Doncaster’s Portland Handicap is named after the Dukes of Portland, whose former seat Welbeck Abbey is in the north of Nottinghamshire, about 25 miles away. The 6th Duke owned 183,000 acres in England and Scotland, the most profitable being the Nottinghamshire coalfields. He enjoyed great success as an owner and breeder in the last two decades of the 19th century. He bred two consecutive Derby winners but his best horse was St Simon (qv).
The 3rd Duke had served briefly as Prime Minister in 1783 and 1807-09. His son, the 4th Duke (1768-1854) served in several government offices and was a prominent owner. It was after his death that “the Portland” was instituted at Doncaster.
First run in 1855, it started from the Red House, which was next to the old straight mile – not today’s; this had a dog-leg, and the old round course – again, not the same as today’s – joined it. The Red House is long gone but you can still find the original gateposts in the fields and woods east of the current track.
One of the most notable winners was the 1889 Oaks heroine L’Abbesse de Jouarre, called “Abscess on the Jaw” by racegoers who couldn’t manage the French accent. She won the Portland the following year. Richard Marsh, who trained for the royal family, saddled five winners between 1876-1901. More recently Halmahera won the race an unprecedented three years in a row in 2002-04 when in the care of Kevin Ryan.
The Portland Handicap was run over the singular trip of 5 furlongs 140 yards for many years, a very distinctive peculiarity when every other race’s length – with the exception of the Grand National (4m 856y) was advertised as an exact number of miles and furlongs. In the 21st century the remeasurement of racetracks has undoubtedly improved accuracy, but at the cost of an awful lot of wasted breath and ink reciting every race’s distance in yards when “about six furlongs” or “about two miles” would do nicely for most of us.
If you look on the Racing Post website the results of races run at the time as 5f 140y have been retrospectively altered to the current 5f 143y.
Rarely-used distances caused confusion on 12 September 2001 when the Carrie Red Nursery, scheduled to be run over the unusual trip of 6f110y half an hour before the 5f140y Portland, was erroneously started from the 6f starting post. Nobody present was aware of it until after the race, when a reporter noticed the track record had been smashed by over three seconds. The result was allowed to stand, because no objection to the result was allowable once jockeys had weighed in.
The Dukes’ family name is Cavendish-Bentinck. The 4th Duke’s second son was Lord George Bentinck [SEE ELSEWHERE] the great racing reformer of the 1840s.
An earlier race called The Duke of Portland’s Handicap was run at Newmarket in April 1836 and 1837. This valuable prize was a big betting race, the subject of much speculation six months earlier. It was abruptly discontinued late in 1837 for reasons that remain obscure.