Among his several interests the Marquis was a senior steward of the National Greyhound Racing Club, president of the Bribery Prevention League, and London president of the Old Contemptibles.
Or do we whisper to each other that the senior steward owns the land on which the winning trainer is based?
A senior steward acknowledged that there was "frustration" over the rules on interference after a controversial finish here on Wednesday in which the Royal Ascot-bound Escalating held off Kibaar after knocking his rival sideways.
He served three three-year stints as senior steward of the Jockey Club (1957, 1964 and 1976) and is largely credited with paving the way to handing over the running of the racing industry to the British Horseracing Board, leaving the club to administer rules and discipline.
An inquiry was chaired by High Court judge Sir Michael Connell, the deputy senior steward of the Jockey Club since 1988.
At a meeting of the Jockey Club in spring 1913, Victor Child Villiers, Lord Jersey, the club's senior steward, proposed a resolution limiting the registration of American bloodlines.
The Jaguars had passed scrutiny and completed the first day of qualifying when senior steward Alain Bertaut complained that Jaguar were not running catalytic converters.
In 1913 the Jockey Club and the owners of the General Stud Book passed a regulation named by the foreign press after the Jockey Club's senior steward, Lord Jersey, prohibiting the registration of horses in the book unless all of their ancestors had been registered.
Senior shop stewards have already rejected the proposals and are now awaiting a response from the 2,000 drivers who have been polled on a document that seeks to end the dispute concerning standards of safety, training, pay and pensions.
"People are devastated," said Steve Faulkner, a Unite senior shop steward.
