Edward John "Teddy" Beckett, 5th Baron Grimthorpe DL (born 20 November 1954), is a British peer. [1] [2] He was racing manager to the late Prince Khalid Abdullah who died in January 2021.
Edward John "Teddy" Beckett, 5th Baron Grimthorpe DL (born 20 November 1954), is a British peer. [1] [2] He was racing manager to the late Prince Khalid Abdullah who died in January 2021.
Lord Grimthorpe is the elder son of the late Christopher Beckett, 4th Baron Grimthorpe, and Elizabeth, Lady Grimthorpe, formerly Lady Elizabeth Lumley, daughter of Lawrence Lumley, 11th Earl of Scarbrough, of Lumley Castle, County Durham. He became 5th Baron Grimthorpe on the death of his father in 2003. [1]
Lord Grimthorpe's father, the 4th Baron, was a keen horseman with a reputation as a shrewd gambler. [3] He was a member of the Jockey Club and a director of Thirsk Racecourse, and kept a number of horses in training. [4] His stud at Westow Hall, which he re-established in 1965, was responsible for breeding Mrs McArdy, winner of the 1,000 Guineas in 1977. [3] [5] [6] Grimthorpe's grandfather, the 3rd Baron, won the Cheltenham Gold Cup with Fortina in 1947. [3]
The present Lord Grimthorpe has been a keen racegoer from an early age. In an interview with the Racing Post he remembered having two shillings with his mother on Larkspur to win the Derby in 1962. [7] As a schoolboy he saw Brigadier Gerard's only loss, to Roberto at York in 1972. [8]
Grimthorpe was educated at Harrow School. [1]
Grimthorpe served as a page at the wedding of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, to Katharine Worsley on 8 June 1961. [9]
Lord Grimthorpe had a successful career as a bloodstock agent, working for more than twenty years at the British Bloodstock Agency, whom he joined as his first employment, and buying horses on behalf of, among others, the Duke of Devonshire. [10] [11] In 1999 he became Prince Khalid Abdullah's racing manager, succeeding Grant Pritchard-Gordon. [7] [12] He is responsible for overseeing the Prince's worldwide Juddmonte Farms racing operation, which in 2011 involved 700-800 horses across ten farms in the United Kingdom, Ireland and the United States, and about 250 horses in training with 13 different trainers. [13]
He has been widely praised for his contribution to a lengthy period of considerable success for the Juddmonte operation. [11] [14] In 2003 Prince Khalid had 78 winners in Britain and 58 in France, making him champion owner in both those countries; he also finished third in the American owners' championship that year. The prince was British flat racing's champion owner again in 2010, with 74 winners and prize money of more than £3 million; and he took the title once more in 2011, when he had 63 winners and won prize money totaling more than £3.4 million. [15] [16]
Lord Grimthorpe was elected to the Jockey Club in December 2007 [1] [5] and in 2011 he was appointed chairman of the race committee at York Racecourse. [6] [17] He was appointed a deputy lieutenant of Cambridgeshire in 2023. [18]
Lord Grimthorpe married Carey Elisabeth McEwen in 1992. The marriage was dissolved in 2009. They have one son, Hon. Harry Maximillian Beckett, born 28 April 1993. [1] Lord Grimthorpe married Emma Benyon (née Villiers, and the former wife of Conservative Party politician Richard Benyon) on 14 June 2013. [19] The horseracing trainer Ralph Beckett is Lord Grimthorpe's cousin. [20]
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The Jockey Club is the largest commercial horse racing organisation in the United Kingdom. It owns 15 of Britain's famous racecourses, including Aintree, Cheltenham, Epsom Downs and both the Rowley Mile and July Course in Newmarket, amongst other horse racing assets such as the National Stud, and the property and land management company, Jockey Club Estates. The registered charity Racing Welfare is also a company limited by guarantee with the Jockey Club being the sole member. As it is governed by Royal Charter, all profits it makes are reinvested back into the sport.
Sir Henry Richard Amherst Cecil was a British flat racing horse trainer. Cecil was very successful, becoming Champion Trainer ten times and training 25 domestic Classic winners. These comprised four winners of the Derby, eight winners of the Oaks, six winners of the 1,000 Guineas, three of the 2,000 Guineas and four winners of the St Leger Stakes. His 1000 Guineas and Oaks successes made him particularly renowned for his success with fillies. He was noted for his mastery at Royal Ascot, where he trained 75 winners.
The Sussex Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to horses aged three years or older. It is run at Goodwood over a distance of 1 mile, and it is scheduled to take place each year in late July or early August.
The International Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to horses aged three years or older. It is run at York over a distance of 1 mile, 2 furlongs and 56 yards, and it is scheduled to take place each year in August.
Brigadier Christopher John Beckett, 4th Baron Grimthorpe OBE, DL, was a soldier, company director, landowner and peer of the realm.
Commander in Chief (1990–2007) was a British thoroughbred racehorse and sire. In a career that lasted just over three months in the spring and summer of 1993 he won five of his six races, most notably the Derby at Epsom and the Irish Derby at the Curragh. He was the first Derby winner since Morston in 1973 not to have raced as a two-year-old. Furthermore, the Racing Post had not even included him in their list of horses for the 1993 Ten-to-Follow on the flat competition. Commander in Chief was voted the 1993 Cartier Champion Three-year-old Colt.
Khalid bin Abdullah Al Saud was a member of the House of Saud. He had extensive business interests, run through Mawarid Holding, but is probably best known as the owner of Juddmonte Farms. As such, he was one of the leading figures in the world of thoroughbred horseracing and the list of outstanding horses to have competed in his racing colours includes Dancing Brave, Enable, Frankel, Mandaloun, and Arrogate.
Empire Maker was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 2003 Belmont Stakes and is the grandsire of the 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah.
Juddmonte Farms is a horse breeding farm, owned until his death on 12th January 2021 by Prince Khalid bin Abdullah of Saudi Arabia.
Cacique is a retired Thoroughbred racehorse who competed in Europe and the United States. Bred and raced by Khalid Abdullah's Juddmonte Farms, Cacique is the son of the great international Champion sire, Danehill. He was out of the fantastic mare, Hasili whose damsire, Kahyasi, won the 1988 Epsom and Irish Derbys. Cacique is a full-brother to Breeders' Cup winners Banks Hill and Intercontinental and to Grade One winner Champs Elysees and Grade One-placed and Leading sire in France, Dansili.
Twice Over is British Thoroughbred racehorse. He was a top-class middle-distance performer whose wins included the Eclipse Stakes, the International Stakes and two runnings of the Champion Stakes.
Workforce is a British Thoroughbred racehorse. In a career that lasted from September 2009 until October 2011, he ran nine times and won four races. In 2010 he won the 2010 Epsom Derby and Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, ridden by Ryan Moore. He won once from four races in 2011 before being retired to stand as a breeding stallion in Japan.
Frankel is a retired champion British Thoroughbred racehorse and current sire. He was unbeaten in his fourteen-race career and was the highest-rated racehorse in the world from May 2011. In 2010 he defeated a field including subsequent Group 1 winners Nathaniel and Colour Vision on his debut before winning the Royal Lodge Stakes by ten lengths and the Dewhurst Stakes in which he defeated the Middle Park Stakes winner Dream Ahead. As a three-year-old, he won the Classic 2000 Guineas by six lengths, the St James's Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot, defeated the outstanding older miler Canford Cliffs in the much-anticipated Sussex Stakes at Goodwood and won the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot. Frankel extended his unbeaten record in 2012 by winning the Lockinge Stakes, the Queen Anne Stakes and then the Sussex Stakes for a second time. In August he was moved up to a mile and a quarter for the first time and won the International Stakes at York. In October he won the Champion Stakes at Ascot, again over a mile and a quarter, following which his retirement from racing was announced.
Kind was an Irish-bred, British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse. She won six of her thirteen races, including the Listed Flower of Scotland Stakes and Kilvington Stakes, as well as being placed in the Group 3 Ballyogan Stakes. After retiring from racing she became one of Juddmonte Farms' top broodmares, foaling the undefeated, 10-time Group 1 winner Frankel. All of her first five foals won races, including the Group winners Bullet Train and Noble Mission. Kind was trained by Roger Charlton and owned by Khalid Abdulla. She died on 8 March 2021 following complications from foaling.
Noble Mission is a British Thoroughbred racehorse. Best known as the younger brother of the unbeaten Frankel in his early career, he later became a very successful racehorse in his own right. He won the Gordon Stakes as a three-year-old in 2012, but did not reach his peak until 2014. In 2014, Noble Mission then won the Group 3 Gordon Richards Stakes and Huxley Stakes, before winning his first Group 1 race when beating Magician in the Tattersalls Gold Cup. He went on to win the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud in June and the Champion Stakes in October. He is owned by Khalid Abdullah and was trained by Sir Henry Cecil until Cecil's death in 2013, when Lady Cecil, Sir Henry's widow, became his trainer.
Flintshire is a British-bred Thoroughbred racehorse who has been trained in France and the United States. Unraced as a juvenile, he was one of the best three-year-old colts in France in 2013, winning the Prix du Lys and the Grand Prix de Paris. In 2014 he finished second in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe and the Breeders' Cup Turf before recording his biggest win in the Hong Kong Vase. As five-year-old he won the Sword Dancer Invitational Handicap and again finished second in the Arc. At the start of his six-year-old season in 2016 he was sent to be trained in the United States. He began the season with victories in the Manhattan Handicap, Bowling Green Handicap and Sword Dancer Stakes, before finishing second in his last two starts, the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic and Breeders' Cup Turf.
The Grimthorpe Handicap Chase is a National Hunt handicap steeplechase in England which is open to horses aged five years or older. It is run at Doncaster over a distance of about 3 miles and 2 furlongs and during the race there are 19 fences to be jumped. The race is scheduled to take place each year in late February or early March.
Byword is a British-bred, French-trained Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. Unraced as a two-year-old, he showed promising form, winning two of his four races including the listed Prix Pelleas. In the following year he emerged as a world-class performer, winning the listed Prix Jacques Laffitte before defeating strong fields in both the Prix du Muguet and the Prince of Wales's Stakes. In the same year he also finished second in the Prix d'Ispahan and third in the International Stakes and was rated one of the twenty best racehorses in the world. As a five-year-old he added wins in the Prix du Chemin de Fer du Nord and the Prix Dollar before being retired to stud. He is currently (2015) standing a breeding stallion in South Africa.
New Bay is a British-bred, French-trained Thoroughbred racehorse. As a three-year-old in 2015 he won the Prix du Jockey Club, Prix Guillaume d'Ornano and Prix Niel before finishing third in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.
Westover is a British Thoroughbred racehorse. He showed promise as a two-year-old in 2021 when he won on his debut and then finished second in both the Haynes, Hanson and Clark Conditions Stakes and the Silver Tankard Stakes. In the following year he won the Sandown Classic Trial and ran third in the Epsom Derby before taking the Irish Derby by seven lengths.
