Eleanor (1798 – c. 1824) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse bred by Charles Bunbury and was the first female horse to win The Derby. Eleanor also won the 1801 Epsom Oaks among many other races before retiring from racing at age eight to become a broodmare for Bunbury. She produced the stallion Muley, which in turn sired the mare Marpessa (dam of Pocahontas and grandam of Stockwell) and the influential stallion Leviathan which was exported to the United States in the early nineteenth century. Through the produce of her daughter Active (the grandam of Woodburn), Eleanor is present in the pedigrees of 19th-century American Standardbred racehorses.
Background
Eleanor was foaled in 1798 at Barton Hall near Bury St. Edmunds, the ancestral home of her breeder Charles Bunbury. She was a bay filly with a small white star and a sock on her left hind foot. Bunbury purchased Eleanor's sire Whiskey in 1793 after his racing career. Whiskey was foaled in 1789 and was bred by the Prince of Wales. He won several sweepstakes over his racing career and raced until he was four years old.
Her dam, Young Giantess (foaled in 1790), was sired by Diomed, the winner of the first Epsom Derby and also owned by Bunbury, out of the mare Giantess. Giantess (foaled in 1769) was bred by Viscount Bolingbroke and had raced with success prior to being purchased as a broodmare by Bunbury, winning three races in eight starts. Young Giantess raced a few times, but was not successful on the turf. Retired to stud in 1794, Young Giantess was an exceptional broodmare and produced the influential stallion Sorcerer in 1796 during her first few seasons at stud when bred to Trumpetor. Eleanor was Young Giantess' third foal, and she also produced seven full-siblings to Eleanor: Julia (the dam of 1811 Derby winner Phantom, the sire of Middleton and Cedric), Cressida (the dam of 1830 Derby winner Priam), Lydia (dam of Corporal), Clarissa, Leonardo, Fair Star and Young Whiskey. Young Giantess died in 1811 while attempting to foal twins by Giles.
Racing career
Eleanor did not race as a two-year-old. She was owned by Charles Bunbury throughout her four-year racing career and won 29 out of her 48 starts. Her training has been attributed to a man named Cox or J. Frost. The death of Cox (or alternatively Frost) is associated with a death-bed anecdote about Eleanor's racing prowess where the dying man exclaims to a clergyman, "Depend upon it, that Eleanor is a h—l of a mare!" As a three-year-old in 1801, she became the first filly to win The Derby and also secured The Oaks that year, a feat that would not be repeated until 56 years later when Blink Bonny won both races in 1857. She is the first of only six fillies to win the Epsom Derby, and only four fillies have won the Epsom Oaks and the Derby. Her principal jockey for most of her career was John Saunders. Eleanor retired from racing at age seven and returned to Barton Hall as a broodmare for Bunbury.
1801: three-year-old season
Eleanor's first race occurred on 20 April in Newmarket at the First Spring meeting where she beat the filly Miss Fuery and won 250 guineas. The Epsom Derby, held on 21 May, was her second career start, which she won against 9 colts and one other filly while carrying 110 pounds. A colt by Fidget (owned by Lord Egremont) was second and the Duke of Grafton's filly Remnant sired by Trumpetor was third. On the day after the Derby, Eleanor won the 550-guinea Epsom Oaks from Lord Grosvenor's filly Rosamond and four other horses. At Ascot, she finished second in a 215-guinea sweepstakes to a colt sired by Asparagus (later named Teddy the Grinder) while carrying 7 pounds more weight than the other racers as a handicap for her wins in the Derby and the Oaks. At the First October meeting in Newmarket, Eleanor won 700 guineas in a match race with Miss Fuery. In her last engagement of the season, Eleanor beat the Duke of Grafton's colt Flambeau in a 200-guinea match race.
1802: four-year-old season
In her first start as a four-year-old in spring 1802 at Newmarket, Eleanor finished last in a field of four horses to Lord Darlington's horse Muly-Moloch. At the First October meeting in Newmarket, Eleanor regained her three-year-old form and defeated the mare Penelope, winning 350 guineas. She also won the King's Plate from Sister to Gouty a few days later. At the Second October meeting at Newmarket, her last engagement of the season, Eleanor won £50 in a stakes race by beating the Prince of Wales' horse Shock.