George Peddie Thomas Dawson (1853 – 14 June 1913), was a British trainer of racehorses. A member of a highly successful racing family, he trained the winners of ten

British Classic Races The British Classics are five long-standing Group 1 horse races run during the traditional flat racing season. They are restricted to three-year-old horses and traditionally represent the pinnacle of achievement for racehorses against their ow ...

in seven seasons between 1888 and 1894.

Background

George Dawson was the son of the Scottish trainer John Dawson who won The Derby with

Petrarch Francis Petrarch (; 20 July 1304 – 19 July 1374; ; modern ), born Francesco di Petracco, was a scholar from Arezzo and poet of the early Italian Renaissance, as well as one of the earliest Renaissance humanism, humanists. Petrarch's redis ...

in 1876. He was also the nephew of the trainers Thomas Dawson and Mathew Dawson. Despite his background, Dawson did not initially pursue a career in horse racing but went into business and by 1883 was running a successful brewery at

Burton-on-Trent Burton upon Trent, also known as Burton-on-Trent or simply Burton, is a market town in the borough of East Staffordshire in the county of Staffordshire, England, close to the border with Derbyshire. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 censu ...

. In 1884 he moved to

Newmarket, Suffolk Newmarket is a market town and civil parish in the West Suffolk (district), West Suffolk district of Suffolk, England, 14 miles west of Bury St Edmunds and 14 miles northeast of Cambridge. In 2021, it had a population of 16,772. It is a global ...

where he worked for several months as assistant trainer to his uncle Mathew at the latter's Heath House stable. When Mathew Dawson "retired" in 1885, George was invited to take over the stable despite his limited experience.

Training career

George Dawson operated Heath House as a private stable for a consortium of aristocratic owners led by the Duke of Portland. Dawson was given some credit for introducing modern training methods, preferring shorter, faster gallops to the long, slow pieces of work previously favoured. In 1888, Dawson trained

Ayrshire Ayrshire (, ) is a Counties of Scotland, historic county and registration county, in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. The lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area of Ayrshire and Arran covers the entirety ...

, owned by Portland, to win both the

2000 Guineas The 2000 Guineas Stakes is a Group 1 flat race in Great Britain open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run on the Rowley Mile at Newmarket over a distance of 1 mile (1.6 km) and scheduled to take place each yea ...

and The Derby, whilst the Duke's colt

Donovan Donovan Phillips Leitch (born 10 May 1946), known mononymously as Donovan, is a Scottish musician, songwriter and record producer. He emerged from the British folk scene in early 1965 and subsequently scored multiple international hit singles ...

was the season's leading two-year-old. Although there was no official championship in 1888, Dawson was the leading British trainer in terms of prize money, and the £77,914 won by horses trained at Heath House set a record which stood for forty-three years. In the following season Donovan gave Dawson a second Derby and also won the

St Leger The St Leger Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run at Doncaster over ...

. The rest of Dawson's classic wins came with four fillies, all owned by the Duke of Portland. In 1890 Semolina won the

1000 Guineas The 1000 Guineas Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old fillies. It is run on the Rowley Mile at Newmarket over a distance of 1 mile ...

and Memoir took both the Oaks and the St Leger. Mrs Butterwick won the Oaks in 1893 and Amiable took both fillies' classics a year later. Dawson's run of success ended when the lease on Heath House expired in 1898, and Portland moved his horses to the stable of John Porter at

Kingsclere Kingsclere is a large village and civil parish in Hampshire, England. At the centre of the village lies the Church Of England parish church of St. Mary's with its distinctive tower. St. Mary's church has C12 origins. It is cruciform and has N ...

. Dawson took over his father's Warren House stable in 1900 but was never able to reproduce his earlier success. He died at Warren House on 14 June 1913.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dawson, George 1853 births 1913 deaths British racehorse trainers