Cockfighter (horse)

Cockfighter
Sire	Overton
Grandsire	King Fergus
Dam	Palmflower
Damsire	Weasel
Sex	Stallion
Foaled	1796
Country	Kingdom of Great Britain
Colour	Brown
Owner	J. Robinson Sir Henry Vane-Tempest, 2nd Baronet
Trainer	Tom Fields
Record	18:10-5-2
Major wins
Richmond Gold Cup (1799) St Leger Stakes (1799) Doncaster Cup (1799) York Oatlands Stakes (1800) Great Subscription Purse (1800, 1801, 1801) Craven Stakes (1802)

Cockfighter (1796–1807) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and sire best known for winning the classic St Leger Stakes in 1799. In a racing career which lasted from May 1799 until August 1802 he won ten of his eighteen races. Originally named Abraham Newland, he was renamed to reflect the sporting interests of Henry Tempest Vane who bought the horse in the summer of his three-year-old season. After bolting on his racecourse debut, Cockfighter was undefeated for more than two years, winning the St Leger, the Doncaster Cup, and three divisions of the Great Subscription Purse at York, and was regarded as the best horse in Northern England. He won the Craven Stakes in 1802, but was retired from racing after a run of defeats later that year. He had little opportunity to establish himself as a breeding stallion, dying in 1807 after four seasons at stud.

Cockfighter was a bay or brown horse bred by his first owner Mr J Robinson. He was the most successful horse sired by Overton, a son of King Fergus, who won the Doncaster Cup in 1792. His dam, Palmflower, came from the same branch of Thoroughbred family 2 which included the Epsom Derby winners Spread Eagle and Didelot. The colt was originally named Abraham Newland, after the chief cashier of the Bank of England, whose name had also become a slang term for a bank note.

Abraham Newland made his first appearance at York Racecourse on 29 May when he ran in a two-mile, all-aged sweepstakes. He did not finish the race after he "ran out of the course". Two days later he was entered in another sweepstakes over the same course which was run in a series of heats, with the prize going to the first horse to win twice. Abraham Newland finished second to Mr Wentworth's five-year-old Tartar in the first heat, but won the next two. On the following day a cockfight was held in which the birds owned by Sir Harry Tempest Vane (otherwise known as Sir Henry Vane-Tempest) defeated those of George Germain, earning their owner over 300 guineas. Shortly afterwards, Tempest Vane purchased Abraham Newland and renamed him Cockfighter.

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