On Monday 13^th November Sotherby’s will be hosting its annual sporting memorabilia sale and, we are excited to announce, for the first time, the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) will be adding three sets of individual silks to the lots on offer.

In addition to five sets of distinctive and historical colours, vibrant sets of silks resplendent in lightning bolts as well as playing card and dartboard themes will also be available. The three new designs are some of the most unique ever to be offered to the public and the right to register each set of colours is estimated to sell for £5,000‐£6,000.

20 per cent of the proceeds for the BHA designed lots (lots 96, 97 and 98) will be donated to racing charities, with the rest being used to better help recruit and retain racehorse owners.

Robin Mounsey, BHA Head of Media, said: “The liberalisation of owners’ colours is something we’ve been looking at in the past 12 months, including through our recent invitation to owners to design and register their own silks, which resulted in 10 new designs becoming available for registration.

“The three new designs that have been designed by the BHA for this Sotherby’s auction represent a further experiment to see where interest lies in terms of silk designs. We’ll be interested to see how much the grab the attention of existing or prospective owners.”

Auctioneer Graham Budd said: “we are delighted that the BHA has instructed us to auction a selection of racing colours. We are particularly excited about the initiative to offer thee sets of unique designs incorporating lightning bolt & stars, playing card suits and dartboard motifs. The colour of horse racing is an integral part of what makes the sport such as glorious spectacle. These bold and innovative designs will certainly add an extra splash of colour around Britain’s racecourses.

“The colours are being offered amongst nearly 150 lots of horse racing memorabilia. Amongst the other highlights is a preserved portion of hide from legendary racehorse Eclipse and a group of seven original works of art privately commissioned by the late Anne, Duchess of Westminster’s Charity including pictures by Peter Biegel and a Susan Crawford.”

The auction gets underway on Monday, 13^th November at 10.30am at Sotheby’s, 34-35 New Bond Street, London, W1A 2AA. For further details, or to request a brochure listing all the lots on offer, please contact Lisa Cole at Weatherbys by telephone on 01933 440077 or by email: [email protected]. Alternatively all of the lots can be viewed, and bid on, online here.

Owners wishing to design and register their own bespoke silks may do so via the racing colours page of the BHA website.