The Colt by Fidget is a name used to refer to an otherwise nameless British Thoroughbred racehorse. In a career that lasted from June 1797 to April 1798 he ran at least twice and won once. On his racecourse debut in the summer of 1797 he won The Derby. He was unplaced on his only other confirmed race.
Background
The Fidget Colt was a brown horse bred by his owner the 5th Duke of Bedford. Until 1913 there was no requirement for British racehorses to be named, and in the late eighteenth century it was common for horses to be known by their owner, colour, sex and pedigree rather than by an official name. The Duke of Bedford's previous Derby winner had been known as "the Florizel colt" or "the Brother to Fidget" during his three-year-old season, but was later given the name Eager. The Fidget Colt, however, was never given an official name: he was known only as "the Fidget colt" or "the colt by Fidget". The colt's dam, an unnamed mare by Highflyer was a half-sister to the notable broodmareYoung Giantess, who produced the Derby winner Eleanor and was the grand-dam of two others in Phantom and Priam. Fidget was not a particularly important stallion: in the year of the Derby winner's birth Fidget was standing at Woburn in Bedfordshire at a fee of three guineas, making him the cheapest of the four stallions at the stud.
Racing career
1797: three-year-old season
On 2 June 1797 The Fidget Colt made his racecourse debut in the Derby at Epsom. Running as "D. of Bedford's brc by Fidget out of a sister to Pharamond" he started at odds of 10/1 in a field of seven runners, with Sir Frank Standish's Sir Peter colt sent off the 11/8 favourite. Ridden by John Singleton, Jr., he won from the 20/1 outsider Escalus with Plaistow third and the favourite fourth.
The Fidget Colt was inbred 3 x 3 to Herod and Matchem, meaning that both of these stallions appear twice in the third generation of his pedigree. The Fidget Colt therefore had only two great-grandfathers, instead of the usual four. Also, he was inbred 4 x 4 to Tartar and Cade due to them being the sires of the 3 x 3 inbreeding scenario.
