Winston Churchill

TLS signed "Winston S. Churchill," one page, 7.5 x 9.5, 28 Hyde Park Gate [London] letterhead, January 12, 1950. Letter to his racehorse trainer, Walter Nightingall, in full: "Thank you so much for sending me Colonist's front racing plates. I hope that his present ones will bring him as much success this coming season as he had last. With best wishes for 1950." In fine condition.

Churchill purchased Colonist II, a French-bred gray colt, in the spring of 1949 at the age of seventy-five — his first racehorse. The horse won three of his six races in his debut season, and Nightingall's gift of Colonist's front racing plates from those victories prompted this letter of thanks, written as the 1950 season approached. That season proved to be the horse's best, with eight wins from ten starts. Nightingall trained at South Hatch Stables in Epsom and went on to train seventy winners for Churchill over a fifteen-year association that ended only with Churchill's retirement from racing in 1964.