Roger Metcalfe

Roger Metcalfe

Article by Alan Trout

Roger Metcalfe rode 17 winners over jumps between 1901 and 1905, returning after a four-year gap to add seven more. For much of his career he rode principally for Sir Robert Wilmot.

Born in 1883, his first success came at Southwell on March 11, 1901 when Club Force won the Norwood Park Chase by ten lengths. Nineteen days later they faced a much bigger task when tackling the fearsome Liverpool fences in the Altcar Four-Year-Old Chase. Club Force finished a creditable second, albeit beaten ten lengths by Dathi, the mount of James O’Brien. 

Roger added four more wins that year, then three in 1902, including a double at Keele Park. The second of those Keele Park victories was on Vogelkop in the Bromley Green Hurdle, who won despite having run out at one stage. After the race the stewards interviewed all the jockeys apart from Roger, asking them to explain their riding. Although the explanations were accepted at the time, the Stewards of the National Hunt Committee subsequently reopened the case and were of the opinion that “the riding of all, except Metcalfe, was open to grave suspicion”. Eventually, amateur rider Mr J. Sharpe’s licence was withdrawn. The other jockeys, having initially been suspended, later had their licenses returned.

After Roger won one race in 1905 there was a gap of four and a half years before he rode another, although he did not ride for some of that period. His final win was at Folkestone on January 18, 1915, when Lysander narrowly got the better of Tim Threlfell on Restitution to land the Moderate Handicap Chase by a head. His last ride was on Golden Crag, who finished fourth in the Charnwood Handicap Hurdle at the Quorn Hunt meeting at Loughborough on April 19, 1915. 

He held a Flat trainer’s licence on behalf of Miss Norah Wilmot at Binfield from 1936 to 1938, winning the John Porter Stakes and Doncaster Cup in 1937 with Haulfryn.

Roger Metcalfe’s winners were, in chronological order:

1. Club Force, Southwell, March 11, 1901

2. Coenraad, Quorn Hunt (Loughborough), April 15, 1901

3. Lupella, Birmingham, April 30, 1901

4. Stormfiend, Sheffield & Rotherham, May 6, 1901

5. Byzantium, Keele Park, October 23, 1901

6. Desert Chief, Southwell, October 13, 1902

7. Byzantium, Keele Park, October 17, 1902

8. Vogelkop, Keele Park, October 17, 1902

9. Miss Toto, Wolverhampton, April 14, 1903

10. Miss Toto, Tarporley, April 15, 1903

11. Hidden Love, Hooton Park, November 6, 1903

12. Fine Weather, Haydock Park, December 18, 1903

13. Fine Weather, Wolverhampton, December 29, 1903

14. Rathgowan, Tarporley, April 6, 1904

15, Hesitation, Wolverhampton, October 19, 1904

16. Pierre, Keele Park, October 28, 1904

17, Tortion, Keele Park, October 16, 1905

18. Thurifer, Moreton-in-the-Marsh, April 4, 1910

19. Catherine, Gatwick, March 6, 1912

20. Thurifer, Folkestone, April 15, 1912

21. Tip And Run, Hawthorn Hill, March 24, 1914

22. Tip And Run, Hawthorn Hill, March 25, 1914

23. Courteous Lad, Aldershot, April 4, 1914

24. Lysander, Folkestone, January 18, 1915

Additional information sourced from ‘A Biographical Dictionary of Racehorse Trainers in Berkshire 1850-1939’ by David Boyd, published in 1998.