Guineas success at Palace House is book ended by the 1000 Guineas with Barcarolle 1838 and Pillion 1926. The former was trained by William Edwards, the first resident at the Palace House yard, the latter by John Watson. Meanwhile, in the 2000 Guineas they include a Derby winner in St Amant (1904) and arguably the best horse to be trained at Palace House, St Frusquin, the sire of St Amant, who were both Leopold De Rothschild.
The Guineas story begins with William Edwards who we believe began training at Palace House in 1819. He trained the first two Guineas winners from the yard, the filly Barcarolle (1838 1000 Guineas) and Ralph (1841 2000 Guineas) who were both owned and bred by the 4th Earl of Albemarle. The Earl was a Whig politician who became Master of the Horse in 1830 a position he still held when Queen Victoria came to the throne. As he managed all Royal equine matters, he was given the honour of travelling to Westminster Abbey inside the Gold State Coach with the nineteen-year- old Victoria at the time of her coronation. Barcarolle won the Newmarket classic only days after a debut win at the Craven meeting and was ridden by the trainer’s son Teddy.
The best of them all, St Frusquin trained by Alfred Hayhoe had a special rivalry with the Prince of Wales’s colt Persimmon, who wasn’t quite ready for the Newmarket classic which the former won easily by 3 lengths.
However, the Royal colt narrowly beat the odds on favourite St Frusquin by a neck in the Derby to square their series, the Palace House colt had won their two year old clash at Newmarket. There final meeting in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot saw St Frusquin take the spoils, receiving 3lbs, by half a length.
Who was the best colt? A decisive encounter in St Leger sadly never happened as St Frusquin pulled out after injuring himself in training and never raced again. Persimmon went on to win the final classic at Doncaster and won the following year’s Ascot Gold Cup, the last Epsom Derby winner to win the most famous prize at the Royal meeting.
No doubt their respective owners and personal friends Leopold De Rothschild and the Prince of Wales discussed their respective qualities regularly at social events during the summer of 1896.
St Amant, a son of St Frusquin, and again trained by Alfred Hayhoe and owned by Leopold won the 2000 Guineas in 1904 by a comfortable four lengths. You will hear more of him in our next blog about the Epsom Classics.
The final two Guineas winners from Palace House were both 25/1 outsiders trained by John Watson who moved into the yard in 1905.
American bred Norman III was the winner of the 1908 2000 Guineas, the 100th running of the race while the filly Pillion beat twenty-eight rivals in 1926 to become the last ever Guineas winner trained at Palace House.
Stephen Wallis – The Paddock and The Pavilion
