevron, Light Blue
cap
Seisuke Hata Royal Blue, Pink triple diamond, Pink cap,
Royal Blue diamond
The accumulated odds for
winning all seven races were 25,095 to 1.
Two jockeys have won all six
races on a six-race card in Britain:
Gordon Richards at Chepstow on 4th October 1933 and Alec
Russell at Bogside on 19th July 1957. Gordon Richard’s achievement was part of a
twelve-race winning sequence: the last
race at Nottingham, the six races at Chepstow and then the first five races at
Chepstow on the following day. Chris Antley emulated Frankie’s success with 9
wins in a day on 31st October 1987 (4 wins at Aqueduct, New York
followed by 5 at Meadowlands, New Jersey in the evening).
Jockeys have worn coloured
jackets since the early days of racing.
Paintings from those days show the jockeys wearing matching jackets and
trousers. This is seen in the portrait
of An Early English Racehorse by J.
B. Closterman from the late 17th Century in Gallery 3, where the
jockey is wearing matching blue satin jacket, trousers and cap. However, owners could change the colours
almost at random and the same colours could be worn by different owners in the
same race.
In 1762 nineteen members of the
Jockey Club selected their colours and agreed that the riders should wear them
from then on. In the main they selected
single colours. Caps were usually Black,
with the exception of the Earl of Gower, who chose Blue. The complete list was as follows:
Duke of Cumberland Purple
Duke of Grafton Sky-Blue
Duke of Devonshire Straw-colour
Duke of Kingston Crimson
Duke of Ancaster Buff
Duke of Bridgewater Garter-Blue
Marquis of Rockingham Green
Earl of Waldegrave Deep
Red
Earl of Orford Purple
and White
Earl of March and Mr Vernon White
Earl of Northumberland Deep
Yellow
Earl of Gower Blue
with cap ditto
Viscount Bolingbroke Black
Sir J. Moore Darkest
Green
Mr. Grenvile Brown,
Trimmed Yellow
Mr. Shafto Pink
Lord Grosvenor Orange
Sir J. Lowther --------
Of these colours, the present
Duke of Devonshire is the one remaining owner who continues to use the family’s
original colours of Straw.
Today there are about 17,000
registered owners and therefore more colours and more patterns and colour
combinations have been adopted in order to help racegoers distinguish the different
horses during a race.
A guide to designing your own
set of colours is provided by Gibsons Saddlers of Newmarket..
Colours are registered with the
British Horseracing Authority on payment of an annual fee.
Text: Tim Cox