Sam Chifney Sr

Born in Northwold, Norfolk, Sam Chifney Senior (aka Sam Chifney the elder) was not short of talent – or confidence. “In 1773,” he said, “I could ride horses in a better manner in a race to beat others than any other person ever known in my time.” 

And he could, too.  Sitting back in the saddle with loosely held reins - thus conserving his mount’s energy – he would, precisely at the critical moment, make an unstoppable dash toward the winning post. This method became known as the ‘Chifney Rush’ and was carried on by his son Sam Junior in later years. 

He also invented the Chifney bit, a device – still in use today - which made it easier to lead high-spirited horses around. He patented it in 1805.

Sam Senior was well equipped to be a jockey, just 5ft. 5 ins. tall and able to weigh in at 7 st. 12 lbs, and was once referred to as a ‘luminary of the first brilliancy.’ 

He was, undoubtedly, the best jockey of his day. 

He started his racing career in 1770, in the stables of a trainer called Foxe in Newmarket. He became great friends with Richard Prince, Lord Foley’s training groom, from whom he acquired an expertise in riding and training horses.

In 1787 he rode for the Duke of Bedford who, on one occasion, organized a boxing match for Chifney against the Duke of Queensbury’s jockey, Richard Goodisson, who would go on to ride the winners of the first three races for The Oaks. 

Chifney was made favourite to defeat his rival but was himself beaten comprehensively over fifteen minutes. The Duke of Bedford lost heavily on the result.

Chifney made it up to him by winning the 1789 Derby on the Duke’s good colt Skyscraper, trained by Matt Stephenson. The following year, on July 17, he was hired as a ‘rider for life’ by the Prince of Wales (the future King George lV), the salary being 200 Guineas a year. 

The Prince, an inveterate womanizer and gambler, had over forty horses in his stable and relished the opportunity to run them against those of his aristocratic chums after which large amounts of money would exchange hands. 

Neither the Prince nor Chifney were popular with the public and rumours persisted that ‘Tattenham Corner was straighter than the jockey’. Whispers soon emerged that Warwick Lake, the Prince’s trainer, had given Chifney orders to stop certain horses winning so that, next time they ran, the Prince could make a killing. 

On October 20th 1791, the Prince’s horse Escape, ridden by Chifney, lined up against three vastly inferior opponents. The Prince was alarmed to hear from his jockey that he thought the horse to be unfit, not having trained for a fortnight. Chifney then went on to advise the Prince not to bet. The Prince took his advice and watched Escape, the 1-2 favourite, finish last. 

Next day, October 21st , Escape ran again and because of its dismal showing the previous day, was offered at 5-1. Chifney urged the Prince to back the horse which he did, staking 400 guineas to win. 

Chifney then gave an immaculate display of riding, coming, as usual, with a late rush to get up on the line. 

Immediately, ugly rumours broke out. Some people suggested that the Prince had nobbled his own horse by giving it a bucket of water before it ran on the 20th. Others thought that Chifney himself had ‘pulled’ the horse in its first race in order to inflate its starting price in the second.  

Lieutenant-Colonel George Leigh, an equerry to the Prince, was overheard by Chifney’s elder son William abusing his father. Young William never forgot this outburst and, on May 31st 1803 - 11 years later and then a fully grown man - publicly thrashed him. For this assault, he was imprisoned for six months.

Whatever the truth, the Prince was effectively warned off by Lord Bunbury; consequently, a furious Prince of Wales, whilst sticking by his under-fire jockey, eventually allowed his racing establishment to be disposed of by Tattersall’s in 1792, thus ending his association with the turf. This left Chifney isolated and, though nothing was ever proven against him, he found himself without an employer. 

In 1795, then in vastly reduced circumstances, he wrote (or, more likely, had written for him) a book entitled Genius Genuine, which suggested a new system of horse husbandry. Just 170 pages long and priced at £5, it sold enough copies to warrant a second edition, printed in 1804. 

In 1800, he published The Narrative or Address of Samuel Chifney, Rider for Life to his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales at a price of two shillings sixpence. 

Chifney left Newmarket for London in 1800, never to return. In 1806, hounded by creditors, he sold his annuity of 200 guineas from the Prince of Wales for £1,260. By then Chifney was a broken man, the great confidence shattered, and he drifted into irreversible decline. In great debt, he was imprisoned for a considerable time in Fleet Prison. 

On his release, he found lodgings in a poor hovel in Fleet Lane, opposite the prison, where he died destitute on January 8th 1807 aged 53. He was buried in St. Sepulchre Cemetery, Holborn. 

For the man who had ridden for Royalty and Lords it was an ignoble end. His family were left facing a bleak financial future though some of the pension that had originally been conferred upon him by the Prince of Wales continued to be paid to Chifney's widow. 

Chifney’s style of dress was at odds with his tough profession – he favoured frills and ruffles. Bunches of ribbons adorned his boots and he wore lovelocks beneath his cap. Not until he entered the Prince of Wales’s circle in 1790 did this dandified, somewhat foppish image fit in with its surroundings.

Sam Chifney’s classic wins:

The Derby: Skyscraper (1789) Oaks: Ceres (1782), Maid of the Oaks (1783), Tag (1789) and Hippolyta (1790)