Mr Henry Vansittart’s chestnut colt Burleigh with Sam Chifney up, by the Rubbing-Down House at Newmarket

Burleigh was a chestnut colt foaled by Stamford out of Mercury. He was bred and owned by Henry Vansittart (d. 1848), JP, DL. Burleigh won two matches in 1808 and a further five in 1809. 1810 saw further wins but he showed the best form of his career in 1811 winning the Jockey Club Plate. During the same year, he was beaten by the Duke of Grafton’s Whalebone in the King’s Plate at Newmarket. A year later, in 1812, Vansittart married Teresa, the daughter of Sir William Gleadowe-Newcomen and the widow of Sir Charles Turner of Kirkleatham Hall, North Yorshire, who had inherited the estate from her first husband. During the same year, Ben Marshall moved to Newmarket and made this portrait of Burleigh. He shows the colt by the Rubbing-Down House with Sam Chifney Jr. (1786-1854), one of the most celebrated jockeys of the 19th century, though not one of the most scrupulous.
An earlier version of this picture, signed and dated 1811, remained at Kirkleatham until 1994, when it was acquired by General Lord Norrie. It was subsequently sold at Christie’s, London, 14 April 2011, lot 64. A third version, dated 1811, is at Audley End, Saffron Walden.