Grosvenor, Anne Winifred (‘Nancy’) (1915–2003), duchess of Westminster , landowner, and racehorse owner, was born 13 April 1915 at The Retreat, Bandon, Co. Cork, only daughter among three children of Edward Langford Sullivan , soldier, who became a brigadier-general in the Indian Army, and his wife Winifred Gillies (née Burns), of Scottish ancestry. Reared at Glanmire, Co. Cork, she was a talented horsewoman, known as a hard rider to hounds. During the second world war she served as a volunteer personnel driver with the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (1939–45). Shortly thereafter she met Hugh Richard Arthur Grosvenor (1879–1953), second duke of Westminster, a former soldier in the Boer war and first world war (DSO, 1916), and owner of vast properties, reputed to be the wealthiest man in Britain; thirty‐six years her senior, he was captivated by her beauty, spirit, and vigour, and impulsively bought a 160‐acre property near Glanmire to be better situated to play court to her. Nicknamed ‘Bend’Or’ after his grandfather’s famed Derby‐winning horse, Westminster was a rampant social lion and expansive bon vivant, intimate with Winston Churchill and other notables; a man of great personal charm and impeccable manners, he was said to be ‘a mixture of Henry VIII and Lorenzo il Magnifico’, who ‘lived for pleasure and women’ (Daily Telegraph). Long separated from his third wife, he divorced her, and the following month married Anne in Chester (7 February 1947). They resided chiefly on Westminster estates at Eaton Hall, Eccleston, Chesire (where they entertained grandly), and Lochmore, Sutherland, Scotland. Though they owned a magnificent town house (Grosvenor House), Anne disdained the London social orbit, preferring country activities on the couple’s properties and elsewhere: farming, fishing, hunting, stalking, and racing. They had no children.
After the duke’s sudden death of a coronary thrombosis (1953), Anne moved into Eaton Lodge, a keeper’s house in the park, her principal residence for the rest of her life. She also spent considerable time at Lochmore, and had a farm in Ireland at Bryanstown House, Maynooth, Co. Kildare. She kept up the Eaton Stud, adding a black band in memory of her late husband to the Westminster colours of yellow with gold tassle. At Leopardstown in 1956 she introduced herself to Tom Dreaper (qv), asking him to train one of her horses; despite not having seen the horse, and not caring much for its pedigree, Dreaper agreed, because he ‘liked the look of the girl’ (Fuller, 5). She had her first winner with Sentina in the 1958 National Hunt Handicap Chase at Cheltenham, the first of her ninety‐seven victories with Dreaper‐trained horses.
Anne, duchess of Westminster, is most renowned as owner of the legendary Arkle (1957–70), all but universally acclaimed as the greatest steeplechaser in the history of the sport (the only credible rival claimant being Golden Miller, an Irish‐bred horse of the 1930s). Sired by Archive out of Bright Cherry, Arkle was born 19 April 1957 at Ballymacoll Stud, Co. Meath; the breeder, Mary Baker, a widow, kept several mares on her farm at Malahow House, north Co. Dublin, where Arkle was reared. A bay gelding, he was bought unbroken by the duchess (nothwithstanding Dreaper’s initial misgivings) for 1,150 guineas at Goff’s sales at the 1960 Dublin horse show. Named by the duchess after a mountain near the Westminster Sutherland estates, Arkle was trained astutely and patiently by Dreaper at his stables at Greenogue, Kilsallaghan, Co. Dublin. In a racing career that began in December 1961, Arkle won twenty‐seven of thirty‐five starts; he never fell, and only once failed to be placed. Ridden in all twenty‐six of his steeplechases by Pat Taaffe (qv), he won twenty‐two, was placed second twice, and third twice; only six horses ever beat him over fences. His major victories included the Cheltenham Gold Cup three years in succession (1964–6), the Leopardstown Chase (thrice, 1964–6), the Hennessy Gold Cup (twice, 1964–5), the Irish Grand National (1964), the Whitbread Gold Cup (1965), the Gallagher Gold Cup (1965), and the King George VI Chase (1965).
From the beginning Arkle was a tremendous finisher, gifted with astonishing capacities of acceleration; he matured into a fearless, powerful jumper. Highlights of his career were the several epic clashes with the other leading national hunt horse of the decade, Mill House, winner of the 1963 Cheltenham Gold Cup. In their first encounter, the 1963 Hennessy Gold Cup, Arkle slipped on landing at the third last fence, and was beaten into third place, while receiving five pounds in the handicap from Mill House, who won the race. Their rematch, in the 1964 Cheltenham Gold Cup (in which only two others ran), received a massive build-up; after tracking Mill House throughout the race, Arkle surged past him into the lead before the last fence and stormed up the hill to win by five lengths, a finish celebrated as probably the greatest single moment in the history of Irish racing. Thereafter Arkle routinely gave considerable weight (as much as two‐and‐a‐half stone) to top‐class rivals, such was the extent of his superiority over all contemporaries (including Mill House, whom he routed in subsequent matchups). In Ireland two handicaps were published for every race, one to apply if Arkle ran, the other if Arkle did not run; he won the last fourteen races that he contested in the country. The 1964 Hennessy Gold Cup was the last race that he started at odds against (as a 5–4 favourite); he started the 1966 Cheltenham Gold Cup at 10–1 on, the shortest odds of his career, and the shortest ever in a Gold Cup; despite missing a jump and ploughing straight through a fence, he won by thirty lengths.
A supremely intelligent animal, off the track Arkle had a calm, gentle disposition, and a special fondness for children. He spent summers at Bryanstown, where the duchess regularly rode him. His prowess and charisma, boosted by the massive media publicity that they generated, won him fame throughout Britain, and especially in Ireland, far beyond the normal aficionados of his sport; fan mail addressed to ‘Arkle, Ireland’ found its way to his stable. He thus deserves to be ranked among the iconic sport superstars of the 1960s – Muhammed Ali, Pelé, George Best, Willie Mays, Joe Namath, Jean‐Claude Killy – the first generation whose exploits were televised into the homes of millions. The duchess attended all his races, though not without trepidation: ‘I’ve yet to see him go over the last fence. I just don’t look up until I know he’s over. One can grow awfully fond of a horse, you know’ (Herbert, 9). She never ran him in the Aintree Grand National, fearing the inordinate risk of serious injury, especially from loose horses. In view of such solicitude for his welfare, the premature curtailment of his career owing to injury was tragically ironic. Running in the King George VI Chase at Kempton on 27 December 1966 – put back from Boxing Day (St Stephen’s Day) owing to hard, frosty ground – Arkle broke a pedal bone in his off‐fore hoof, and never recovered sufficiently to race again. He retired to Bryanstown, where the duchess doted on him. Suffering increasing stiffness, moving only with great difficulty and pain, he was visited one last time by the duchess before being put down on 31 May 1970.
Of the duchess of Westminster’s other notable horses, Ben Stack and Cashel View were, after Arkle, her most prolific winners. Kinloch Brae was favourite for the 1970 Gold Cup, led the field, but fell at the third last; owing to leg trouble he was never again a leading contender. The duchess won her fourth Gold Cup in 1975 with Ten Up, trained by Jim Dreaper and ridden by Tom Carberry, in atrocious weather on the worst ground in the history of the event (the remainder of the meeting was abandoned); he developed a blood disorder and was retired early. Last Suspect won the 1985 Aintree Grand National (the first time the duchess ran a horse in the event) as a 50–1 outsider; with a reputation for wilfulness (he had pulled himself up in his previous start), he trailed by eight lengths at the last, but powered up the long straight to pass two rivals and win by one‐and‐a‐half lengths, as only eleven of forty starters finished.
Described as ‘every trainer’s dream owner’ (Fuller, 56), the duchess was extremely popular with the national hunt racing public, and a great ambassador of the sport. Through her interest in racing she nurtured friendships with members of the royal family; she often escorted Queen Elizabeth the queen mother to Cheltenham and other meetings. Prince Charles was a frequent visitor to Lochmore, where he revelled in the sport on river and hill. The duchess was president of the Chester and West Chester branch of the RSPCA, and helped start the Clywd Riding School for the Disabled. In her fifty-first year of widowhood, she died 31 August 2003 at Lochmore.