FEELING a Thoroughbred, the ultimate equine athlete, bunch beneath you and extend its stride defines horsepower. Perched above the tiny saddle in short stirrups, head down and eyes up, it’s impossible to stop grinning in sheer delight, intoxicated by the speed.
When Goodwood contacted the Editor of COUNTRY LIFE, asking if anyone on the staff would be interested in taking part in the Magnolia Cup, a charity race on Ladies’ Day of Glorious Goodwood, he asked me, as I am well known for charging off across country. The chance to learn a new kind of riding and race on the hallowed turf of the South Downs course was impossible to pass up.
And it is hallowed turf. Not only did the 5th Duke of Richmond’s friend Lord George Bentinck create the first horsebox to transport his horse Elis 250 miles to Doncaster to win the St Leger in 1836, but the pair cleaned up the sport and introduced elements familiar today, including flag starts and jockey silks. ‘The reform of racing was the 5th Duke’s biggest legacy,’ says James Peill, estate curator and the author of Glorious Goodwood. ‘It’s sometimes overshadowed by the glamour, but a lot of racing history has happened here.’
The Magnolia Cup was founded by the current, 11th, Duke, then the Earl of March, who wanted an event to raise money for charity and celebrate female jockeys. The name comes from the 2nd Duke’s enthusiasm for horticulture and the latest exotic to capture the attention of ‘brother gardeners’ in the 1730s; he wrote to supplier Peter Collinson about the plants of his late friend Lord Petre: ‘The small magnolias are confounded dear, butt I must have them, though I believe nobody else will be fool enough to buy any at that price.’
Bu hikaye Country Life UK dergisinin July 21, 2021 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye Country Life UK dergisinin July 21, 2021 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
Put some graphite in your pencil
Once used for daubing sheep, graphite went on to become as valuable as gold and wrote Keswick's place in history. Harry Pearson inhales that freshly sharpened-pencil smell
Dulce et decorum est
Michael Sandle is the Wilfred Owen of art, with his deeply felt sense of the futility of violence. John McEwen traces the career of this extraordinary artist ahead of his 88th birthday
Heaven is a place on earth
For the women of the Bloomsbury group, their country gardens were places of refuge, reflection and inspiration, as well as a means of keeping loved ones close by, discovers Deborah Nicholls-Lee
It's the plants, stupid
I WON my first prize for gardening when I was nine years old at prep school. My grandmother was delighted-it was she who had sent me the seeds of godetia, eschscholtzia and Virginia stock that secured my victory.
Pretty as a picture
The proliferation of honey-coloured stone cottages is part of what makes the Cotswolds so beguiling. Here, we pick some of our favourites currently on the market
How golden was my valley
These four magnificent Cotswold properties enjoy splendid views of hill and dale
The fire within
An occasionally deadly dinner-party addition, this perennial plant would become the first condiment produced by Heinz
Sweet chamomile, good times never seemed so good
Its dainty white flowers add sunshine to the garden and countryside; it will withstand drought and create a sweet-scented lawn that never needs mowing. What's not to love about chamomile
All I need is the air that I breathe
As the 250th anniversary of 'a new pure air' approaches, Cathryn Spence reflects on the 'furious free-thinker' and polymath who discovered oxygen
My art is in the garden
Monet and Turner supplied the colours, Canaletto the structure and Klimt the patterns for the Boodles National Gallery garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.
