George Boast

George Boast was born in 1786 in Pocklington, Yorkshire, the son of a butcher. He was a twin and one of 13 children. 

He learned the art of riding by racing ponies around the New Inn in his native village. He then found work at various racing yards in Malton and Middleham before moving south to Newmarket, where he worked at the Prince of Wales’s stables.

He rode on the Flat throughout the 1830s and had two rides in the Epsom Derby, aboard Mr Petre’s colt Rattler in 1831 and Mr Stirling’s Orange Boy in 1838. Both were rank outsiders who were unquoted in the betting and finished unplaced. 

By 1839 he was, as noted in the New York Herald, training three horses for Mr Stirling. 

His stables were at Bourton-on-the Hill where he also trained horses for Mr Commissioner Goulburn, the best of which were Milo, Romeo and the brilliant grey horse Grimaldi.

In 1851, he was reported to be working as a farrier, based in Marlborough. 

On July 18, 1857, then aged 71, George appeared at the Cambridge Insolvency Court owing £60.

He enjoyed a relatively long life, being recorded as aged 72 in 1858.