Lot Essay
The inscription on the body reads, BEVERLEY RACES 1830 W.C.MAXWELL ESQR., T B HODGSON ESQR., STEWARDS WON BY BESSY BEDLAM JUNE 10TH
Bessy Bedlam was a brown filly foaled in 1825 by Filho da Puta out of Lunatic. She was an excellent racehorse who provided her owner/breeder Colonel King with three successful years in training before retiring to stud in 1830. As a two year old in 1827 she was unbeaten in her first four races and scored a major triumph in beating arch rival Velocipede at Doncaster. The following year she won four more races and her only defeat was when she was unplaced in the St. Leger. She won only one race in 1829 but her defeats were by Velocipede and another famous mare Fleur de Lys.
In 1830 she retired winning two of her five starts, one being her victory in the Beverley Gold Cup. Run on Thursday June 10th, the field comprised, by chance, of only three mares, Bessy Bedlam, Mr Dickenson's chesnut filly Lucy and Mr Haworth's bay mare Brenda. Bessy Bedlam returned to the winner's enclosure the 2 to 1 favourite, ridden by Tom Nicholson she beat Lucy and Brenda respectively.
The cup was funded from subscriptions of 10 sovereigns from each of the original eight entrants with the aid of a further 20 sovereigns subsidised by the racecourse, the cup presumably cost 110.
Bessy Bedlam was a brown filly foaled in 1825 by Filho da Puta out of Lunatic. She was an excellent racehorse who provided her owner/breeder Colonel King with three successful years in training before retiring to stud in 1830. As a two year old in 1827 she was unbeaten in her first four races and scored a major triumph in beating arch rival Velocipede at Doncaster. The following year she won four more races and her only defeat was when she was unplaced in the St. Leger. She won only one race in 1829 but her defeats were by Velocipede and another famous mare Fleur de Lys.
In 1830 she retired winning two of her five starts, one being her victory in the Beverley Gold Cup. Run on Thursday June 10th, the field comprised, by chance, of only three mares, Bessy Bedlam, Mr Dickenson's chesnut filly Lucy and Mr Haworth's bay mare Brenda. Bessy Bedlam returned to the winner's enclosure the 2 to 1 favourite, ridden by Tom Nicholson she beat Lucy and Brenda respectively.
The cup was funded from subscriptions of 10 sovereigns from each of the original eight entrants with the aid of a further 20 sovereigns subsidised by the racecourse, the cup presumably cost 110.