Hobgoblin, a bay racehorse, held by his jockey, on Newmarket Heath

Hobgoblin was a bay by Aleppo out of a mare by Wharton's Careless. He was owned by Mr. Edward Coke of Longford Hall, Derbyshire and was a top class racehorse. Behind Hobgoblin and his jockey is a vignette of the horse winning his most important race, which took place at Newmarket on 26 October 1729. The race was the third year of a 20 guineas sweepstakes for which eleven grandees of the turf, including the Dukes of Devonshire, Bolton, Rutland, Hamilton and Somerset, and the Lords Halifax and Manners variously entered horses each year.

Mr. Coke died young and Hobgoblin passed under his will via Mr. Williams to Lord Godolphin who stood him in his stud at Gogmagog, Cambridgeshire. A host of romantic legends surround Godolphin's most famous horse, The Godolphin Arabian, including a rivalry with Hobgoblin. It is said that Godolphin raced the Arabian and Hobgoblin in a contest to determine who should cover the the prized mare, Roxana. The Arabian stallion emerged victorious and the union with Roxana produced two good horses, Lath and Cade, and the latter continued a male line that has survived over two hundred and fifty years to the present day.