The Sir Robert Peel Challengeable cup of The Turf Club of Ireland. A George III silver two-handled racing trophy cup and cover, Benjamin Smith, London, 1819

on spreading circular foot, the campana-shaped body engraved on one side with an inscription and applied on the other with a racing vignette between scrolled foliage and bunches of grapes, the detachable cover with vine leaf and stem finial, the foot and lid further inscribed

Good clear marks to body and part marks to cover and finial. Excellent gauge. The casting and engraving is crisp throughout with only very light surface wear. The plain sections with fine surface scratches. Good condition.
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The inscription on the body reads: 'This Cup Presented by The Right Hon^ble. Robert Peel to The Turf Club of Ireland to be challenged and run for every June and October meeting under an article published in the Racing Calendar 1819'

The inscriptions on the interior of the cover read: ‘June Meeting 1819 Won by M^r James Daly’s, b.c. Dandy 4^yrs old, rode by Tho^s. Connelly * June Meeting 1820 M^r. Pendergast’s. ch c Regent 4^yrs old, walk’d over * June Meeting 1822 Won by M^r. Pendergast’s, b.f. Haidee 3^yrs old rode by Ja^s. Wynne * October Meeting 1822 Won by M^r. Blake’s ch. c. Welcome, 3^yrs old, rode by Laur^ce. Egan *’ ‘October Meeting 1829, Won by the Earl of Portarlingtons Bay colt Skylark 3 years old rode by T. Kennedy. 11^th June [and] 15^th Oct^r. 1830 Won by Skylark the property of M^r. W^m. Disney. October Meeting 1833, Won by Lieu^t. Col^l. Hon^ble. J.C. Westenra’s b.c. Freney 3 years old rode by M Mocken. October 1838, resigned to M^r. Knox.’

The inscriptions on the foot read: ‘Udsat af Skibsreder Gósta Dalmar i Dansk Avlslób vundet af Lia og Knud Vestergaard’s "Soliman" 1951'; 'Fru Alice Schivssings "Minerva" 1952. Stutteriet Brandenbjerg Niels Holger 1953.' and 'Stutteriet Brandenbjerg, Happy Return 1954 til ejendom’

This trophy made its first appearance at the Currah Races, co. Kildare on 11 June 1819. The running order of the second race of the day, ‘Sweepstakes of 100 Guineas, p.p. and the Challengeable Cup given by the Right Hon. R. Peel,’ was as follows:
1. Mr. James Daly’s the Dandy, 4 years
2. Marquis of Sligo’s Steel, 4 years
3. Mr. Peel’s Dash, 3 years
4. Mr. Daly’s Bob Gore, 4 years
5. Mr. M.J. Blake’s Teramory, 4 years

The above winners of The Peel Cup between 1819 and 1838 are all listed in Robert Hunter's The Racing Calendar for the Year 1848, Dublin, 1849, pp. 261 and 262, as well as the names of six additional winners, 1839 to 1844.

The trophy's whereabouts after 1844 are unknown until it reappeared in Denmark in 1951. It was finally won during the 1953/54 season by Niels Schibbye, owner of the Stud Brandenbjerg.

Robert Peel (1788-1850), who succeed his father as 2nd Baronet in 1830, entered politics shortly after his 21st birthday in 1809, when he became MP for Cashel, an Irish constituency with a handful of voters. His rise in the Tory party was rapid, so much so that in 1812 Lord Liverpool, the new Prime Minister, invited Peel to become Chief Secretary in Ireland. It was a post that he held for six years until leaving Ireland for good in the summer of 1818. In June 1820 he was married to Julia (1795-1859), daughter of General Sir John Floyd, by whom he had seven children. It was at this time that he began to collect Dutch and Flemish paintings, which he hung in his new house in Whitehall Gardens. Peel was Home Secretary from 1822 to 1830. It was during this time that he formed what was to become the police force, a body of men which began patrolling the streets of London in the autumn of 1829. Peel’s subsequent tenure as Prime Minister lasted from 1834 to 1835 and again from 1841 to 1846. He died on 2 July 1850 as a result of a riding accident.