page_title: Doctor Syntax (horse)
section_title: 1814–1815: early career
hierarchical_section_title: Doctor Syntax (horse) / Racing career / 1814–1815: early career
caption_attribution_description: English: Painting of the British racehorse Doctor Syntax by the painter. John Frederick Herring Sr. (1795-1865) Artist dead for 147 years.
context_page_description: Doctor Syntax was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. Trained in Yorkshire, and racing exclusively in the North of England, Doctor Syntax won at least thirty-six races in ten seasons from 1814 to 1823. He was noted for his consistency and durability and recorded multiple wins in many of the period's leading staying races. He won the Preston Gold Cup on a record seven consecutive occasions, as well as five Lancaster Gold Cups and five Richmond Gold Cups. He was retired to stud in 1824 and proved a successful sire of winners, despite limited opportunities.
context_section_description: Doctor Syntax began his long racing career at Catterick Bridge Racecourse on 13 April 1814. He fell in the race but was remounted to complete the ten furlong course in last place. Later in April he finished second in races at Middleham and Durham and was then off the course for more than two months. In July, Doctor Syntax crossed the Pennines to compete at Preston Racecourse and recorded his first win in a maiden plate. Like many races at the time, the race was scheduled for a series of heats, with the prize going to the first horse to win twice. Racing against two opponents, Doctor Syntax decided the event by winning the first two heats, winning a prize of £70. Before the end of the year, the colt added four wins from as many starts. At Morpeth on 17 September he won the first two races on the card, the Members' Plate and a Sweepstakes, starting favourite on both occasions. He ended the season in October at Richmond, where he won two Sweepstakes. In the second of these, he won both heats from his stable companion XYZ and Biddick, the horse who had beaten him at Durham in April.
  In 1815 Doctor Syntax won twice at Catterick Bridge in March and then won his most valuable race to date when winning the 100 guineas Gold Cup over three miles at Middleham in April. In Lancashire that summer, the colt took his winning run to ten by taking the Corporation Gold Cup at Lancaster Racecourse and his first Preston Gold Cup. In October, Doctor Syntax was beaten into second place by that year's St Leger winner Filho da Puta, to whom he was conceding eighteen pounds in the Richmond Cup, with the 1813 St Leger winner Altisidora unplaced. Doctor Syntax reappeared on the following day to end his second season with a win in a Sweepstakes.
caption: Mr Ralph Riddell's Doctor Syntax, with Bob Johnson up by John Frederick Herring, Sr.
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