An 18ct. gold decanter label presented to the racehorse trainer Thomas Dawson to commemorate the vic...
An 18ct. gold decanter label presented to the racehorse trainer Thomas Dawson to commemorate the victory of 'Pretender' in the 1869 Derby, hallmarked William Summers, London, 1869, of convex oval form, the obverse engraved with a named portrait of 'Pretender' and inscribed OLD TOM, the reverse inscribed WINNER OF THE DERBY, 1869, TRAINED BY THOMAS DAWSON, width 4.5cm., 1 3/4in. Pretender was a bay colt foaled in 1866 by Adventurer out of Ferina and was a double classic winner, following up his 2,000 Guineas win with victory in the 1869 Derby at Epsom. Other wins included the North of England Biennial Stakes at York and the Great Northern Leger at Stockton. It is presumed that this decanter label was a gift from the horse's owner Mr J Johnstone to his trainer 'Old Tom' Dawson to commemorate the Derby win. The Dawson family were a Scottish dynasty of racehorse trainers started by George Dawson whose Stamford Hall stables were located at Gullane in East Lothian. Of his 17 children, four brothers set up their own training operations, Thomas, Mathew [sic], Joseph and John and between them won an astonishing 42 Classics including 9 Derbys. Thomas, the eldest, hence 'Old Tom', left Gullane in 1830 and set up at Middleham in North Yorkshire, first at Brecongill and later at the Tupgill Stables. Thomas Dawson pioneered new training techniques, significantly abandoning the age old practice of sweating horses profusely under heavy rugs. He trained five Classic winners.