Cockfighter (horse)

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.