THE TRAINER WHO FOUNDED A RACING DYNASTY
With Royal Ascot in full swing this week it is perhaps fitting to recall the achievements of a Jedburgh-born trainer of racehorses who was to become one of the leading exponents of his profession.
But like Matthew Hardie, violin maker extraordinaire, who featured in these columns recently, James Waugh (1831-1905) doesn't seem to feature in Jedburgh's pantheon of all-time greats.
James was the patriarch of a veritable racing dynasty of Waughs which survives to this day. No fewer than six of his sons became trainers including Richard Waugh who, at one point in his career, took charge of Kaiser Wilhelm II's string of horses based at Germany's Imperial Stud.
Three Waugh family members involved in Germany's racing regime found themselves held captive in that country's Ruhleben prisoner of war camp for the duration of World War I. They returned to the sport in Germany and Denmark following their release.
Details of James Waugh's rise to fame can be found in Alan Walker's book The Scots and The Turf: Racing & Breeding - The Scottish Influence, a new edition of which was published last year.
James was the seventh son of Richard Waugh, a Jedburgh farmer who also spent time as coachman to local GP Dr Hume. Young James started work on the farm, but aged only 20 he was offered the chance to become personal racehorse trainer to the wealthy owner of Cessford Manor near the Borders village of Morebattle.
An accomplished horseman, Waugh built a reputation as a courageous steeplechase jockey as well as an efficient trainer. He was soon lured to the seaside at Gullane in East Lothian where he trained thoroughbreds for two knights of the realm, Sir James Boswell and Sir David Baird.
James's next job was in Berkshire where he took up a private training engagement for Australian owner Wybrow Robinson in 1867. Then it was on to Wiltshire to train exclusively for Scottish businessman James Merry.
This time the relationship between owner and trainer was to end in a degree of acrimony after Merry's horse Macgregor - an odds on favourite after winning the 2000 Guineas in 1870 - finished down the field in the Epsom Derby. That Guineas triumph was to be Waugh's only Classic success.
James Waugh was soon on his travels again, this time settling in Poland for a time to train for a Count Henschel. Next stop Hungary where his employers were Count Esterhazy and Prince Festitics.
As Alan Walker recalls in his book, James was to spend ten seasons in mainland Europe where in one highly successful year he sent out 45 winners including the German Derby at Hamburg.
But by this time his wife Isabella (nee Scott, from Southdean) was in poor health, and the pair return to England in 1880. Tragically Mrs Waugh died at the age of just 47 after giving birth to eleven children in less than two decades.
The contacts made during his European sojourns meant there were plenty of patrons willing to send him horses to train when he next set up an establishment in Newmarket. His list of owners included leading members of the European aristocracy as well as prosperous businessmen closer to home.
No doubt the stable star would have been St Gatien, the horse which famously dead-heated for the 1884 Derby, and which Waugh 'inherited' after its Classic victory. St Gatien provided the trainer with his third success in the prestigious Jockey Club Cup before Eurasian, another leading light in Waugh's string lifted the Gold Vase and the Alexandra Stakes at Royal Ascot in 1887.
Numerous other top grade wins were chalked up before retirement beckoned. According to The Scots and The Turf James was described as "smart, charming, genial, hospitable and with courtly manners". He died in 1905.
While six of his sons would take out trainers' licences, the dynasty was strengthened still further when two of his daughters married trainers too.
His offspring enjoyed great success on race courses up and down the United Kingdom, keeping the Waugh name to the fore in the so-called Sport of Kings right up to the 1980s.
His great-great grandson Alec Waugh established a highly successful stud in Normandy in 1997. He named his French breeding facility The Jedburgh Stud after the home of his illustrious ancestor.
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