Rhoda (horse)

Rhoda's racing career began at the Newmarket Craven meeting on 19 April 1816 when she was entered in a match race against a colt (later named Parrot) owned by Sir John Shelley. The colt was strongly favoured in the betting but Rhoda won the race over the Rowley Mile course to win a 300 guinea prize.[3] At the First Spring meeting two weeks later Rhoda was one of six runners for the third running of the 1000 Guineas over the Ditch Mile course. Ridden by Sam Barnard, she won the classic at odds of 3/1, beating Lord Foley's filly Duenna with the favourite Guendolen in third.[4]

On 31 May Rhoda was moved up in distance for the Oaks Stakes over one and a half miles at Epsom. She started the 10/1 fourth choice in the betting in a field of eleven. The race was won by Landscape from Duenna, with Rhoda among the unplaced runners.[5] The Duke's filly did not race again in 1816.

The Duke of Rutland, who bred and owned Rhoda

Rhoda made her first appearance for more than ten months when finishing unplaced in the Craven Stakes at Newmarket on 7 April. At the next Newmarket meeting she recorded her first win for a year when she won a ten-furlong handicap race in which she defeated the 1815 Oaks winner Minuet.[6]

In June Rhoda ran twice at Ascot. On the opening day of the meeting she finished unplaced in an Oatlands Stakes and two days later contested her first race in heats in which she was opposed by a five-year-old horse named Garus. Rhoda won the first heat and collected the prize of £50 when her opponent was withdrawn second.[7] At Chelmsford in Essex in July Rhoda was beaten by Duenna in a King's Plate and then finished fourth when carrying top weight of 130 pounds in a handicap two days later.[8] Rhoda's third and final success of the season came on 17 September at Leicester where she won the local Gold Cup over three and a quarter miles.[9]

Rhoda's remaining races of 1817 took place at Newmarket in autumn beginning at the First October meeting where she finished last of the four runners behind Bobadil in a subscription race. At the Second October meeting she was beaten in a match race over the Ditch Mile by Manfred, winner of that year's 2000 Guineas. On 28 October at the Houghton meeting Rhoda was moved down to sprint distances and finished second to The Duke in a five furlong handicap before ending the year by running second to Pendulum in the Audley End Stakes over one and three quarter miles two days later.[10]

Rhoda's most successful season began with three races at Newmarket in spring. She finished unplaced in an Oatlands Stakes in April, won a three-runner sweepstakes over ten furlongs two weeks later and then finished fourth of the five runners in a sweepstakes in May.[11] She started favourite for a race at the Derby meeting at Epsom at the end of the same month, but was beaten into second place by Doctor Busby.

Over a period of three months, beginning in July Rhoda won nine times from ten races. At the Newmarket July meeting she won a claiming race over two miles, beating four opponents. Later than month she ran twice at Chelmsford, winning a 100 guinea King's Plate in three heats on the opening day of the meeting and the Chelmsford Gold Cup for another 100 guineas on the following afternoon.[12] In August she was sent to race at Great Yarmouth Racecourse in Norfolk where she finished second to Lord Rous' colt Zenith in a Ladies' Plate.

On 3 September the mare appeared at Bedford where she won a £50 race in two four-mile heats. A week later at Northampton Rhoda ran three times in one day, beating four opponents in the Wellington Stakes over one and a half miles and then winning both heats of the Town Plate.[13] Six days after her wins at Northampton Rhoda was sent to race at Leicester where she won both heats of a £70 race on the opening day of the meeting. On the following day she added the Burgess's Plate at the same course, winning two out of three heats.[14] Rhoda returned to Newmarket in October and collected her sixth consecutive prize as she defeated Lord Jersey's horse Cannon-ball in a weight-for-age contest over the four mile Beacon Course.[15] The mare's winning run came to an end at Newmarket on 30 October when she finished unplaced behind Lord Foley's colt Boniface in a ten furlong handicap, carrying top weight of 133 pounds.

Rhoda's 1818 record of ten wins in fifteen starts made her the most successful British racehorse of the year in terms of races won.[16]

Rhoda made her last appearance in the ownership of the Duke of Rutland in April 1819 when she finished third behind Boniface and The Duchess in a handicap at Newmarket. By the time she finished unplaced in the Epsom Gold Cup in May she had been sold and was racing in the colours of Mr W. Edwards.[17] At the same meeting she was beaten by Lord Rous's colt Lepus in a £50 over three two-mile heats.

After a two-month break, Rhoda gained her first success for her new owner when she won the Town Plate at Brighton Racecourse in July. The mare had to race four times to take the prize, being beaten the first two heats before winning the next two.[18] At the end of August Rhoda ran again at Bedford, and finished second in two races, both run in heats, carrying top weight on each occasion.

In September Rhoda took the County Plate at Northampton, beating Lord Warwick's colt Wouvermans in three heats. Later in the month, the mare arrived at Leicester, where she contested three races in two days. On the opening day of the meeting she finished second in the three and a quarter mile Leicester Gold Cup and then turned out again immediately to win a £70 race in three heats. On the following afternoon she won both heats of a £70 race in which she conceded at least twenty pounds to her opponents.[19] Her season ended at Newmarket where she finished fourth in a King's Plate in October and sixth in a three-mile race on 2 November at the Houghton meeting.

By the start of the 1820 season, Rhoda had been sold again, and in her final season she raced in the colours of Mr H Edwards. She began the year at the Craven meeting, where she finished unplaced in a division of the Oatlands Stakes, carrying top weight of 124 pounds. In July at Chelmsford she ran in three heats of a 100 guinea King's Purse and finished third under a weight of 128 pounds behind Lord Clarendon's filly (later named Antiope) and the 1818 1000 Guineas and Oaks winner Corinne. Two days later in the Stewards' Purse, Rhoda won the second and third heats to claim a prize of £50.[20] Later that summer Rhoda ended her career with a victory at Northampton Racecourse, where she won the Town Plate.[21]