Ven: Cheveley's brochure contains a page full of interesting facts (which you'll no doubt know, as a researcher into horses' backgrounds) but, if there's anyone who didn't know all this, you now can (and I am one who didn't!):
Several monarchs owned Cheveley Park, including King Athelstan, King Canute, Edward the Confessor, William the Conker, Edwards I and II. Cheveley Castle - the last castle to be built in Cambridgeshire - was built in 1341 by Sir John de Pultenay, who was Mayor of London four times.
Sir Henry Jermyn acquired the estate in 1650 and created the first Cheveley Park mansion, of which there is a painting by Siberecht (1682) in Belvoir Castle.
Cheveley Park became the centre of a great landed estate as a result of the Duke of Somerset's purchases in the 1730s and 40s. Through a marriage settlement, the estate passed through the hands of four Dukes of Rutland, the fifth establishing it as a Thoroughbred centre of note, breeding four Classic winners. He planted the tree-lined avenue called Duchess Drive in memory of his wife.
Henry McCalmont bought the estate in 1892, which at the time covered c. 7,800 acres, encompassing all the land up to the racecourse, which he also owned. He built a large mansion which was completed in 1898, where he entertained such luminaries as Edward VII. The mansion boasted 43 bedrooms and 365 windows. A real tennis court was installed, one of only 43 in the country, but never used. McCalmont also built a railway line up Centre Drive to bring materials up from Newmarket station to construct the mansion. (As you do.)
Many of the stud buildings built by McCalmont are used today, the most important being ISINGLASS's spacious box which is now occupied by PIVOTAL. ISINGLASS was bred by McCalmont, born at the stud in 1890. His record winnings were not surpassed until 1952 by TULYAR. ISINGLASS died in 1911, his skeleton now in the Natural History Museum, London.
The mansion was used as a military hospital in World War I, but subsequently demolished in 1925 as not economically viable. The grandstand of Cheveley Park racecourse is now part of the Newmarket Golf Course buildings.
In July 1942 a German Dornier, having been on a bombing mission over Birmingham, crashed on Duchess Drive, its crew having bailed out over Wood Ditton. There was a POW camp at the stud during World War II. There were around 100 prisoners, mostly German, of whom one returned after the war to marry a local girl.
In 1975 David and Patricia Thompson bought the stud - then in receivership - which had dwindled to 270 acres. They stood their Gimcrack winner MUSIC BOY there in 1977 against industry advice. However, from only 17 foals, MUSIC BOY was leading first season sire, his progeny earning over £2.5 million. There's a lifesize bronze of him outside the stud office. (I've seen this - it's really very attractive.)
The mighty PIVOTAL was bred and born at the stud in 1993, the first foal by his sire POLAR FALCON. In 1996, PIVOTAL won the Group 1 Nunthorpe Stakes - as did his son KYLLACHY in 2002 and his grandson SOLE POWER in 2010.
PARTY POLITICS, owned by Patricia Thompson, won the Grand National in 1992 and spent his retirement at the stud.
ENTREPRENEUR and HAPPY VALENTINE, consigned to Cheveley in 1998, were the joint top lots at the Tattersalls Houghton Sale in 1998, selling for 600,000 guineas each. ENTREPRENEUR went on to win the 2000 Guineas.
At the end of the 2010 season PIVOTAL is the leading European sire by number of individual Stakes winners. His results during his career to date stand at 90 individual Stakes winners, including 18 Group 1 winners. In the same year, the stud comprised just under 1,000 acres, and the team continues to fly the flag for British breeding and racing.
