Priscilla Hastings

Priscilla Victoria Hastings (née Bullock) was born on 28 February 1920 and died on 12 August 2010. She was a British racehorse owner and trainer known for her involvement in thoroughbred racing and her role in the advancement of women within the sport.

Early and Family Life:

Priscilla Hastings was the daughter of Malcolm Bullock, a British Conservative Member of Parliament from 1923 to 1953 who was created a baronet in 1954, and Lady Victoria Bullock (née Stanley). Lady Victoria was the third child of Edward Stanley, 17th Earl of Derby. Lady Victoria Bullock had previously married Neil Primrose, the son of Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, in 1915. She was widowed in 1917 and married Malcolm Bullock in 1919. Lady Victoria Bullock died in an accident while hunting with the Quorn Hunt in November 1927 at the age of 35. Malcolm Bullock passed away in 1966.

In 1947, Priscilla Bullock married Peter Hastings, son of Aubrey Hastings and grandson of Francis Hastings, 13th Earl of Huntingdon. The Hastings family had a notable history in racehorse training, with her father-in-law Aubrey Hastings having trained four Grand National winners and ridden the first, Ascetic's Silver, in 1906. At the time of their marriage, Peter Hastings was an assistant racehorse trainer; he began training at Kingsclere stables in 1953. The couple purchased the Kingsclere estate, encompassing 1,500 acres near Newbury, Berkshire, in 1953. They had four children: William Hastings-Bass, a racehorse trainer who inherited the title of Earl of Huntingdon in 1990; Emma Hastings-Bass, who married trainer Ian Balding and is the mother of trainer Andrew Balding and television presenter Clare Balding; Simon Hastings-Bass; and John Hastings-Bass.

Name Change and Estate:

In 1954, Peter Hastings inherited the estate of his uncle, Sir William Bass, and adopted the surname Hastings-Bass as stipulated by his uncle's will. The couple's children also adopted the surname Hastings-Bass, but Priscilla Hastings retained her original surname.

Racing Career:

Priscilla Hastings was actively involved in horse racing, owning racehorses and participating as part-owner of notable horses. She co-owned Taxidermist, which won the 1958 Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup and the Whitbread Gold Cup in the same year. She owned King's Troop, which won the 1961 Royal Hunt Cup, and Murrayfield, which achieved victory in the 1968 Coventry Stakes and Solario Stakes as a two-year-old. Murrayfield also placed in the 2,000 Guineas and St. James's Palace Stakes the following year.

Challenges and Contributions:

Her husband died of cancer in 1964 at the age of 42. Following his death, her estate was involved in a lawsuit with the Inland Revenue, which led to the development of the legal doctrine known as the "rule in Hastings-Bass," allowing decisions to be declared void if they resulted differently from the original intent.

During her husband's illness, Priscilla Hastings had been training the horses, but due to the Jockey Club's policies— which did not permit women to hold training licenses until a 1966 court ruling by Florence Nagle—she was unable to obtain a license herself. She thus used a male assistant to hold the license until it was taken over by Ian Balding, who later married her daughter Emma.

In addition to her training activities, Hastings served as a director and chairman of Newbury Racecourse and was a director of The Tote from 1984 to 1990, being one of only two women to hold that position at the time.

In 1977, she became one of the first three women admitted as members of the Jockey Club, the governing body of British horseracing, alongside her half-sister Ruth Wood (née Primrose), Countess of Halifax, and Helen Johnson Houghton, twin sister of Fulke Walwyn.

Death:

Priscilla Hastings passed away at the age of 90 at Kingsclere. On the day of her death, her racing colours were carried by the horse Cool Strike, which finished in third place at Newbury Racecourse.