All the drama of the turf was captured in an outstanding front cover image used by Horse & Hound in July 1958. Master of Boyden, ridden by apprentice jockey D. Cullen, was away to win the Brighton Mile, chased down by a competitive field. You ca look at it in closer detail here.
Elsewhere in the magazine, it was noted that breeders were suffering from a cost of living crisis, notably because the hay crop had been written off by poor weather, such that, “What becomes available must acquire a scarcity price.”
In turn, it meant rising costs down the chain. “As the principal proprietor of a popular syndicated stallion remarked apologetically at Newmarket to an established supporter of the horse, ‘I hope you won’t mind paying an extra hundred next year, but I find I am having to pay more myself in future if I want to keep my place on the list of several other people’s stallions.’”
Plus ça change, as they say…
