The Wish That Turned Deadly

Lady Valerie Meux — once known as Valerie Reece — became entangled in the strange and tragic affair surrounding the death of an amateur jockey at the Sandown Spring meeting.

There is, frustratingly, no definitive conclusion to the story.

“Truthful Tommy,” a correspondent for the Sporting Gazette, later wrote that he had not seen Valerie since the meeting “when her expressed wish concerning the fate of a popular gentleman rider was so cruelly fulfilled.”

What exactly was he hinting at?

He was referring to the death of the Irish politician Sir Reginald James Macartney Greville‑Nugent, who rode under the name Mr St James. Valerie had been “with young Nugent when he was killed riding a ‘screw’ in a steeplechase.”

When fate turned on Mr St James. This image was created through the magic of AI

The incident occurred on 27 February 1878, and two sharply different accounts survive.

Nugent rode in five races that Wednesday. In the two o’clock Selling Steeplechase, he was on Longford, owned by Mr F. H. Hobson.

The first version reported that after clearing the water jump, “a lady ran into the course and collided with Longford.” She was thrown violently aside, Longford fell, Nugent was unseated, and the horse kicked him in the head. Nugent died twenty‑four hours later.

But this “mysterious lady”— central to the earliest reports — vanishes entirely from later accounts.

The revised version stated that Longford was among the leading three when he attempted the new water jump, fell, and threw his rider. Nugent suffered little injury from the fall itself. As he struggled to his feet, Lockhart — ridden by Jones — cleared the brook and collided with him. Vyner’s horse was believed to have landed on Nugent’s left hand and struck him a heavy blow at the base of the skull.

Despite these injuries, Nugent remained conscious, even managing to walk a few steps before collapsing. He was carried away on a hurdle and soon slipped into insensibility.

The inquest, held that Saturday in the Members’ Stand at Sandown Park, heard Jones testify that Longford had fallen and Lockhart, close behind, simply could not avoid the stricken rider. The coroner, George Henry Hill, returned a verdict of accidental death.

And so the matter ended — officially, at least.

Whether the truth lies buried in some forgotten archive, or whether “Truthful Tommy” was alluding to something darker, remains an open question.

Sources: Civil & Military Gazette (Lahore) , Monday 16 December, 1878; Dundee Evening Telegraph, Friday, 1 March 1878; Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News, Saturday, 9 March 1878.