Newmarket wasn’t always the centre of the racing industry; there were periods before the 20th century when Yorkshire was the dominant part of the country, and as a result several Yorkshiremen are commemorated in race names.
Will Scott rode Mundig, the first Derby winner to be trained in the north of England. Also known as William, Bill and Glorious Bill, he was based at Whitewall Stables, Malton with his brother John, a successful trainer.
Will rode nineteen classic winners, including four Derbys and nine St Legers during a career of almost thirty years. John’s figures respectively were forty, five and (amazingly) sixteen.
As a two-year-old Mundig showed on the gallops that he was clearly useful, so much so that he was kept off the racecourse until he was three. He was then prepared for the Derby of 1835. John discovered a stable lad was passing information about this dark horse to the bookies, so he fed him the false story that the horse would not run. His odds lengthened to 50/1, and the Scotts, owner John Bowes and their friends helped themselves. Mundig won, but Will was hard on his horses and his victory was down to his “very liberal animations (whip and spurs)”. The horse won more races, without ever showing the same level of form. The secrecy surrounding his preparation for the Derby led to suggestions that he, like Running Rein and others in the first half of the 19th century, was a four-year-old masquerading as a three-year-old.
William liked a drink and this eventually led to his decline and death at the age of 51, claiming he “had never pulled a horse in his life, never gone to bed sober and never kissed a lass against her will.” That did not stop him offering a bribe (unsuccessfully) to another jockey who was going well and about to overtake him nearing the finish of the 1840 Derby.
Doncaster honoured him with a race at the Lincoln meeting from 1977-89.
Sources include The History of Horse Racing (Roger Longrigg), The Heath and the Horse (Oldrey, Cox & Nash) and the Farmers’ Magazine July-Dec 1835.