Lord Clanricarde

(1802 - 1874)

Ulick de Burgh, First Marquis of Clanricarde, was the son of General John de Burgh and Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Thomas Burke.

Born on the 20 December 1802 and educated at Eton and Oxford, he was a keen Gentleman rider who shunned the Flat for the greater element of danger provided by jump racing.

Aged 20, he made his racecourse debut at the Curragh in 1822 and won the first Corinthian race ever run in Ireland on a horse called Penguin. The pair won the same race the following season.

Soon after leaving Oxford, and with Flat racing holding little attraction for the Marquis, he took his first ride over the jumps on a steeplechaser called Hawk over the severe Roxburgh course in County Galway. Here, several walls had to be cleared including one which measured five feet nine. Though unsuccessful on Hawk, he returned the win the race the following year on Mr Rollo.

In 1830, Lord Clanricarde brought a small horse, Nailer, over from Ireland to run in the inaugural St Albans Steeplechase. Despite the fact that the horse was palpably out of condition, it finished second. Lord Ranelagh's grey horse, Wonder, was the winner.

Among Lord Clanricarde's best hunters was Caustic whose head and neck were all wrong but which still managed to win the 1864 Irish Grand National

Lord Clanricarde died at Stratton Street, Piccadilly, London in April. 1874. aged 71.