Horseracing memorabilia is snapped up by fans at top auctioneer's first Newmarket event

CAMBRIDGE, ENGLAND, UK - Jockeys' racing silks, paintings and sculptures went under the hammer at a top auctioneer's first Newmarket sale.

More than 200 people attended Bonhams' sale at Chippenham Lodge Stud, just outside the town yesterday (Thursday, 20 July). Enthusiasts also made bids by phone and at one stage auctioneers were receiving five telephone bids for racing silks.

One set of silks, in simple dark blue with a white cap, sold for 19,000 pounds - against a price estimate of 8,000-10,000 pounds.

There were 15 sets of distinctive colours released by the British Horseracing Board for racehorse owners to bid for.

A Bonhams spokeswoman said: "It has gone very well and been very well attended."

Sketches and paintings from the studio of Peter Biegel, one of the late Queen Mother's favourite artists, were among the other items which attracted a lot of interest from bidders. Other lots included a life-size bronze statue of a thoroughbred foal and historic items related to racing.

Another set of silks, dark green with a red cap with a green diamond, sold for 13,000 pounds. A Victorian diamond and enamel brooch of a horse and jockey sold for 2,000 pounds at the hammer fall.

A 1966 Grand National race day programme signed by ex-Beatle Paul McCartney sold for 160 pounds. A Newmarket racecard from October 25, 1900, signed by composer Arthur Sullivan - one half of the Gilbert and Sullivan light opera writers - sold for 270 pounds.

Unsigned programmes, race cards and badges were also snapped up by collectors and dealers.

A collection of cardboard racecourse badges sold for 60 pounds, 17 enamelled metal badges sold for 150 pounds and another collection of more soughtafter enamel badges sold for 320 pounds.

But there was disappointment for Beryl Smith, of Great Wilbraham, when her family heirloom, a jockey's silk reputedly worn by Fred Archer, one of the most successful jockeys of all time, did not sell.

The jacket, torn so no-one else could wear it, was claret and mustard and had previously been valued at between 2,000 pounds and 3,000 pounds by a BBC Antiques Roadshow expert. It was offered for sale with a copy of the Sporting and Dramatic News from 1886 containing an article about Archer, who shot himself that year.

One of Mrs Smith's relatives was a friend of the jockey's valet. The lot was withdrawn after failing to reach its reserve price.