Bahram
Bay colt by Blandford ex Friar’s Daughter, by Friar Marcus – 1932 to 1956
The most recent Triple Crown winner trained in Newmarket, Bahram won the 2,000 Guineas, Derby and St Leger in 1935 during an undefeated nine-race career for his owner/breeder HH Aga Khan III, trained in Fitzroy House by Frank Butters.
Steve Cauthen
Steve Cauthen arrived from America in 1979 and promptly rode the 2,000 Guineas winner Tap On Wood. He was initially based in Lambourn, but his career in Britain reached its zenith when he moved to Newmarket to ride for Henry Cecil in 1985. He was thrice champion jockey, most notably in 1987 when he rode 197 winners including partnering Reference Point to victory in the Derby and St Leger. He had also been champion two years previously, when his 195 winners included Slip Anchor (on whom he won the Derby) and Oh So Sharp, whom he partnered to victory in the Fillies’ Triple Crown.
Mathew Dawson
Training in Heath House, Mathew Dawson was Newmarket’s pre-eminent trainer of the 19th century, most notably enjoying a legendary partnership with his champion jockey protégé Fred Archer. He sent out four Derby winners but always maintained that St Simon was the greatest horse whom he trained.
Doug Smith
Champion jockey five times in the 1950s, Doug Smith rode many champions headed by Lord Derby’s great stayer Alycidon and also including the Queen’s Pall Mall and Prince Aly Khan’s Petite Etoile, on whom respectively he won the 2,000 Guineas in 1958 and the 1,000 Guineas in 1959. He became a successful trainer on his retirement from race-riding, highlighted by the victory of Sleeping Partner in the Oaks in 1969.
St Simon
Bay colt, by Galopin ex St. Angela, by King Tom – 1881 to 1908
Probably the greatest racehorse to be trained in Newmarket in the 19th century, St Simon remained unbeaten in a nine-race career, highlighted by a breath-takingly impressive 20-length victory in the Ascot Gold Cup in 1884. He subsequently became a champion stallion, topping the General Sires’ Table nine times with his progeny headed by the outstanding Derby winner and champion sire Persimmon. Bred and owned by the Duke of Portland, St Simon was trained in Heath House by Mathew Dawson.
Alfie Westwood
Alfie Westwood came to Newmarket shortly after the Second World War to be apprenticed to Claude Halsey. He rode his first winner at Newmarket when beating Sir Gordon Richards by a short head, and was still race-riding for Harvey Leader 20 years later. He subsequently enjoyed lengthy stints taking horses to the races for Patrick Haslam and Willie Musson and was still riding out into his 70s before making arguably his greatest contribution to the sport in ‘retirement’. As a guide in the National Horseracing Museum, he passed on his passion by enthusing a whole generation of young visitors to the museum before his death in 2015.
King Charles II
Returning to Newmarket in 1666 after the restoration of the monarchy, King Charles II reintroduced racing to the town after the compulsorily blank years of the Protectorate. His legacy has been that racing has now been thriving in the town uninterruptedly for over 350 years, with Newmarket in that time having become established as the international HQ of the Sport Of Kings.