What do you imagine when you hear the name Eclipse? A newborn foal under a dark and radiant sky? Or perhaps an undefeated stallion charging down the race course, leaving the rest nowhere. In our modern era it is easy to look back upon this almost fate-touched racehorse and describe him as the best to have ever lived. Yet in the 18th century, English equine enthusiasts felt that the title of "the best" belonged not to Eclipse, but one of his offspring - one you have likely never heard of.
George Stubbs (British, 1724-1806), Eclipse, c. 1782, oil on canvas, 43 x 54 centimeters
In fact, I had only recently discovered this lesser-known descendent of Eclipse myself while digitizing a 1907 copy of Theodore Andrea Cook's Eclipse & O'Kelly. When I am digitizing rare books my eye might catch annotations in the margins, dazzling color plates, or a bookmark that has been nestled between the pages for a century. While scanning through the pages of this book however, I could not help noticing the delightful phrase "Eclipse's loveliest son, Pot8os".
See page 73 for the above quotation.
The sentence pulled on my heartstrings and filled me with curiosity. A horse born in the 18th century with such a bizarre name surely had a bizarre story to match. I hungered for answers. Who was this forgotten race horse? While the other horses had such normal and even regal names as Sportsmaster, Herod, and Regulus where did the silly numeral moniker come from? With a name like Pot-8-o's, you can understand why his father's legend eclipsed his place in history.
I quickly learned that the story of his naming was a frequently shared anecdote that I found shared in several of the library's books, changing details from book to book but going as far back with the same storyline as 1810. I thought it touching that the authors of these books felt the need to share where this silly name came from, and I also became overcome with the need to share his forgotten tale so others can be as charmed by Pot8os as I was.
In 1773, Lord Abingdon of Willoughby was deciding on the name of his recently purchased colt. This spry foal was full of promise, having been sired by Eclipse, and thus he had an unbeatable legacy to live up to. Eclipse himself was named for the solar eclipse that darkened the sky as he was foaled, and so this young colt was surely deserving of a name that would stand up to the regality of his sire.
Lord Abingdon gazed upon his beautiful new foal, with a shining chestnut coat and a beautiful white blaze upon his snout, and thought it fitting to name him Potatoes.
John Nost Sartorius (British, 1759-1828), Pot-8-O's, undated, oil on canvas, 21 x 27 centimeters, The National Horse Racing Museum
The young lord immediately found his horse trainer in the stables so he could share his perfect name idea, not knowing that one of his stablehands was eavesdropping nearby. When the stablehand overheard that the colt was to be named "Potatoes", he couldn't help bursting out in laughter at the ludicrous name idea for a future racehorse.
Lord Abingdon was surprised by the laughter and decided a good-natured challenge was in order. He picked up a piece of chalk and instructed the boy to write the name "Potatoes" on the colt's feeding bin. If the young man wrote the horse's new name correctly then Lord Abingdon would reward him with a coin for his efforts. With nothing but the barrier of illiteracy standing in his way, the stablehand took the piece of chalk and accepted the challenge. He began to write, spelling out each letter phonetically to mark "Pot" on the feeding bin before taking a stumped pause. He pondered for a moment before he continued to carefully write eight more O's, ending with "Potoooooooo".
The misspelling of the name was so humorous to Lord Abingdon that it stuck, and Potoooooooo was entered into his first race with that same spelling, before race masters began shortening the typing to "Pot-8-o's". Looking back in books on British racehorse pedigree and racing calendar guides the name Potatoooooooo can also be found written as "Pot-8-o's", "Pot-8-O", and "Pot-Eight-O's". The young stallion quickly became a popular choice for betting on the track, as he won more than 30 of his 40 starts while he raced from 1776 until 1783.
Newspapers and racing journals began to increasingly note him as a favorable betting choice, eventually granting him the unofficial title of the best racehorse alive before he was retired to live the rest of his days as a prized siring stallion. The Eclipse line can still be traced from modern winning race horses including Secretariat, Man 'O' War, and Seabiscuit through the siring line of Pot-8-o's and his son Waxy.
Pot-8-o's passed away in 1800 and was buried in Hare Park where a cedar tree was likely planted to mark his plot. In 1990, the full-grown cedar tree was knocked over in a storm and revealed the fully formed horse skeleton, which was soon excavated and determined to be the remains of Pot-8-o's. The skeleton has been mounted for display in the National Horse Racing Museum of Suffolk, England, where you can still visit Pot-8-o's today.
Skeleton of Pot-8-o's, National Horseracing Museum, Newmarket, Suffolk, England
For a trip closer to home, you can be sure to keep an eye out for the name Potoooooooo on your next visit to the National Sporting Library & Museum.
For access to more reading material on Eclipse, Pot8o's, and more please visit the official National Sporting Library & Museum Archive.org page.
Jamie Eagle is a summer 2023 National Sporting Library & Museum rare book and archival digitization intern. In 2022 they graduated from Christopher Newport University with a Bachelor of Arts in Art History and Museum Studies.
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