Excerpt of The Highest Stakes by Emery Lee

The Lichfield races, held annually in September, transformed the Whittington Heath, a three-hundred-acre sheep pasture, into the premiere event for all of Staffordshire. Lords and gentlemen had arrived from the North of England, Wales, and even the Scottish highlands, but as unusual as this was, never had this innocuous little village ever attracted a foreign dignitary.

By far, the most distinguished patron of the races this year was the elegant and illustrious Grand Ecuyer de France. Rumored to have travelled all the way from Versailles to procure a number of English running-bloods for the Royal stud, Monsieur Le Grand’s visit to Baron John Leveson-Gower had propitiously coincided with the Lichfield races.

With the final preparations for the race in progress, Lord Gower and his eminent guest promenaded the grounds, surveying the field and assessing prospective stock to complement the Royal stud of France.

“I have heard for a number of years, Lord Gower, that the finest racing flesh resides across the Channel in England. I was of course loath to believe such a thing, but most curiously, after seeing so many specimens of excellence, I must confess that this might be so.” He paused in his perambulations to admire a particularly sleek black stallion in one of the myriad paddocks.

“Do you know, what is the breeding of this horse, Lord Gower?”

“Hastings’s Hawke? He is indeed a fine specimen! I believe he is by Francis Lord Godolphin’s Barb stallion, but I shall inquire further, if you so desire.”

“The Godolphin again! He shall forever plague me, this horse! It is said that one of the finest producers of racing champions in England was first cast-off by Versailles. A very foolish move by the Grand Ecuyer, was it not?”

“Am I to assume that you refer to Lord Godolphin’s stallion?”

“Indeed! One and the same, but the name was not so. In France, the stallion was called by El Sham. You do not know the history of this horse, Lord Gower?

“Only these past years while he stands in Cambridgeshire, Monsieur Le Grand.”       

“Then I shall recount to you this story, bien sur?”

“Indeed, I am most intrigued.”

“The stallion, El Sham, was presented to His Majesty as one of eight horses—chevales pur sang arabes—from the Sultan Muley Abdulah of Moroc. The grand riding master at Versailles, Monsieur de La Gueriniere, the man whom I appoint, finds this stallion wanting, you see. As he is small in stature and not of the form preferred for the dressage, he is cast out from the stud Royale. This same horse was then procured by your Englishman, Monsieur Coke, who brings him to England, where he soon becomes the sire of champions! So you see that I, en effet, am responsible indirectly for this horse leaving France, and now I come to England to find such a one to take back! C’est l’ironie magnifique, n’est ce pas?” He recounted his tale with surprising good humor.

“Indeed, a most amazing irony! But in all truth, this stallion’s value was little realized at the first. When he left our poor departed Coke’s hands for Lord Godolphin’s stud, he was intended as a teasing stallion, to prepare the mares for the services of his lordship’s Hobgoblin. Apparently, he fought Hobgoblin for Roxana’s honors, and the unintended byproduct, Lath, was a most formidable opponent on the turf. The fleetest since Flying Childers, some say, and now this former teasing stallion is making a greater name as a sire than Hobgoblin.

“Indeed, it may be of further interest that a son of his, called by Cade, is to run today. He is full brother to Lath and already proving as remarkable a runner. His first year at Newmarket, he won both heats of the King’s Plate. His next year, he ran second only to Sedbury, a great-grandson of Colonel Byerley’s Turk, another long-proven champion sire. I daresay we might yet see a match race betwixt the pair, but I should be in a veritable quandary where to lay my money on that one!”

“How I should like to see such a race!” remarked Monsieur Le Grand.

“If one offers a large enough purse, most anything might be arranged for the entertainment of Le Grand Ecuyer de France.”