No relation to the famous Carter family who were dominant in French racing, Alfred Carter was born in Newmarket, the son of a stable lad. He was apprenticed to Joe Hayhoe at Newmarket. He rode his first winner on Gardevisure in the 1865 Cambridgeshire – he was also that horse’s lad. He only rode one more winner that year.
He left Newmarket and moved to East Ilsley, in Berkshire, but things did not go well. By 1868 he was reduced to advertising for a riding post. He then worked as a stable lad in Epsom and Findon before becoming a stud groom.
He then spent the last 20 years of his working career as a stable lad at Wroughton, Wiltshire, where he died on September 28, 1915, aged 67.
