Lord Derby and His Horses

The seventeenth Earl of Derby was a nobleman who on more than one occasion was seriously considered as a potential leader of the Conservative Party and as a Prime Minister, and who wielded enormous political influence. This book describes his racing and breeding activities against the background of his career in public life. / He frequently said that he had had two ambitions - to be Prime Minister, and to own the winner of the Derby. His political power derived from his home county, in which he was so preeminent that he was known, not unreasonably, as the 'King of Lancashire.' / The revival of the family stable and stud began when his father became the sixteenth earl. It started with Canterbury Pilgrim, the yearling filly that the then Lord Stanley bought for his father to win the Oaks of 1896. His long relationship with George Lambton, whom he chose to train their horses, saw many other early successes, such as those of the mighty Swynford, and Phalaris, whose influence as a stallion was so great that John Randall and Tony Morris named him the 'Sire of the Century.'