Article by Chris Pitt
Robert Howard Chapman was born on May 6, 1962. He was apprenticed to Captain Mark Smyly but spent much of his career as a jump jockey based with Fulke Walwyn. He rode his first winner on Walwyn’s Raging Torrent in the Duck Opportunity Handicap Hurdle at Chepstow on Monday, January 12, 1981, one of just three mounts he had that season.
He achieved his biggest success while still a 7lb claimer when winning the 1983 Imperial Cup at Sandown on Walwyn’s Desert Hero. He won two other races on Desert Hero that season, including the Kestrel Hurdle at Ascot.
The following season saw Robert riding for Weyhill trainer Toby Balding. He won three races for him on Jade And Diamond, beginning with the E. Coomes Handicap Hurdle at Fontwell on November 30, 1983. Next came the Southern Counties Handicap Hurdle at Lingfield on January 5, followed by the Ladbroke Handicap Hurdle, also at Lingfield, on February 2, 1984.
He also won the Daily Mirror Conditional Jockeys’ Championship Handicap Chase at Wincanton aboard Balding’s good chaser Far Bridge on Boxing Day 1983. Later that season he won Sandown’s Select (4yo) Hurdle for Balding on Royal Brigadier.
Another trainer for whom Robert rode was Simon Christian, winning a maiden on hurdle for him on Premier Susan at Towcester’s 1985 Easter fixture.
He enjoyed a measure of success during the 1980s before retiring from the saddle in 1991.
