Charles the Twelfth

Charles the Twelfth (1836–1859) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and sire best known for winning the classic St Leger Stakes in 1839. He ran a dead-heat with Euclid in the classic before winning the prize in a deciding heat. In a racing career which lasted from July 1839 until September 1843 he won nineteen of his thirty-four races. Unraced as a two-year-old, Charles the Twelfth was unbeaten in three races as a three-year-old in 1839. He won the Liverpool Tradesmen's Cup before winning the St Leger and then beat a strong field of older horses in the Doncaster Cup. Charles the Twelfth remained in training for four more years, winning once in 1840, ten times in 1841, four times in 1842 and once in 1843. He won the Goodwood Cup in 1841 and 1842. Charles the Twelfth was retired to stud after the 1843 season, but had little success as a sire of winners. Background Charles the Twelfth was a "very fine and racing-like" dark brown horse standing sixteen hands high bred by Major Nicholas Yarburgh of Heslington Hall in North Yorkshire. Yarburgh sent the colt into training with John Scott who trained forty classic winners at his base at Whitewall stables, Malton, North Yorkshire.