In 1969 Budgett sent out Blakeney, a bay colt by the St Leger winner Hethersett out of Windmill Girl, to triumph in the premier classic at Epsom. Then, in 1973, he won the race again with Blakeney’s half-brother Morston, a chestnut colt by Ragusa.
Ironically, Budgett had intended to send their dam, Windmill Girl, to the yearling sales in the autumn of 1962, but she injured a leg, had to be withdrawn, and was submitted to the December sales instead. Unwilling to take a chance on the slight swelling still visible on the leg, bidders declined to go up to the modest reserve of 5,000 guineas, and Windmill Girl was returned to Budgett’s Kirtlington Stud in Oxfordshire.
As had been the case with his dam, Blakeney failed to make his reserve at the yearling sales, and after he had won over seven furlongs at Newmarket as a two-year-old in the autumn of 1968, Budgett promised his 20-year-old rider, Ernie Johnson, that he should have the mount again if the colt should run in the Derby.
Accordingly, it was Johnson who rode Blakeney when he beat Shoemaker by a length the following June. “When he won the Derby,” Budgett said years later, “we were confident enough to take our evening clothes because in those days you’d celebrate the winner by going to the Savoy for dinner.” Largely due to Blakeney, Budgett was leading trainer in 1969, having won 35 races worth £105,349.
In common with so many of the offspring of Ragusa, Morston was very immature and backward as a young horse, but Budgett, with characteristic patience, gave the colt the time that he needed in which to mature; the colt did not run as a two-year-old in 1972.
Making his first appearance in public on May 11 1973, Morston won a modest race over a mile and a quarter at Lingfield. On the strength of that solitary performance, Budgett decided to run him in the Derby. Ridden by Eddie Hide at odds of 25-1, Morston beat Cavo Doro (under Lester Piggott) by half a length. Shortly afterwards, the horse sprained a tendon in his near foreleg during a gallop and never ran again, but Budgett remained adamant that he was the best he ever had.
The only other man to breed, own and train two Derby winners was William I’Anson , successful with Blink Bonny in 1857 and her son Blair Athol in 1864.
Arthur Maitland Budgett was born on May 26 1916, the younger son of Hugh Budgett, whose family had become affluent in the sugar trade, and his wife Hazel (née Glover). From Eton, Arthur went up to Christ Church, Oxford, where he developed his enthusiasm for racing while winning point-to-points on his mare Lady Stella II.
Budgett began training at Kirtlington, the family home in Oxfordshire, in 1939, but had no success before the outbreak of war, on which he enlisted in the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment, later transferring to the Indian Cavalry, where he shot “an awful lot of duck”. Before going overseas, he and his brother Alan bought the chestnut colt foal (by Sir Cosmo) who was to be known as Commissar at the Tattersalls December Sales of 1940.
In 1946 the brothers had Commissar in training with Eric Stedall at West Ilsley, Berkshire, and that season the horse won the Stewards’ Cup at Goodwood. The next year Arthur Budgett resumed training at Kirtlington, his first winner being Jack Tack at Bath in April. A few weeks later Budgett moved to East Ilsley, where Commissar joined his small stable. At the outset of the season of 1948, Commissar won the Lincoln Handicap in a field of 58, still the record number of runners in a flat race in England.
During the autumn of 1950 Budgett won the Jockey Club Stakes with Sir Derrick Bailey’s Holmbush, ridden by the 14-year-old Lester Piggott, for whom it was the first winner in what became known as Pattern Races, in which the best horses are tested.
On leaving East Ilsley in 1951, Budgett secured a lease of the historic Whatcombe stable, four miles from Lambourn, and 10 years later bought that establishment outright from Michael Wroughton.
Among the first of the important races that he won from Whatcombe was the Ayr Gold Cup of 1955, with Hook Money, owned by the American RS Clerk. In 1960 Budgett won the Queen Anne at Royal Ascot with RN Richmond-Watson’s Blast.
Among the 35 races that he won in 1964 were Royal Ascot’s Ribblesdale Stakes (with Windmill Girl, who had been second in the Oaks); the July Cup, Newmarket’s summer sprint championship, with Daylight Robbery, who carried the colours of his brother; and the Hungerford Stakes at Newbury, with Mrs Horace Renshaw’s Derring-Do. The next season, Derring-Do proved himself to be top-class at a mile by winning the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot.
Besides the Derby, the other races that Budgett won when leading trainer in 1969 included the Park Hill , with Aggravate at Doncaster, and the Middle Park at Newmarket and the Cornwall Stakes at Ascot, with Huntercombe. In 1979 Huntercombe, owned by Horace Renshaw, emerged as the second champion sprinter to be trained by Budgett when completing the hat-trick of the July Cup, the Nunthorpe at York and the Prix de Seine-et-Oise at Maisons-Laffitte.
As well as training horses who made their mark in top-class company as two-year-olds and three-year-olds, Budgett was responsible for others who won a large public following by the consistency with which they ran season after season. For instance, Petty Officer — who had not run as a two-year-old in 1969 — became a specialist at Redcar, where he won the Timeform Gold Trophy three times and the Vaux Gold Tankard twice.
Petty Officer was also successful in amateur riders’ races at Deauville and Chantilly, the last of the 11 races he won being the two-mile Jockey Club Cup at Newmarket as a seven-year-old in 1974. In all he earned more than £43,000, then a record sum for a gelding.
Another of Budgett’s horses to have a long career was Prominent, who won the John Smith’s Magnet Cup at York in 1971 and 1972 and the Chesterfield Cup at Goodwood in 1973. Like Petty Officer, Prominent obtained his final success as a seven-year-old in 1974.
At the end of 1974 Budgett reduced his commitments considerably by handing most of his string and the main stable at Whatcombe to his former assistant James Bethell, while retaining 10 horses in an adjoining yard. Budgett retired altogether after the season of 1975, his final winner having been Norfolk Air, a colt by Blakeney, at Doncaster in November.
Subsequently, Budgett sent the horses he bred at Kirtlington to a number of trainers, including Bruce Hobbs, John Dunlop and Clive Brittain. He was elected to the Jockey Club in December 1977.
That he had only two head lads — Denis Rayson and Tow Dowdeswell — throughout the 30 years that he was training speaks elegantly of his consistency of character and the esteem in which he was held by his staff. Despite all the success he enjoyed, Arthur Budgett remained a modest and unfailingly courteous man, though he would fight his corner resolutely when he thought he was being unfairly treated — as happened when one of his horses was subjected to a dope test, and an official attempted to prevent him from having an independent vet carrying out another test. Budgett won his point; had he not done so, his career could have been brought to a very early end.
He was still playing golf in his nineties, and reckoned to have reached his peak at the age of 80.
Arthur Budgett married, in 1950, Patricia (always known as “Bay”), daughter of Colonel WT Towers-Clark; she survives him with their two sons.
Ironically, Budgett had intended to send their dam, Windmill Girl, to the yearling sales in the autumn of 1962, but she injured a leg, had to be withdrawn, and was submitted to the December sales instead. Unwilling to take a chance on the slight swelling still visible on the leg, bidders declined to go up to the modest reserve of 5,000 guineas, and Windmill Girl was returned to Budgett’s Kirtlington Stud in Oxfordshire.
As had been the case with his dam, Blakeney failed to make his reserve at the yearling sales, and after he had won over seven furlongs at Newmarket as a two-year-old in the autumn of 1968, Budgett promised his 20-year-old rider, Ernie Johnson, that he should have the mount again if the colt should run in the Derby.
Accordingly, it was Johnson who rode Blakeney when he beat Shoemaker by a length the following June. “When he won the Derby,” Budgett said years later, “we were confident enough to take our evening clothes because in those days you’d celebrate the winner by going to the Savoy for dinner.” Largely due to Blakeney, Budgett was leading trainer in 1969, having won 35 races worth £105,349.
In common with so many of the offspring of Ragusa, Morston was very immature and backward as a young horse, but Budgett, with characteristic patience, gave the colt the time that he needed in which to mature; the colt did not run as a two-year-old in 1972.
Making his first appearance in public on May 11 1973, Morston won a modest race over a mile and a quarter at Lingfield. On the strength of that solitary performance, Budgett decided to run him in the Derby. Ridden by Eddie Hide at odds of 25-1, Morston beat Cavo Doro (under Lester Piggott) by half a length. Shortly afterwards, the horse sprained a tendon in his near foreleg during a gallop and never ran again, but Budgett remained adamant that he was the best he ever had.
The only other man to breed, own and train two Derby winners was William I’Anson , successful with Blink Bonny in 1857 and her son Blair Athol in 1864.
Arthur Maitland Budgett was born on May 26 1916, the younger son of Hugh Budgett, whose family had become affluent in the sugar trade, and his wife Hazel (née Glover). From Eton, Arthur went up to Christ Church, Oxford, where he developed his enthusiasm for racing while winning point-to-points on his mare Lady Stella II.
Budgett began training at Kirtlington, the family home in Oxfordshire, in 1939, but had no success before the outbreak of war, on which he enlisted in the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment, later transferring to the Indian Cavalry, where he shot “an awful lot of duck”. Before going overseas, he and his brother Alan bought the chestnut colt foal (by Sir Cosmo) who was to be known as Commissar at the Tattersalls December Sales of 1940.
In 1946 the brothers had Commissar in training with Eric Stedall at West Ilsley, Berkshire, and that season the horse won the Stewards’ Cup at Goodwood. The next year Arthur Budgett resumed training at Kirtlington, his first winner being Jack Tack at Bath in April. A few weeks later Budgett moved to East Ilsley, where Commissar joined his small stable. At the outset of the season of 1948, Commissar won the Lincoln Handicap in a field of 58, still the record number of runners in a flat race in England.
On leaving East Ilsley in 1951, Budgett secured a lease of the historic Whatcombe stable, four miles from Lambourn, and 10 years later bought that establishment outright from Michael Wroughton.
Among the first of the important races that he won from Whatcombe was the Ayr Gold Cup of 1955, with Hook Money, owned by the American RS Clerk. In 1960 Budgett won the Queen Anne at Royal Ascot with RN Richmond-Watson’s Blast.
Among the 35 races that he won in 1964 were Royal Ascot’s Ribblesdale Stakes (with Windmill Girl, who had been second in the Oaks); the July Cup, Newmarket’s summer sprint championship, with Daylight Robbery, who carried the colours of his brother; and the Hungerford Stakes at Newbury, with Mrs Horace Renshaw’s Derring-Do. The next season, Derring-Do proved himself to be top-class at a mile by winning the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot.
Besides the Derby, the other races that Budgett won when leading trainer in 1969 included the Park Hill , with Aggravate at Doncaster, and the Middle Park at Newmarket and the Cornwall Stakes at Ascot, with Huntercombe. In 1979 Huntercombe, owned by Horace Renshaw, emerged as the second champion sprinter to be trained by Budgett when completing the hat-trick of the July Cup, the Nunthorpe at York and the Prix de Seine-et-Oise at Maisons-Laffitte.
As well as training horses who made their mark in top-class company as two-year-olds and three-year-olds, Budgett was responsible for others who won a large public following by the consistency with which they ran season after season. For instance, Petty Officer — who had not run as a two-year-old in 1969 — became a specialist at Redcar, where he won the Timeform Gold Trophy three times and the Vaux Gold Tankard twice.
Petty Officer was also successful in amateur riders’ races at Deauville and Chantilly, the last of the 11 races he won being the two-mile Jockey Club Cup at Newmarket as a seven-year-old in 1974. In all he earned more than £43,000, then a record sum for a gelding.
Another of Budgett’s horses to have a long career was Prominent, who won the John Smith’s Magnet Cup at York in 1971 and 1972 and the Chesterfield Cup at Goodwood in 1973. Like Petty Officer, Prominent obtained his final success as a seven-year-old in 1974.
At the end of 1974 Budgett reduced his commitments considerably by handing most of his string and the main stable at Whatcombe to his former assistant James Bethell, while retaining 10 horses in an adjoining yard. Budgett retired altogether after the season of 1975, his final winner having been Norfolk Air, a colt by Blakeney, at Doncaster in November.
Subsequently, Budgett sent the horses he bred at Kirtlington to a number of trainers, including Bruce Hobbs, John Dunlop and Clive Brittain. He was elected to the Jockey Club in December 1977.
That he had only two head lads — Denis Rayson and Tow Dowdeswell — throughout the 30 years that he was training speaks elegantly of his consistency of character and the esteem in which he was held by his staff. Despite all the success he enjoyed, Arthur Budgett remained a modest and unfailingly courteous man, though he would fight his corner resolutely when he thought he was being unfairly treated — as happened when one of his horses was subjected to a dope test, and an official attempted to prevent him from having an independent vet carrying out another test. Budgett won his point; had he not done so, his career could have been brought to a very early end.
He was still playing golf in his nineties, and reckoned to have reached his peak at the age of 80.
Arthur Budgett married, in 1950, Patricia (always known as “Bay”), daughter of Colonel WT Towers-Clark; she survives him with their two sons.
