[3] George Dawson operated Heath House as a private stable for a consortium of aristocratic owners led by the Duke of Portland.
Dawson was given some credit for introducing modern training methods, preferring shorter, faster gallops to the long, slow pieces of work previously favoured.
[4] In 1888, Dawson trained Ayrshire, owned by Portland, to win both the 2000 Guineas and The Derby, whilst the Duke's colt Donovan was the season's leading two-year-old.
[5] Although there was no official championship in 1888, Dawson was the leading British trainer in terms of prize money, and the £77,914 won by horses trained at Heath House set a record which stood for forty-three years.
[10] Dawson's run of success ended when the lease on Heath House expired in 1898, and Portland moved his horses to the stable of John Porter at Kingsclere.