Sam Chifney Jr.

When, on Tuesday, March 1, 1842, Samuel Chifney stood in the dock of the Insolvent Debtors Court applying to be discharged on sureties until his hearing, he could not have been blamed for looking back and wondering where it had all gone wrong. The precocious younger son of Samuel Chifney had first sat astride a horse at the age of six and, by his early teens, had begun to distinguish himself in the saddle. 

Aged 13, he became apprenticed to his uncle, Frank Smallman, in Hertfordshire.

Sam had his first ride in public in 1800, finishing second on a Fidget colt at Stockbridge. So impressed was his father with the youngster's endeavour that he promptly named his smallholding 'Fidget Farm'. 

Sam rode his first winner, Alegranti, at Egham later that year, so kicking off a career that was to yield nine classic winners - adopting his father’s slack-rein technique, he won the Oaks five times (Briseis in 1807, Sorcery in 1811, Landscape in 1816, Shoveller in 1819 and Wings in 1823). He also won the Epsom Derby twice: Sam in 1818 and Sailor, two years later.

Both horses were owned by Thomas Thornhill and trained by his elder brother William. Thornhill had named the first of these after the jockey. He was rewarded for such generosity when winning an estimated £2 million pounds on the strength of Sailor's victory. Another classic fell Sam's way in 1843 when he booted home the 1,000 Guineas winner, Extempore, another Thomas Thornhill runner.

Most of Sam's important successes at that time where obtained on horses owned by Lord Darlington (later 1st Marques of Cleveland) and, of course, Thomas Thornhill.

These, and other patrons of William's Newmarket stable, rewarded Sam liberally: for many years he was able to live in great style at Cleveland House, the home of the late Lord Rosebery. William had joined him there, and together they trained and planned audacious betting coups.

Yet, for all his dazzling success, Sam - who stood at 5 ft 6 ins. - owned a self-destruct button and had  a fatal tendency to press it. Consequently, his talent was not converted into the kind of concrete achievement that stands the test of time.

Also, he was incurably lazy. Naturally indolent and phlegmatic, he increasingly rested on his laurels as his fortune and circumstances improved: he became disinclined to starve off the stone in weight gained each winter. He turned down a retainer from Lord Chesterfield even though it required his riding only the best of the Earl's horses: he thus missed the chance of winning the Oaks on Industry and the 1838 St Leger on Don Juan.

Living the good life, Sam now preferred to wander around the countryside with a gun under his arm and his lemon-and-white pointer, Banker, at his heels. The day of reckoning came on Derby Day, Thursday, May 20, 1834.

Sam was to ride Shilelagh for his brother William, who had won the race four years earlier with Priam. 

Rashly, William and Sam had invested heavily – too heavily – on the result. Both were supremely confident that Sam could get Shillelagh home in front. They were wrong. The brilliant Plenipotentiary, ridden by Patrick Conolly, beat them by two lengths: shattered and financially crippled, both Sam and William, now in much reduced circumstances, were forced to face up to a very different future. Sam's opulent home – and his horses - were sold that same month.

On Tuesday morning, 30 May, 1837, Sam was 'proceeding in his cab through Hemming's Row, St Martin's Lane. The horse fell, and threw him with great violence on the pavement. He was taken up in a state of insensibility, and conveyed to Mr James Lundel's, the surgeon, of St Martin's Place, whose promptness and attention enabled him in a short time to proceed to a hotel where he remained confined from the bruises he received and from where he gradually recovered.' 

Sam's last ride came on Bloomsbury in the 1849 Cesarewitch: he finished second, beaten a neck by Jem Robinson, riding Clarion. Sam and Jem enjoyed a strong friendship, indeed Jem even modelled his riding style on Sam’s.

Mr Thornhill, who weighed over twenty-three stone, died in 1843, leaving Sam – by then an undischarged bankrupt – the use of his Newmarket home and stables. Chifney lived there until November 1851 when he moved to Hove, Brighton. He saw his last Derby in 1853 when West Australian, ridden by his nephew Frank Butler, won.

Sam died, after a month’s illness, in Brighton on August 29th 1854. He was 68. He was buried at Hove Churchyard. The words ‘Of Newmarket’ provide the only epitaph on his headstone. His widow was left in very reduced circumstances - a far cry from their days of plenty - and a fund was set up for her.

Sam's classic winners:

2,000 Guineas: Cwrw (1812)

1,000 Guineas:  Expempore (1843)

The Derby: Sam (1818) & Sailor (1820)

The Oaks:  Briseis (1807), Sorcery (1811), Landscape (1816), Shoveler (1819) & Wings (1825)

Sam also won the Ascot Gold Cup three times: Memnon (1827), Zinganee (1829) and St Francis (1840)