John Frederick Herring Snr., 1795-1865

Merry Monarch, by Slane out of The Margravine, was foaled in 1842. Bred by G.W.Gratwicke and trained by John Forth. He won the Derby by a length in 1845, beating Mr A.Johnstone’s Annandale, Mr Gully’s Old England and Lord Stadbroke’s Ida, the favourite and winner of the Two Thousand Guineas. Ridden by jockey Foster Bell, Merry Monarch’s success may partly have been due to the relatively luxurious manner in which the horse found its way to Epsom. Gratwicke invented the forerunner of the horsebox, a large box on wheels, made locally, and drawn by two cart horses. The journey took about three days but the jockey travelled with the horse and exercised him each evening in a suitable field. The other horses would either have walked to the race meeting or taken an uncomfortable journey by train.

Squire Gratwicke, of Ham, near Goodwood in Sussex, inherited a considerable fortune, which enabled him to take up racing. Such was his stature on the turf that the Gratwicke Stakes and the New Ham Maiden Fillies’ Stakes are still run in his memory at Goodwood. Merry Monarch was his second Derby winner, the first being Frederick in 1829, a bay colt by Little John out of Phantom (who later produced The Margravine, dam of Merry Monarch). Frederick was trained and ridden by John Forth at nearly sixty years of age, making him the oldest man to have ridden a winner of the Derby. It is interesting to note that Forth was evidently still training at the highest level sixteen years later.