Description
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Artist: Charles Hunt & Son
Plate mark size: 23 x 29 inches – (approx 58
x 74 cm)
Bend Or (1877_1903) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 1880 Epsom Derby. His regular jockey Fred Archer, winner of thirteen consecutive British jockey titles, said Bend Or was probably the greatest horse he had ever ridden.
Bred and foaled at the 1st Duke of Westminster’s Eaton Stud, Bend Or grew to be a large stallion but was noted for his unusual docility. He was sired by Doncaster, a son of Stockwell, from the mare, Rouge Rose by Thormanby.[1] Thormanby won the 1860 Epsom Derby and the 1861 Ascot Gold Cup and was in 1869 the leading sire in Great Britain & Ireland.
His name is the heraldry term for “a bend (heraldry) which is golden or yellow in color”.
Racing at age two, Bend Or went undefeated in his five starts.[1] At age three he also raced five times, starting the season by defeating Robert the Devil by a head in England’s most prestigious race, the Epsom Derby. Following his Derby win, a challenge to his pedigree was lodged on the grounds that his dam was not Rouge Rose, but a mare called Clemence. Although the objection was dismissed, it remained the subject of controversy.[2] Bend Or won his second start in 1880, the St. James’s Palace Stakes but had to be given a few months rest due to shin problems exacerbated in his Derby win. The injury affected him for most of the remainder of the year as was evident in his first loss when he returned to racing for September’s St. Leger Stakes. After finishing fifth behind winner Robert the Devil in the St. Leger, Bend Or was second to him again in the Great Foal Stakes and in the Champion Stakes.
Returning to the track at age four, Bend Or won the 1881 City and Suburban Handicap at Epsom Downs then avenged his previous year’s losses, beating arch rival Robert the Devil in the Epsom Gold Cup. He won the 1881 Champion Stakes but was bothered by a return of shin soreness. Carrying top weight of eight pounds more than the next weighted horse, Bend Or next finished fifth in the Cambridgeshire Handicap. He was then retired to breeding duties at his owner’s Eaton Stud
Major wins
Chesterfield Stakes (1879)
Richmond Stakes (1879)
Rous Memorial Stakes (1879)
Prince of Wales’s Stakes (York) (1879)
Epsom Derby (1880)
St. James’s Palace Stakes (1880)
City and Suburban Handicap (1881)
Epsom Gold Cup (1881)
Champion Stakes (1881)
