Thomas Cliff Jr

Thomas Cliff Jr

1839-1870

Thomas Cliff Jr was born in 1839, the son of Thomas Cliff, a former jump jockey and trainer. He rode a total of 136 winners during a career that was at its height in the mid-1850s. 

He rode his first winner on Ibis in the three-runner Stanage Stakes, for two-year-olds, at Knighton on 25 June 1852. He rode just two winners that year but announced his arrival the following season with 29 wins, including trebles on consecutive days at Wrexham. 

Thomas rode 37 winners in 1854, most notably the biggest victory of his career on Bribery in the Goodwood Stakes. 

He recorded his most successful season in 1855 with 39 wins, including a treble at Newmarket. He won 24 races in 1856. 

From there, however, his scores plummeted to just three in 1857 and two the following year, the last of which was on the three-year-old filly Joan Of Arc in the Scurry Stakes at Wenlock on 5 October 1858. 

Thomas Cliff Jr died from consumption at Hednesford, Staffordshire on 14 August 1870, aged just 30. Having been predeceased by his son, Thomas Cliff Sr died on New Year’s Day 1881.