Who were the ‘Gainsborough’ and ‘Buchan’ immortalised by the poem ‘Steeplechasers’?

For readers unfamiliar with the poem ‘Steeplechasers’ by William ‘Will’ Ogilvie – arguably the greatest poet the Scottish Borders has ever produced – the oft-quoted opening line is ‘Tucked away in winter quarters, Gainsborough’s sons and Buchan’s daughters’. The poem contrasts the lot of steeplechasers – the ‘hardy, hefty, humble bred ones’, as Ogilvie calls them – with the privileged existence of three-year-olds of the ‘Classic’ generation and, granted that it was written a century ago, references two of the most influential sires of the day.

 

Owned by Lady James Douglas and trained by the ‘Wizard of Manton’, Alec Taylor Jr., Gainsborough won the Triple Crown in 1918, albeit that the Derby Stakes was replaced by the so-called ‘New Derby Stakes’ and the St. Leger Stakes by the ‘September Stakes’, both run at Newmarket. On his retirement from racing, Gainsborough became a hugely successful sire. In fact, he was the leading sire in Great Britain and Ireland in 1932 and 1933 and his offspring included Hyperion, who won the Derby and St. Leger in 1933 and went on to be the leading sire in Great Britain and Ireland six times, in 1940, 1941, 1942, 1945, 1946 and 1954.

 

Foaled a year later than Gainsborough, in 1916, Buchan was also trained by Alec Taylor Jr., but was owned by Waldorf Astor who, in 1919, succeeded his father, William, as Second Viscount Astor. Unlike Gainsborough, he did not win a Classic, finishing second in the 2,000 Guineas and the Derby in 1919. He did, however, win the Craven Stakes, Eclipse Stakes and Champion Stakes as a three-year-old and the Chester Vase, Eclipse Stakes, again, and Doncaster Cup as a four-year-old. He was the leading sire in Great Britain and Ireland in 1927.