Each stable consists of an imprinted ACD Society/Wessex Cup box containing:
• Your horse, which will be keeping warm in the cold January winter in NYC in its own unique horse blanket. This year's horses are extra-special. They are an extraordinary breed — tiny Ukrainian Hoculs (literally from Ukraine, where they were custom-crafted just for this Wessex Cup by a remarkable artisan who works, sadly and not surprisingly, under difficult conditions). The horses are like last year's: they are rather small, wooden, and ready to gallop on sturdy wooden wheels powered by gravity. (In other words, they are tiny rolling wooden toy horses, customized for the Wessex Cup.)
• The horse blanket, which, in the spirit now animating the racing world, is emblazoned with the trademarks of corporate sponsors of the event. When unfurled, which will not happen until the Wessex Cup is run on January 8, the blanket will reveal more about the horse, and about the Wessex Cup.
• Special wooden horse-safe guides (selected and decorated with an eye to pleasing every student of Doylean literature) that will enable your horse to easily start every race properly.
• A numbered, limited-edition print version of the latest issue of The Doylean Sporting Times (aka The "New Pink 'Un"), and perhaps one or two other things.
A Few Simple Purchase and Participation Rules
ACD Society members in good standing get first dibs on purchasing stables until December 15.
Past winners of the Wessex Cup are disqualified (from owning and racing, that is); we do hope they will attend the event, both to cheer on their favorites and to pose for a photograph with the 2026 winner.
One stable per purchaser.
The purchaser of a stable is its Owner.
An Owner may at any time designate up to three Trainers as their collaborator(s) by emailing notice of the designation to us at acdsocy@gmail.com.
Each stable must be claimed in person by its Owner or a Trainer at the ACD Society’s Doylean Honors ceremony at Otto Penzler’s The Mysterious Bookshop (58 Warren Street in NYC), on January 8, 2026, by 11:05 a.m.
A stable that is not claimed on time will be transferred to some worthy person at the Doylean Honors ceremony — probably a friendly on-the-spot purchaser — with no refund to the original purchaser. (So, if you purchase a stable, please make sure to show up on time, or designate a Trainer who will!)
How the Wessex Cup Will Be Run
The Wessex Cup races will be run in Otto Penzler’s The Mysterious Bookshop (58 Warren Street in NYC) as part of the ACD Society’s Doylean Honors ceremony on January 8, 2026, beginning at 11:15 a.m.
There will be a total of 7 two-horse races, with the final race being for the championship:
• Round 1: Horses from the 8 stables will compete in pairs — 4 races resulting in 4 winners.
• Round 2: The 4 winners of round 1 will compete in pairs — 2 races resulting in 2 winners.
• Round 3: The 2 winners of round 2 will compete to determine the champion of the Wessex Cup.
All races will be run on the same course — a straight, inclined, 3-foot-long, Victorian-era track with a green felt surface. So, the total time to run all 7 races will probably be only about 20 minutes!
The champion will receive a trophy, as well as bragging rights until the next running of the Wessex Cup.
N.B. Owners who want to get in a little practice ahead of time might have an opportunity to do so if they arrive at The Mysterious Bookshop a few minutes early on January 8.
Interested? We hope so!
If you would like to race on January 8, please select and purchase one of the available stables below (before December 15 if you are an ACD Society member, after that date if you are not).
Each stable is designated by the name of its horse, and also by a color (the reason for the color assignments will become clear on January 8). This year, one relentless horse — Unfortunate Pony — will continue to race for its relentless owners — Ashley Polasek and Curtis Armstrong — while each of the other seven horses is named for a real person (each from a different continent) about whom ACD wrote or spoke.
An owner who wants to change the name of their horse should check with Ross Davies (who is usually a pushover, but who will insist this year that any name change involve a real person, who (a) was spoken or written about by ACD; (b) was associated with the same continent as the person whose name originally assigned to their horse; and (c) is appropriate for the event).
All stables will be properly labeled and ready for pick-up at The Mysterious Bookshop no later than 11:05 a.m. on January 8.
We hope to see you there!
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Unfortunate Pony (blue)
SOLD
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Garnet (red)
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Shackleton (white)
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Ranjitsinhji (green)
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Monash (orange)
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Victoria (purple)
SOLD
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Kiplings (black)
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Reader (yellow)
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Questions? Please feel free to email us at acdsocy@gmail.com.