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Lot Essay
This Richmond 'gold cup' is recorded by J. Fairfax-Blakeborough in Northern Turf History vol.I, p.180 as being 'won by Lord Lauderdale's b.h. [bay horse], Scorpion, by Il'mio, 5 years old.' The race was run on Wednesday, 8 September, 1790 and is described in the Racing Calendar of that year as being 'free to any horse, &c, except the winners of the three great subscriptions at York this year; 5 year olds, 8st. 3lb. and 4 year olds, 7st. 7lb. - four miles.'
The Richmond Gold Cup was first run in 1759 and was advertised in the York Courant as being a subscription race, price of entry for colt or filly twenty guineas. A number of these prize cups survive, notably those won by the Duke of Cleveland, at Raby Castle, and one designed by Robert Adam, now in the collection of the Marquess of Zetland. The oval medallions depicting equine scenes were frequent decorations for these cups over a period of twenty years or more and the scene of two horses on the present cup is taken from J.N. Sartorius' 'A Neck Ahead' (sold Sotheby's, 28 January 1981, lot 156).
The Richmond Gold Cup was first run in 1759 and was advertised in the York Courant as being a subscription race, price of entry for colt or filly twenty guineas. A number of these prize cups survive, notably those won by the Duke of Cleveland, at Raby Castle, and one designed by Robert Adam, now in the collection of the Marquess of Zetland. The oval medallions depicting equine scenes were frequent decorations for these cups over a period of twenty years or more and the scene of two horses on the present cup is taken from J.N. Sartorius' 'A Neck Ahead' (sold Sotheby's, 28 January 1981, lot 156).