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THE BROUGHSHANE CUP 1751
A RARE GEORGE II IRISH HORSE RACING CUP FOR BROUGHSHANE RACE COURSE IN ITS FOUNDING YEAR 1751
A large twin-handle cup and cover, Dublin c.1750, the stepped domed lid with acorn finial, prominent S-scroll handles, the plain
body with central girdle and engraved on one side with a jockey and racehorse running above an inscription “This Plate Given By
the Gentlemen Freeholders of The Braid and Run for One Course of Broughshane, Dublin 1751”, the obverse engraved with a vacant
cartouche
One of the earliest extant Irish racing cups, the Broughshane Cup commemorates the founding year of Broughshane Racecourse in
1751. As an example of Irish racing history, it predates by five years the example by Robert Calderwood in the National Museum.
The history of horse racing in these islands can be traced back to the hobby horses of Henry VIII, but the foundations of modern
organised racing are here in Ireland with the establishment of The Honourable Society of Sportsmen, at a coffee house in the Curragh
in 1747. The English equivalent, The Jockey Club, was founded in 1751 at a meeting in the Stak and Garter in Pall Mall in London,
and by 1756 The Society of Sportsmen adopted the more marketable name of their English counterparts, so leading generations of
historians to award primacy to our English cousins.
One of the founders of Broughshane Racecourse was Charles O’Hara, a founding member of The Honourable Society of Sportsmen;
the cup is recorded in his article entitled “The Sport of Kings”, which appears in The Irish Arts Review. Hector McDonnell notes the
provision of £60 for a silver racing cup by the Freeman of Broughshane in the founding year of the racecourse.
Another founding member of Broughshane Racecourse and likely contributor to this cup was Charles O’Neill, whose horse,
Broughshane Swallow, was rumoured to race with rosary beads around his neck.
Living a mere ten miles away, the Earl of Glenavin was recorded as a winner in the inaugural year with his mare Fly.
Published results from Broughshane exist in these early years for 1751-1756 and 1776.
This cup is a truly rare memento from the infancy of horse racing in the founding year of the jockey club.
€25000 - 35000
