Horsing Demurely

“There is only one race greater than the Jews – and that is the Derby,” said Sir Victor Sassoon. Born in Naples, Italy, in 1881, to a wealthy Baghdadi Jewish merchant and banking family, Sassoon was educated at Harrow School and Cambridge University – an aptly symbolic start for the future 3rd Baronet of Bombay.

The roots of the Sassoon lineage lay in ancient Babylon and David Sassoon, the patriarch of the family and great-grandfather of Victor, was a Prince of the Captivity, an ancient and honourable hereditary title given to leaders of the Jewish community in Baghdad, held by his ancestors before him. Thus, unlike some other distinguished and influential family houses, the younger generation who later came to England were able to infuse their rank in society in the manner they were born.

By the mid-1800s, British imperialism was expanding – an inducement for ambitious merchants like the Sassoons, who had settled in Bombay, now Mumbai, in the 1830s and were rapidly influencing the burgeoning exports of opium and cotton. The Sassoon family shrewdly selected and conjoined suppliers, successfully exporting opium to China and textiles to Persia and the Ottoman Empire. In business, connectedness initiated by guileful minds is usually a catalyst for one opportunity opening up to another; thus, the First Opium War of 1839–42 prompted the Treaty of Nanking, an agreement that persuaded China to open their ports, thus legalising opium imports—a momentous gift for Sassoon’s opium trading. And then it was that in 1861 the Union blockade of Confederate cotton – a byproduct of the American Civil War – disrupted its exportation to British textile mills. Indian cotton and yarn would undoubtedly then be in high demand, creating another monumental opportunity for the Sassoons to profit from.

Nestled in the south of Mumbai’s sprawling megalopolis is the Mahalaxmi Racecourse – a historically and culturally significant monument that, since its inception in 1883, has attracted and played host to not only Indian royalty but also the global beau monde, seeking and partaking in the glamorous sporting revelry in the grand colonial-style grandstands. In their bespoke pale-hued tailoring—an apt uniform that, incidentally, AK MC offers in abundance in the form of the AK MC brown POW check linen blend Signature jacket and contemporary Gurkha trousers, to name only a few options— they frolic and train their eyes on the moving silks, which shimmer in front of the backdrop of the Arabian Sea.

“Sports of Kings”, the moniker attributed to both horse racing and polo, will no doubt forever be saddled with debate over which sport merits it more. However, Maharaja Sir Vijaysinhji of Rajpipla is one patrician who diffuses the debate by ennobling both on an equal pedestal of royalty. Born in 1890 in Chhatra Vilas Palace, Maharaja Vijaysinhji was the 36th and last Gohil Rajput ruler of Rajpipla State, which merged with the Indian Union in 1948. He was an international bon vivant who bounded between Bombay, Windsor and the French Riviera, and prior to his sad demise in 1951 this royal aesthete exposed and relished in incomparably tasteful attire in the chic sporting environs of both elite horse racing and polo.

A trailblazer in elevating sports’ development, he not only founded the Rajpipla Polo Team, which he captained, but he also built a gymkhana – a more community setting that would promote and facilitate several sports for students to use in the Rajpipla state, where sport had become compulsory. And it was the ample and ritzy stables he built – a more informal vicinity wherein between November and February you could see Maharaja Vijaysinhji and his upper-crust guests roving in breeches and diamond-shaped quilted jackets before and after exercise – that were an authentic sign of the way in which he fostered equine employment, thus generating Indian horse racing interest. This culminated when his aptly named horse Tipster won the first-ever Indian Derby in 1919. The event kindled an hullabaloo surrounding Indian horse racing at a time when another horse racing patron, in the form of Sir Victor Sassoon, was not only inviting bold-faced names to partake in the voguish jocularity, but also, in sync with his motivation to protect Western interests in the Orient, served as Chairman of the Royal Western India Turf Club (RWITC).

Gambling and sport are so intertwined that even a minor disruption to the ecosystem can tremendously unsettle the lives of insiders and followers. On October 1, 2023, the Indian Parliament imposed a 28% Goods and Services Tax on every rupee wagered, not just on winnings; such a policy is particularly crippling for racecourses, because pundits then funnel betting money to underground bookmakers, which in turn strangles the flow of legal betting that is a primary source of funding for the industry.

Now, of course, unlicensed betting has always proliferated, not least in the environs of royal circles. Remarkably, King Edward VII is still the only reigning monarch to own an Epsom Derby winner, in the form of Minoru in 1909. “Gentlemen, you may smoke,” he exclaimed after his coronation in 1902, in response to Queen Victoria’s ban on smoking. Earlier, when Prince of Wales, he created a precursor to the smoking saloon, unsurprisingly making Marlborough House, where he lived on Pall Mall, the unofficial headquarters. And in sync with this salacious royal behaviour among the infamous Marlborough set, it is more than likely that his unofficial bookie partook in this convivial atmosphere.

He was Rueben Sassoon, a cousin of Sir Victor, recognised for his multi-faceted skills as well as his love of horse sports. He was well known for his astute art collecting, which included many prize pieces that subsequently passed through the selling rooms of Sotheby’s. No doubt it was his royal pedigree, through David, Prince of the Captivity, that aided his seamless transition into the upper echelons of British society. Reuben began life wearing traditional Indian and Oriental dress – ironically, it was after he passed away in 1905, and King Edward VII died five years later, that Western dress began to display softer silhouettes, reflecting the looser constructions of Oriental dress.

Prestiss C. Hale, left, president of the 1960 Winter Olympic Games organizing committee, and Walt Disney, center, chat with Willy Schaeffler, Denver University ski coach, during a tour of the Olympic site at Squaw Valley, California in 1958. AP Photo/Clarence Hamm via Alamy)

By 1930 Sir Victor detected the rising tide of Indian nationalism, which stirred up political discourse and uncertainty—a menacing threat to his Indian business domain. However, in all declensions of life, Sir Victor rebounded from hindrances and setbacks with business and personal alacrity – and all undertaken with enduring style. He shifted the headquarters of the family empire from Bombay to Shanghai, the latter being ripe for property investment.

“The future of Shanghai is a glowing one,” Sassoon wrote in January 1928. The following year he opened the Cathay Hotel on the Bund (scheduled to be rebranded as the Raffles Peace Hotel in 2027); built in the Gothic style, it was considered Asia’s first real skyscraper, with a Chicago-style steel frame – a pioneering construction, not only architecturally, but also for its open allure to Hollywood stars, the international beau monde and Asian business magnets. Embankment House, also masterminded by Sir Victor, is another perennial monument to Old Shanghai, and it was there that Sir Victor provided shelter for the arrivals of the displaced Jewish people, only one of many pivotal humanitarian relief gestures that he installed.

In 1928, when the Cathay Hotel was erected, the Jazz Age was at its zenith, earning Shanghai its reputation as “The Paris of the East” or “The City of Blazing Night”. Heralded as the most luxurious hostelry east of the Suez Canal, the name Sassoon’s House befits his 11th-floor penthouse, just below the hotel’s copper-green, pyramid-shaped top roof, his downtown pied-à-terre.

Emily “Mickey” Hahn, socialite and New Yorker correspondent, would attend Victor’s legendary dinner parties with Mr Mills, her pet gibbon, on her shoulder. Noel Coward found inspiration there to write Private Lives in the midst of a nasty bout of influenza; George Bernard Shaw drank in Victor’s pub, the Hare and Hounds; horse racing enthusiast Charlie Chaplin and Paulette Goddard would twirl on the teak floorboards of a sprung dance floor. Similar to Tangier, which existed between 1926 and 1956 as an international zone free from stifling rules, no one in Shanghai wished to see a passport, allowing important names to stroll around in anonymity. It was a hallowed era that would end in Shanghai in 1941 during WWII.

Now, why are we profiling international nobles, albeit individuals that exuded worldliness and refinement through their attire, when delving into the history and delectable attributes of the casual quilted jacket? The truth is, admittedly it’s an informal, unceremonious garment that wouldn’t pertain to the haute couture monde environs of the Epsom Derby, but it is the exemplification of these tastemakers that warrants a traditionally made sartorial-esque quilted jacket, which today is extremely scarce.

The Chinese Communist Revolution culminated with the proclamation of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. Sir Victor found it impossible to continue his Chinese business operations, leading him to relocate his headquarters to Nassau, Bahamas. Despite these complicated business endeavours, his move to Nassau coincided with his remarkable achievement of winning the Epsom Derby on four occasions in eight years. Pinza, in the distinctive Sassoon colours, pale blue with fawn/yellow hoops and sleeves and black cap, beat Aureole, the late lamented Queen Elizabeth’s horse, to win the race in 1953, then, at the tender age of 18, Lester Piggott, who would become an unparalleled icon of horse racing and a brilliant yet taciturn maestro in the saddle, rode Never Say Die to win for him the following year. The scorchingly hot favourite, Crepello, owned by Sir Victor and again ridden by Piggott, took the 1957 Derby – then Carrozza would win the Oaks, the Queen’s first British Classic winner, thus helping Her Majesty to finish the 1957 season as Champion Owner. Noel Murless, who trained Crepello at Warren Place and whose daughter Julie would later marry the elegant Sir Henry Cecil, arguably imparted the most emotional training journey one could imagine at Warren Place. Finally, St Paddy, son of the aforementioned royally-owned Aureole, won the 1960 Derby. Owned by Sir Victor, trained by Murless and ridden yet again by Piggott, it would be hard to pick out an Epsom Derby winner that encompassed such an illustrious quartet of horse racing patrons as those.

As alluded to, even the well-crafted diamond jacket using superior fabric is not suitable in the environs of the Epsom Derby. However, as with the late Queen and her cherished racing manager, the 7th Earl of Carnarvon, otherwise known to Her Majesty as “Porchie”, they would be eminently so on a brisk and damp April morning, either at Highclere Stud when inspecting her adored fleet of thoroughbreds, or on the gallops at West Islay, Newbury, the estate then owned by the Queen, where she would be educated and guided by Porchie on every detail of her horses. It was the Queen’s most enjoyable pastime – a hobby largely undertaken without prying eyes – and she, even when mounting herself on occasion, would wear her trademark headscarf, usually from Hermès, a tartan skirt or jodhpurs, and, last but not least, her quilted jacket, an outfit that propelled relaxation, thus conserving her undimmed satisfaction from equine pursuits.

Inspired by the Neapolitan tailoring school’s soft, light, and shorter construction, the classically made AK-MC diamond-shaped navy quilted corduroy jacket is an unfeigned exposition of their endeavours to interpret archetypal garments with traditional yet high-end features that are both undeniably comfortable and portray a guise of panache, thus giving the wearer an identity of individualism.

Like the others in AK MC’s growing quilted jacket assortment, it imbues several layers of specialised performance material that is then carefully padded and stitched for that delectable feel and appearance. Personally selected, it features a navy and brown corduroy collar – a new feature that exudes quality – while perhaps its most valuable attribute is its water-repellent yet supremely breathable performance fabric that keeps you dry during downpours. This rendition features two front slanted patch pockets and a securely zipped inside pocket, labelled with the AK MC logo, designed to store wallets or other small items, showcasing all the hallmarks of fine tailoring, which are rare in quilted jackets in an era where designers of archetypal garments like the diamond-shaped quilted jacket are known to skimp on their quality, thus offering no panache – an uninspiring feeling and one that during those heydays in the ‘50s would not have been perceived.

Notable figures such as Sir Victor, Her Majesty the Queen, the 7th Earl of Carnarvon, Sir Henry Cecil and the Queen’s favourite jockey, Lester Piggott, all sported the diamond quilted jacket—a noble tribute to this archetypal piece of apparel. However, the AK MC assortment adds a touch of stardust, as it has been traditionally designed with enduring quality and comfort, making it suitable for a variety of settings, even when mounted on your horse!