Tattersalls Sales Ring on Friday 9th will be the third ‘Churchill At The Gallop’ talk in 10 days. The first was last Tuesday at The Salamander Resort in Middleburg, Virginia in discussion with International Churchill Society Director Michael Bishop, the second on my own at The Watermill Theatre, Newbury and now we will be at Newmarket with Winston’s grandson Sir Nicholas Soames.
Nicholas will be a supremely appropriate guest as it was his father Christopher Soames who masterminded Winston Churchill’s return to racehorse ownership by buying the grey Colonist II who went on to win 13 races and be second in the Ascot Gold Cup. What’s more Newmarket has a special part in the Churchill story as some of the happiest days of Churchill’s teenage years were spent at Banstead Manor, now famous as the home and birthplace of the superstar racehorse and stallion Frankel. Churchill lived there from 13 to 15 and rode across the Heath to watch his father’s horses work on the gallops.
If the evening is as enjoyable as the others, I will be a lucky man. Eat your heart out Gary Oldman.