Although the racecard stuck at the bottom of your drawer from a 2005 meeting at Market Rasen won’t be worth much, some bits of racing memorabilia can fetch quite the sum. Whether it be horse racing figures or fans wanting to build their collection, or someone eyeing up an investment opportunity, there can be big money in items of importance from horse racing history.
Somewhat bizarrely, a collection of hair from some of the most famous horses around, including Red Rum, Shergar, Arkle and Nijinsky is expected to fetch around £50,000 when it goes to auction soon. This is a particularly valuable collection simply because of how expansive it is. Containing hair from 829 horses, spanning half a century of racing, it is an amazing archive and one containing many of racing’s most recognisable names.
Should you fancy snapping up this collection for yourself, the auction begins today at the National Horseracing Museum in Newmarket. Assuming it sells for its estimated £40k/£50k valuation, how does this compare to other highly sought-after racing memorabilia?
Past Big Ticket Horse Racing Items Sold
Let us take a look what other big-ticket items have sold for in the past, including items such as trophies, silks, enclosure gates, and famous paintings.
Harlequin Silks – £24,000 (2008)
The harlequin or ‘crazy quilt’ silks as described in racecards were first registered by Chesney Allen, from the Crazy Gang, in the 1950s. They rose to prominence when Oh So Risky carried the striking silks to victory in the Triumph Hurdle in 1991 and secured two runner-up finishes in the Champion Hurdle. They were barely seen after this but in 2008 racehorse owner Howard Spooner forked out £24,000 to buy the distinctive silks, an expensive new outfit for some of his jockeys.
Asked about why he paid so much for them, Spooner said he liked having a piece of history but his father was the main motivation. Not only was Spooner senior a Harlequins rugby fan but he was a racing enthusiast too.
Doncaster Cup – £32,450 (2012)
The Doncaster Cup is one of Britain’s oldest surviving races on the calendar, with its roots dating back to 1766. In 1783, they designed a new cup for it and the detailed gold trophy still exists today, in rather good condition. The trophy was sold for £20,700 in 2008 but saw a big 56.7% increase just four years later when sold in 2012, highlighting the rising demand for horse racing memorabilia.
Kentucky Derby Trophies – $317,000 (2023)
The Kentucky Derby is America’s biggest and most prestigious horse race, the holy grail of North American racing if you will. Jockey Bill Hartack won the famous event five times (the joint-leading record for a jockey) between 1957 and 1969, with five sterling silver engraved trophies to show for it. Sold as a set, the sought-after trophies collected $317,000 as part of a ‘Sports Legends’ action, containing nearly nine hundred game-winning jerseys, medals, memorabilia, and collectables.
It is also worth mentioning that the 1985 Kentucky Derby Owner’s Trophy, originally owned by Spend A Buck’s owner Dennis Diaz, sold for around $188,000 in 2015. The trophy itself was worth $50,000 in gold alone but the historical value of the piece saw it sell for much more.
Old Ascot’s Enclosure Gates – £280,000 (2005)
When Ascot Racecourse went under extensive redevelopment starting in 2004 at a cost of £220m, much of the ‘old’ racecourse was chucked out. It did not go into the skip though, rather it found itself the feature of a well-attended auction at Sotheby’s Olympia auction room in 2005. Various items were sold such as the Gold Cup race board which went for £1,500 and scales from the old weighing room that fetched £8,500.
The big-ticket item though was lot 246, described by the auctioneers as “The Magnificent Wrought & Cast Iron Entranceway to the Winner’s Enclosure from the Racetrack”. It was expected to fetch £20k to £30k but it very quickly soared past this figure. When eventually the bid reached £280,000 John McManus, son of JP McManus, decided to bow out of the bidding war. With most proceeds from the auction going to Racing Welfare, the charity raised £400,000 through the old Ascot sale.
Gimcrack Painting – £22.4m (2011)
Perhaps not racing memorabilia in the true sense, as the painting never was part of the sport, but even so, George Stubbs’ artwork feels worthy of a mention. His painting of Gimcrack on Newmarket Heath, accompanied by a trainer, stable-lad and jockey, went for a huge £22.4m fee to an unnamed bidder. Stubbs painted many horses in his time but this piece is particularly expensive because it is judged to be the best he did of Gimcrack, the famous 18th-century horse who won 28 out of his 36 starts.
What’s on Offer this November?
Some of the featured items up for grabs at the auction this November are a collection of horse hair estimated to go for between £40,000 and £50,000, the 1948 Cheltenham Gold Cup for between £10,000 and £15,000, a Victorian silver trophy from Goodwood’s 1875 Chesterfield Cup for between £20,000 and £25,000, along with a series of silks, statues, paintings, and much more.
If you’re after something on the lower end of the scale, there are plenty of more affordable items, such as signed photographs going for as little as £40, horse racing art prints, signed books, members badges, locks of hair from lesser known horses, and plenty more where that came from!