In the late 1970s Doncaster had no jumps meetings between the end of the flat and January. A new fixture was created on Friday and Saturday 18-19 December 1980. Races that weren’t sponsored were named after horses with a Yorkshire connection. One of them was the three and a quarter mile Sheila’s Cottage Handicap Chase.
Sheila’s Cottage was a mare that had a fine jumping pedigree, but she inherited a family trait of bad-temperedness. She gave Middleham trainer Neville Crump the first of his three Grand National wins, although they were lucky.
This was in 1948, the year that Lord Mildmay suffered cramp in his neck three quarters of the way through the race while riding Cromwell – the result of an old fall where he’d broken his neck. He was unable to lift his head from his chest or offer much assistance from the saddle. Cromwell still came in third, beaten seven lengths.
The 100/1 shot Zahia would probably have won but for her jockey taking the wrong course, steering his mount around the final fence. That left First Of The Dandies in front, only for Arthur Thompson to bring Sheila’s Cottage with a late run to lead inside the final hundred yards. Her 50/1 success justified the £3,500 her owner John Procter, a Lincolnshire publican, paid for her on New Year’s Day of that year. He splashed out on a Rolls-Royce after her win. Indeed, he so enjoyed spending that in 1957 he was facing bankruptcy.
Two days after the race Thompson was at Crump’s yard and went to pat the mare, only for her to bite off the top of one of his fingers. A brief stint at stud proved fruitless and Thompson eventually was made a gift of her.
Appropriately, it was the future Grand National winner Mr Frisk that won the last running of the Sheila’s Cottage in December 1988, on unseasonal firm ground.
Sources include:
A Race Apart, by Reg Green
https://www.thefreelibrary.com/When+asked+if+an+elderly+member+of+the+aristocracy+would+make+a…-a0320876178