Epsom’s Horse Graves Part 2 – Epsom & Ewell History Explorer

Epsom’s Horse Graves

Part 2: Amato & others

Ladas, Sir Visto and Cicero (as discussed in Part 1 ) were not the first horses – or even the first Derby winners – to be buried at the Durdans. That distinction goes to Amato.

Amato (1835–1843)

The owner of Amato was Sir Gilbert Heathcote (4th Baronet), who had purchased the Durdans in 1819. He was, for many years, a Member of Parliament for Lincoln and Rutland – alongside which he was keen on the Turf.

The horse was bred at the Durdans and had a notable pedigree. At fifteen hands two inches, he was on the small side, and described as ‘wiry’. As well as being bred in Epsom he was trained locally, by Ralph Sherwood.

Amato, as painted by John Frederick Herring Snr (1795–1865).
Public domain image – via Wikipedia

Amato’s first ever race was the 1838 Derby. Being an unknown quantity, he began the race at odds of 33/1. The start was a bit of a shambles. There were, course, no starting gates as these were not introduced to UK flat racing until 1965 – there was not even a starting tape. Before the starter finally lowered his flag, there were three breaks away and, when ‘go’ was signalled, two horses were left at the start and several others were slowly away. Sir Gilbert had engaged leading jockey James ‘Jem’ Chapple, who had won the Derby/Oaks double in 1833, to ride Amato. They were not impeded by the muddled start, and led from the mile post to win by a length.

A thoroughly local horse at such good odds had attracted a lot of interest in and around Epsom, and there was much local rejoicing at the highly profitable win. To mark the event, the Chalk Lane pub changed its name from the Hare & Hounds to the Amato. (Previously it had been called the Rummer). The original building was destroyed by fire in 1928 and sympathetically replaced, as shown below.

Top: The original Amato in about 1910.
Postcard from the writer’s collection.
Bottom: The Amato today.
Photograph by Roger Morgan © 2024

The pub/restaurant continues to cherish its links with the Derby, and marks every year’s win by adding a horseshoe and the winner’s name to its large collection. (It is open to question whether any of the horseshoes are from the actual horses, but they are all of different sizes so are not mass-produced). Amato, of course, gets special treatment. Over the fireplace in the bar area hangs a modern copy of J.F. Herring’s original picture of the horse alongside a framed horseshoe for Amato’s 1838 Derby win.

The Amato’s celebration of its name.
Photographs by Roger Morgan © 2024

The horseshoes marking Lord Rosebery’s three Derby wins can be found among the series on each side of the beams over the Amato’s bar area.

The Amato’s marking of Lord Rosebery’s three Derby wins.
Photographs by Roger Morgan © 2024

After his Derby win, Amato seemed set for a good career. Unfortunately, he sustained an injury shortly after the win and never raced again. He was retired to the Durdans. I can find no record of this pedigree horse siring any notable progeny. Amato died in early 1843, and Sir Gilbert buried the body in the Durdans woods under a stone carrying the simple inscription AMATO / JANUARY 27th 1843.

Amato’s grave in the woods of the Durdans estate.
Photograph by Roger Morgan © 2024

This grave is about 100m to the northeast of the clearing where Ladas, Sir Visto and Cicero were later buried. The fact that the low railings round the four graves are identical would seem to indicate that it was Lord Rosebery who added the railings to Amato’s grave.

It is fairly well-known that these four Derby winners are buried at the Durdans. However, Lord Rosebery also buried two non-Derby winners there. Their graves are next to Amato’s and are marked by the two pyramid-topped white blocks seen in the foreground of the photograph below.

Amato’s grave – and two more.
Photograph by Roger Morgan © 2024

Velasquez (1894–1906)

The memorial stone on the right of the photograph above commemorates the horse Velasquez, as pictured below in the only image I have found, used in spite of its poor quality.

Velasquez.
Public domain via X

Velasquez was bred by Lord Rosebery from the same dam (Vista) that had foaled Sir Visto. The colt showed great promise in training and realised this in his two-year-old season by winning his first few races. The other leading two-year-old that year was the Irish-bred Galtee More. Apart from one second place, he had won his other races that year.

The two horses met for the first time in September 1896, at the year’s most important race for two-year-olds, the Middle Park Plate at Newmarket. Velasquez started as the favourite at odds of 1/5, with Galtee More at 5/1. Galtee More led from the start and beat Velasquez by six lengths, the latter’s team noting that their horse had been hampered by the very soft and muddy conditions. Both horses were seen as leading contenders for the following year’s Classics, and ended the year as joint 3/1 favourites for the 1897 Derby.

The two horses’ first rematch was, however, at the 2000 Guineas on 5 May 1897. Galtee More was the favourite at the very short odds of 1/4, with Velasquez second favourite at 10/1. The two horses quickly left the field behind and, towards the finish, Galtee More pulled ahead to win by two lengths.

At the Jubilee Derby on 2 June 1897 (the year of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee) Galtee More started at odds of 1/4 with Velasquez second favourite on 10/1. Again, both horses pulled clear of the field. In the closing stages, Galtee More again managed to pull ahead and won by two lengths. (Incidentally, Galtee More just missed out on the 1897 English Triple Crown by finishing that year’s 2000 Guineas half a length behind the winner).

As a four-year-old, Velasquez was placed in several races, but seems to have won only the 1898 Eclipse Stakes at Sandown Park. He was then retired to stud, siring a couple of foals with Sea Breeze (see below).

Velasquez died in 1906, aged 12. Lord Rosebery thought him of sufficient significance to merit burial at the Durdans, alongside Amato, marking the spot with the memorial stone shown in detail below.

The memorial stone for Velasquez.
Photograph by Roger Morgan © 2024

Sea Breeze (1885–1909)

The other horse buried near Amato is Sea Breeze. Unlike Lord Rosebery’s other horses discussed above, she was a filly, and had not been bred by him. The breeder was the Duchess of Montrose, who sold the young foal to trainer Captain James Machell. He subsequently sold her to Frederick Gough-Calthorpe (the 5th Baron Calthorpe), who was the owner throughout her racing career.

Word had got around about Sea Breeze’s potential and, for her racing debut in the 15 April 1887 Fitzwilliam Plate at Newmarket, she started as the 2/1 favourite. In hotly contested race, she came third, barely a length behind the winner. She started the 8 June Biennial Stakes at Ascot at 5/1 and won by five lengths. It seems she won a couple of more races as a two-year-old, and was placed in the others.

Sea Breeze’s first race as a three-year-old was the 1000 Guineas at Newmarket on 4 May 1888. She started as the 5/4 favourite, but came second – to Briar-root – by two lengths.

Briar-root and Sea Breeze met again a month later to contest the Oaks Stakes at Epsom. Briar-root was the favourite at 5/4 and Sea Breeze second favourite at 7/4. Sea Breeze won the race in a record time of 2:42.8, while Briar-root came fifth in a field of six.

At Royal Ascot, Sea Breeze started as the odds-on favourite for the Rous Memorial Stakes but was beaten into second place by half a length. Nevertheless, she was odds-on favourite for the Coronation Stakes two days later – justifiably so, as she won by two lengths. In spite of a poor performance (on ‘terribly heavy’ rain-soaked ground) in the 1 August Sussex Stakes at Goodwood, Sea Breeze started the 1888 St Leger as 2/1 favourite – again, fully justified by her win by three lengths in another record time of 3:11.8.

On 22 September 1888, Sea Breeze was the 5/2 favourite for the Lancashire Plate at Manchester. Against strong opposition, she won by three-quarters of a length – a win recorded in the painting below, the only image of Sea Breeze that I have found.

Sea Breeze winning The Lancashire Plate,1888.
Oil painting by J W Baldock, via Wikimedia.

Sea Breeze finished her three-year-old season in October’s Newmarket Oaks. As one of only two runners, she started with odds of 7/200, and beat her opponent (Beatrix) by a head.

As a four-year-old in 1889, Sea Breeze did not disgrace herself, chalking up several places but no wins. She was then retired to stud. When Baron Calthorpe died in 1893, Lord Rosebery (a fellow peer and close political ally) purchased the mare for 3,600 guineas, and continued to breed from her. Her foals included Sailor Lad (sired by the famous Ladas II) and Admiral Breeze and Vasco (both sired by Velasquez).

Sea Breeze died on 22 April 1909 after foaling. Lord Rosebery clearly felt her record before he was her owner merited burial alongside Amato and Velasquez, marking the spot with the memorial stone shown in detail below.

. . . and Mischief?

As shown in the photograph below, there is another memorial across the clearing from the graves of Amato, Velasquez and Sea Breeze. . .

. . . and this last memorial carries the simple inscription MISCHIEF.

My searches found no record of a horse called Mischief, and I am grateful to an eagle-eyed friend who, when searching for something in Lord Crewe’s biography of Lord Rosebery, happened to spot (on page 616) a mention of Gilbert Heathcote – owner of the Durdans from 1819 to 1858 – burying Amato in the grounds of the Durdans ‘side by side with a favourite stag-hound’. This must surely be Mischief.

(I should mention that my eagle-eyed friend also spotted, on page 126 of Pownall’s 1825 history of Epsom, that ‘In the shrubbery at Durdans, stands a small triangular pillar, said to have been erected by Frederick Prince of Wales [who lived at the Durdans in the mid 1700s], to the memory of a favourite dog’. That ‘small triangular pillar’ is clearly not the Mischief memorial and, if it still stands, its whereabouts are not currently known).

Author

Roger Morgan