ORANGE WILLIAM

A glorious career, highlighted by consistency at the highest level and included four King Emperor's Cups, three Viceroy's Cup, two Rajpipla Gold Cups, two Carmichael Cups, two Prince of Wales's Plates and also the Byculla Club Cup and the Macpherson Cup once each. In all, Orange William won 22 of his 47 starts in India and over Rs. 5 lakhs in stakes - a colossal amount in those days

The period between the two World Wars was undoubtedly the royal age of racing in India, dominated by the Maharajas as the houses of Kolhapur, Kashmir, Idar, Rajpipla, Cooch-Behar, Mysore and Gwalior - to name just the leading ones - vied for supremacy on the Turf. To win a big prize was their sole ambition and in its pursuit they were willing to import good horses. One of the best horses of this period, however, was owned by a commoner from Ceylon.

That horse was Orange William, a strapping chestnut gelding by King William out of the Bona Vista mare Countess Lena. In three years of racing in England, Orange William had won half a dozen races, four of them coming in his final year indicating that he was maturing late. Orange William was trained by Parson Parkes and owned by Mrs. Dickson and Mr. B. Steele. He had won Somersetshire Stakes at Bath (B. Lynch up). That autumn of 1921, he was offered to Mr. J.C. Galstaun and the deal was closed at £ 1,200 subject to the gelding being passed by a vet. When Galstaun's vet did not clear him, he was purchased by Mr. E.H. Gregory on behalf of Mr. E.L.F. De Soysa of Ceylon. After landing in Ceylon, he changed hands and became the property of Mr. A.E. Ephraums.

Orange William began his racing career at Calcutta in December 1922 running unplaced, first in the December Plate over seven furlongs and the following Saturday in the Wellesley Plate over ten. Both these events were claimed by Galstaun-owned horses, Galway Gate winning the shorter one and Solo Bridge the longer event. Galstaun appeared to have a gilt-edged chance of claiming the "Big Two" at this stage.

Come the King-Emperor's Cup and Galway Gate, sure enough, was the firm public fancy at 7 to 4 on. Townsend streaked away on the favourite and entered the straight a clear five lengths in front and field was already off the bridle. Galway Gate was essentially a sprinter and it was now a question of his lasting home in this mile contest. Suddenly, out of nowhere, appeared the long-striding Orange William on the outside, the claret and gold stripes of the jacket William Bullock was wearing, colours matching perfectly with the rich chestnut hue of the horse and he thundered home by half a length. The Calcutta race goers were unlikely to forget that day in a hurry. They had seen the coming of a champion and they had been hit hard with five of the seven winners paying a dividend in excess of a hundred on the Tote and Orange William returning Rs.721 on a ten-rupee ticket.

Orange William was only fourth in the Viceroy's Cup won by Not Much, a half-brother to Matchlock, a good horse owned by Mr. Goculdas some years previously and unplaced in the Cooch-Behar Cup. He then ran second to Galstaun's Solo Bridge before picking up the Prince of Wales's Plate and the Macpherson Cup, the latter race over a mile and a half giving lie to the belief that he was only a miler. He was sent to Bombay where he was second in the Bombay City Plate and the Rajpipla Gold Cup. He won the Byculla Club Cup as the top-weight, giving exactly two stones to the mare Belle Voyageuse II and beating her by a neck. Given an easy campaign in Poona, he placed twice from four starts.

Throughout his first year - except at Poona - Orange William was ridden by William Bullock who had been the jockey astride Signor Ginistrelli's remarkable filly Signorinetta, a winner of the Epsom Oaks as well as the Epsom Derby.

Back at Calcutta, Orange William was beaten narrowly by Galstaun's Solo Bridge in the December Plate. Thereafter, he reeled off a sequence of seven straight wins which included his second King-Emperor's Cup - where he got his revenge on Solo Bridge his first Viceroy's Cup, the Carmichael Cup, the Prince of Wales's Plate - humping 10 st. 5 lbs. on his back - and the Rajpipla Gold Cup - giving Mr. Eve's Rostrum 2 st. 1lb. His run came to an end but with honour. In the Grand Western Handicap over a mile, he was giving 2 st. or more to the entire field and failed only by a short-head and two necks as he finished fourth to Bell Metal, Owen Roe and Rostrum. In Poona, Bell Metal beat him again in the Aga Khan's Cup by a short-head and then he won the Stand Plate over a mile, giving Owen Roe 2 st. 1 lb. and Solo Bridge 3 st. 2 lbs, the pair dead-heating for the second place half a length behind.

In the first seven starts of his third year's racing in India, Orange William tasted defeat only once and that was when Galstaun's Gaurisankar beat him by almost two lengths in the Wellesley Plate at level weights. Mr. Ephraums's champion once again chalked up the "Big Double" of King-Emperor's Cup and Viceroy's Cup, turned the tables on Gaurisankar in the latter race as well as the Carmichael Cup and was unbeaten in his two starts at Bombay within a week, winning the Rajpipla Gold Cup for the second time with the field receiving two and a half stones or more.

Well rested after Bombay, Orange William started off with four straight wins in Calcutta, which included - yet again - the King-Emperor's Cup and the Viceroy's Cup. A remarkable feature of the last two races was that the finishing order in both of them was exactly the same - Orange William followed by Aborigine, Dalkeith and Gaurisankar. Four lengths covered the four in the former race and three in the latter. The gallant gelding was nine years old. He raced ten times more over the next two years without winning again.

It had been a glorious career, highlighted by consistency at the highest level and included four King Emperor's Cups, three Viceroy's Cup, two Rajpipla Gold Cups, two Carmichael Cups, two Prince of Wales's Plates and he also won the Byculla Club Cup and the Macpherson Cup once each. In all, Orange William won 22 of his 47 starts in India and over Rs. 5 lakhs in stakes - a colossal amount in those days. He went back to Ceylon where his owner, Mr Arthur E. Ephraums - he raced sometimes as Mr. Sam - owned the Grand Hotel at Mount Lavinia overlooking the Colombo bay. In retirement, the champion had his quarters there and was much feted by the hotel guests.

The English apprentice E.J. Morris rode Orange William in 14 of his last 18 wins and he was campaigned with utmost understanding by his trainer J.S. Harper. At this distance, it appears surprising that he never ran in the Eclipse Stakes of India though he journeyed each year to Bombay. Of course, the race had not been instituted in the year of his first visit. He preferred to run in the Grand Western Handicap under a heavy impost in 1923-24 and in the Rajpipla Gold Cup the following year, both the races being run just a week before the Eclipse Stakes of India. In 1925-26, he actually participated in the Bombay City Plate, the very race before the Eclipse. Lack of a win in the Eclipse Stakes of India notwithstanding, Orange William was indeed an outstanding horse and it seemed that his record would stand unsurpassed for many years. It was not to be, for another great galloper (Star of Italy, featured earlier in these pages) was to scorch the Indian Turf shortly.

Orange William, despite the fact that his sire King William was a three-parts brother to the One Thousand Guineas winner Canyon and was himself a winner of the Dewhurst Stakes and the King Edward VII Stakes, hardly boasted of a purple pedigree. His dam traced back to the Bustard mare Variation, a winner of the Epsom Oaks but the family had been dormant for a long time. His Roseland half-sister Orange Lena, a winner in England, came to India and won a few races for Mr. Shantidas Askuran. She was, however, no patch on her celebrated half-brother.

How good a horse was Orange William? One pointer is provided by Mr. J.C. Galstaun's Gaurisankar who had won the Prix Eugene Adam in France before coming to India. Gaurisankar was impeccably bred being by Sardanaple out of the Poule d'Essai des Pouliches winner Diavolezza, herself a daughter of the Prix de Diane winner, Saint Astra. In their first meeting, Mr. Galstaun's horse beat Orange William at level weights. Thereafter, the chestnut scalped his conqueror six times as against only one defeat. Gaurisankar was sent back to France where he stood as a stallion.