A cheerful, outgoing boy, Sam Day, together with his older brother John, was brought up in their father’s stable – Sam left at an early age to work for the Duke of St Albans at Barnet before moving on to Newmarket where, for six years, he rode with distinction for the Duke of York’s trainer, Mr Cooper.
Sam was selected to ride the 1821 Epsom 2/1 Derby favourite, Gustavus. He was up against the indomitable Frank Buckle riding the second favourite Reginald. The pair had the race between them inside the last furlong and – as was then the style - Sam stood up in his stirrups and flayed the horse unmercifully, winning by half-a-length. Ironically, the horse’s owner, Mr Hunt, had not originally cared for the small, mean-looking colt but had given, reluctantly, 25 guineas for it.
Sam Day’s star shone after this victory. He was employed by the racing eccentric Fulwer Craven to ride Longwaist in the 1825 Doncaster Gold Cup and was up against George Nelson riding Lottery, who made every yard of the running. Sam, beaten by a head, said later that it was like going after a steam engine.
His career continued on an upward curve when in 1830 he was chosen from a host of other top jockeys to partner Priam in the Derby: obeying orders to the letter he held the horse up until the last half-furlong before charging to victory.
It was not, however, all good fortune. In pursuit of his career, he met with a greater number of accidents than any other jockey riding and broke the greatest amount of bones. He was once laid up for nine months and amused himself by learning to play a tin pipe. Such became his prowess that, able to tootle forth the greatest pastoral or gentlest marital air, he astonished his friends with his expertise and versatility.
On retirement, he bought a farm at Wokingham and soon fell in with the life of a country farmer. He was invited to many a gentleman’s estate where, after dinner, he would regale fellow guests with stories of the old days riding against the likes of Sam Chifney and Frank Buckle. He was set to become an overweight ex-jockey living off past glories when he received a message from Danebury – they were in desperate need of a jockey. Would he consider the position?
Sam, now considerably bulked up, had not ridden for ten years – the idea seemed ludicrous, but he made up his mind with alacrity and returned to London. He needed to draw 8 stone 7 pounds before he could think about riding, and gave himself eight weeks to do so. He had lost none of the steely focus which had served him so well in the past and, on Epsom Day 1845, climbed aboard Old England carrying the correct weight. He finished third.
That, in itself, was astonishing yet Sam had just started. The next year, riding Pyrrhus the First, he stormed to victory in the Epsom Derby before winning the Oaks on Mendicant later that week. His comeback was complete.
When he finally retired he became a familiar figure at Epsom, leaning on his stick in the Epsom paddock as he watched the runners circle. When the Derby was run in 1866, the well-known character was missing. He had died in the February of that year.
No trains in those days - 1830 - so trainer Will Chifney and future Derby winner Priam (left) set out for Epsom at 4.a.m May 6th - exactly 13 days before the Derby was due to be run (May 19th) - and literally walked from Cambridgeshire to Surrey (some 97 miles) to get to the course. Their first day’s journey was to Newport, in Essex, a distance of 21 miles. Here, William stopped overnight at the inn kept by Mrs Belcham, whose gooseberry pies – served with huge bowls of rich cream – were a specialty of the house.
The second day’s journey was to the ‘Sun and Whalebone’ Inn at Harlow (right). On the third day, William reached London, housing Priam overnight in Smith’s stables, near the top of Sloane Street. The fourth day the pair travelled on to Mickleham, near Dorking, just seven miles from Epsom racecourse. It was here at Mickleham that horses prepared for the Derby by the Chifneys always took their final gallop on a short stretch of land beneath Juniper Hill. Then, after winning the Derby, Priam and William walked all the way back!
In September that year, Priam was also walked the 130 miles from Newmarket to Doncaster for the St Leger. There was a heavy thunderstorm before the race and the ground soft and muddy. Priam tired inside the final furlong and was beaten half-a-length.
Sam came off a horse at Goodwood races in 1852 and broke his thigh. On 8 January two years later, while on a visit to Mr B Way at his seat, Denham-house, near Uxbridge, he did so again.
Sam was an ‘expert’ waster; in fact, he used to say that he ‘could kill a town wasting.’ One night he was supping at Hobson’s. the trainer’s, when a letter came from Lord Henry Fitzroy that the Duke of Grafton’s mare, Loo, was to run the next day and that the money was on. Sam finished his meal, weighed himself (8st 4lbs) and, clad in woollens, went for a 14 mile walk, somehow got off 12 lbs. and won the race.
Sam was fond of advising young jockeys on wasting. ‘Drinking,’ he would say, inflates you just like a balloon. Champagne and light wines are all rubbish; they only blow a fellow’s roof off. But no man can work if he can’t eat; you can’t get light without eating. Have a good mutton chop – that’s my food; it gives a tone to the stomach.’
He added ‘A man doesn’t know the comforts of life if he doesn’t know the wasting part of it.’
He died at Brampton on February 17, 1866, aged 65.
Sam Day Junior's classic wins:
One Thousand Guineas: Mendicant (1846)
The Derby: Gustavus (1821), Priam (1830) and Pyrrhus the First (1846)
The Oaks: Mendicant (1846)