The trainer's trophy for the Centenary Grand National won by Royal Mail in 1937, in the form of a silver cup & cover by Boodle & Dunthorne, hallmarked Birmingham 1936, with a tapering stem, Pegasus handles and an acorn finial, the body set with a medallion commemorating the coronation of King George VI, a reverse medallion depicting a Liver Bird and inscribed THE GRAND NATIONAL, CENTENARY YEAR 1937, with a turned ebonised plinth set with a plaque inscribed ROYAL MAIL, WINNER OF THE GRAND NATIONAL 1937, OWNED BY HUGH LLOYD THOMAS, TRAINED BY IVOR ANTHONY, RIDDEN BY EVAN WILLIAMS, height 36cm., 14in., weight 1,493gr., 48oz. The 1937 Grand National was known as the 'Welsh National' with the winning owned, trainer and jockey all being Welshmen, namely Mr Hugh Lloyd Thomas, Ivor Anthony and Evan Williams respectively. Royal Mail was a black gelding bred by Charlie Rogers in Ireland from My Prince out of Flying May and a half-brother to the double Grand National winner Reynoldstown. He was sold as an unbroken three-year-old to Hubert Hartigan, who passed him on to the former assistant secretary to the Prince of Wales Mr Hugh Lloyd Thomas. The gelding was trained by Ivor Anthony at the Barcelona Stables at Wroughton in Wiltshire, where the 1933 winner Kellsboro' Jack had also been trained as well as the legendary Brown Jack. Royal Mail won the race by three lengths at odds of 100 to 6. Royal Mail's delighted owner, an amateur rider of some distinction, gave notice after the victory that he intended to ride the gelding himself in next year's 'National, fitting in race-riding with his duties as a member of the British Diplomatic Service. Sadly it was not to be, for just a month before the 1938 Grand National, Mr Hugh Lloyd Thomas was killed in a fall in a steeplechase at Derby. appendix Lots 692 to 699 are being sold by the descendants of Stewart Wilkins, the groom of the 1937 Grand National winner Royal Mail employed at Ivor Anthony's Barcelona Stables at Wroughton, Wiltshire.
£1,500 - £2,500
The trainer's trophy for the Centenary Grand National won by Royal Mail in 1937, in the form of a silver cup & cover by Boodle & Dunthorne, hallmarked Birmingham 1936, with a tapering stem, Pegasus handles and an acorn finial, the body set with a medallion commemorating the coronation of King George VI, a reverse medallion depicting a Liver Bird and inscribed THE GRAND NATIONAL, CENTENARY YEAR 1937, with a turned ebonised plinth set with a plaque inscribed ROYAL MAIL, WINNER OF THE GRAND NATIONAL 1937, OWNED BY HUGH LLOYD THOMAS, TRAINED BY IVOR ANTHONY, RIDDEN BY EVAN WILLIAMS, height 36cm., 14in., weight 1,493gr., 48oz. The 1937 Grand National was known as the 'Welsh National' with the winning owned, trainer and jockey all being Welshmen, namely Mr Hugh Lloyd Thomas, Ivor Anthony and Evan Williams respectively. Royal Mail was a black gelding bred by Charlie Rogers in Ireland from My Prince out of Flying May and a half-brother to the double Grand National winner Reynoldstown. He was sold as an unbroken three-year-old to Hubert Hartigan, who passed him on to the former assistant secretary to the Prince of Wales Mr Hugh Lloyd Thomas. The gelding was trained by Ivor Anthony at the Barcelona Stables at Wroughton in Wiltshire, where the 1933 winner Kellsboro' Jack had also been trained as well as the legendary Brown Jack. Royal Mail won the race by three lengths at odds of 100 to 6. Royal Mail's delighted owner, an amateur rider of some distinction, gave notice after the victory that he intended to ride the gelding himself in next year's 'National, fitting in race-riding with his duties as a member of the British Diplomatic Service. Sadly it was not to be, for just a month before the 1938 Grand National, Mr Hugh Lloyd Thomas was killed in a fall in a steeplechase at Derby. appendix Lots 692 to 699 are being sold by the descendants of Stewart Wilkins, the groom of the 1937 Grand National winner Royal Mail employed at Ivor Anthony's Barcelona Stables at Wroughton, Wiltshire.