Bonhams racing sale to include Dorothy Paget memorabilia

Bonhams racing sale at Tattersalls in Newmarket is to include a collection of photographs and racing memorabilia connected to the famously eccentric millionairess Dorothy Paget (1905-1960).

Dorothy was the daughter of American-born Pauline Payne Whitney and English aristocrat Lord Queensborough.

The collection gives a unique insight into Dorothy’s intriguing life that centres around the glamorous British Racing scene of the 1930s and 1940s.

Throughout her life, Dorothy owned a number of trophy-winning racehorses, including Golden Miller who won the Cheltenham Gold Cup five years running and in 1934 his win in the Grand National set a new record.

However, Dorothy did not take losing well and had a reputation for being a tyrant with her horses’ trainers.

One trainer, Walter Nightingale, refused to put up with her angry phone calls which could come at all hours, and demanded that she remove all of her horses from his yard within 24 hours or he would set them loose in Epsom.

Dorothy was very superstitious and would wear the same tweed coat to every race-meet, however it was not always lucky — the collection shows that her extravagant gambling led to her losing over £108,000 in 1948, a sum which would be almost equivalent to £3 million today.

The Dorothy Paget collection will be sold as part of Bonhams’ racing sale and will include equestrian pictures, silver, racing trophies, memorabilia and equestrian works of art and is valued at £1,500-£2,000.

This year’s sale also includes a long tom whip (£250-350) owned by the Queen’s former racehorse trainer, Captain Cecil Boyd-Rochfort and a 19th century enamelled pocket watch (£1,000-£1,500) which commemorated Fred Archer’s famous Derby winner of 1881, as well as a bronze of Lester Piggott which is estimated to sell for £400-600.

The Bonhams racing sale starts at 11am on Saturday 19 July at Tattersalls in Newmarket with viewings taking place on Thursday 17 and Friday 18 July.

For more information phone Daniel Wright (01284 716 190) or email bury@bonhams.com

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