Sam Rogers

The three-mile Feather Plate run at Newmarket's Houghton Meeting on Tuesday 28th October 1828, had attracted ten runners, and, after a tenacious battle to the line, the 25-1 outsider, Palemon, ridden by Christopher Wakefield, held on to win by half-a-length from the Jem Chapple-ridden 10-1 shot, Charon.

Few noticed the two-year-old filly and its nine-year-old jockey, who finished third. 

The filly, Careful, was to come to no account, but not so the child rider, Sam Rogers.

Born on June 23, 1819, in the Newmarket stables of his father Joseph, then private trainer to Lord Lowther, Sam was brought up in a racing environment. Jockeys would regale the captivated youngster with tales of great races won and huge gambles landed: Sam would soak up every nuance, determining to become a jockey.

He was not an immediate success. Because of the non-existent offers to ride for outside stables, Sam was restricted to whichever rides his father, Joe, could provide.  It was not until Friday, 27 April 1832, that Sam rode his first winner: Scuffle, at Newmarket's Craven Meeting. Sam's first real success away from home came at Bath on Wednesday, June 15, 1836 where he won the Somersetshire Stakes on the 10-1 shot Felix for Mr Houldsworth. His win here caught the eye of several prominent owners, not least the Duke of Richmond's, who engaged Sam to ride for him the following season.

Through his association with Richmond came the means of riding for the redoubtable Lord George Bentinck for whom he won several important races on Firebrand, Gaper and others. Sam's success up to that point had by no means been commensurate with his ability, but now, better connected, the winners began to flow.

Cementing his reputation, Sam now rode for Lord William Powlett and Generals Ansom and Peel. On the death of Frank Butler early in 1856, he became jockey, at the instance of Admiral Rous, to the Duke of Bedford. Sam had won the previous year's One Thousand Guineas on Habena for the duke, and Bedford was delighted with the new arrangement.

Sam had ridden the winner of the race once before, when scoring on Lord Bentinck's Firebrand in 1842. Oddly, given his connections, this was the only classic race he ever won.

His first mount in the Derby was on Lord Lowther's Rioter in 1834: his last on Mr Harry Hill's Copenhagen in 1864, the season he quit the saddle to take up training. Sam's best placing in the Derby was third on Trumpeter in 1859. Sam never seemed comfortable riding at Doncaster, the St Leger proving elusive as did all the great Cup races, though scribes of the day nominate his greatest performance in the saddle being when forcing Tim Whiffler up to dead-heat with Buckstone for the 1863 Ascot Gold Cup. Sam, to his eternal regret, then lost the deciding heat. Buckstone was later sold to an owner abroad, but died on his voyage to China. Sam's last win at Ascot was in 1855 on the Duke of Bedford's Keepsake, after being unseated on the way to the post.

For his father, Sam won the 1848 Cesarewitch on The Cur, and both the Hopeful and the Prendergast Stakes on Antler. He also took the Criterion Stakes on Gaper. In 1862, Sam, riding Carisbrook, won the inaugural running of the Prince of Wales Stakes at Ascot.

Summing up his skills as a jockey, The Field (March 19, 1870) concluded: 'No man ever more delighted in his art, as he was perhaps at all points the most finished horseman we ever saw. For elegance, for perfection of seat, and lightness of hand, for the style and the grace with which he could 'show off' his horse, we cannot recall his equal, while for temper, resolution, and power he was quite as admirable. He could humour a jade, rouse a slug, or encounter a savage, make a pace or wait until the very last moment, with a fineness of judgment seldom associated with so much physical ability'.

His official press obituary, reproduced in many papers of the day, readily agreed, stating: 'As a horseman, Sam had few equals, his seat being unapproachably neat and artistic, whilst he had splendid hands, and was an excellent judge of pace, never knowing what it was like to tire in a race. Although his handling of a horse was delicate, he could administer punishment, when necessary, in a style that there was seldom an occasion to repeat'.

And thereby lay both the problem and the answer regarding many owners' reluctance to put Sam up on their best horses. They found his continual, often brutal, use of the whip more than a little distasteful. He was recorded winning Ascot's King's Plate on Mr Osbldeston's Mic Mac 'by whipping, stoutness and riding.' Likewise, his win on Bloomsbury in the 1839 Ascot Derby was achieved 'not without the taste of the whip'.

Nat Flatman's riding of Lord Derby's horse, Toxophilite, in the 1858 Epsom Derby had brought much criticism from its connections: hence, Sam replaced him at Doncaster in the St Leger. Toxophilite finished fourth, patently failing to stay: this did not stop Lord Derby once again remonstrating at the way his horse had been handled. 

Perhaps Sam is best remembered in racing folklore as the jockey involved in the Ratan affair.

In 1843, Sam had finished fourth in the Epsom Derby on Lord Bentinck's Gaper behind Cotherstone. Bentinck had gone for a big win on Gaper, and had publicly accused Sam of making too much use of the horse, thereby throwing the race away. Incensed at this rebuke, the blaspheming Sam had sworn vengeance. His chance came when he was asked to ride Ratan in the 1844 Derby. The horse was owned by William Crockford, proprietor of a London gambling hall, but it was public knowledge that Bentinck had gambled heavily on it throughout the winter. Word soon got back to Bentinck that Sam had bet on Ratan losing. On the evening before the Derby, Bentinck insisted that Sam and two stable lads slept in the same stable as Ratan to deter any attack on the horse. For all Bentinck's precautions, Ratan was nobbled during the night and the next morning 'his coat was standing like quills upon the fretful porcupine, his eyes dilated and he shivered like a man with the ague'. Sam Rogers denied any involvement.

Staggeringly, the horse was still allowed to take its chance, and lined up the 3-1 second favourite. Exhausted, Ratan never looked like winning at any stage, the irony being that even if it had been supremely fit, it would never have beaten the winner, Running Rein, later found to be a four-year-old.

Sam Rogers later admitted that he had been offered a substantial sum to stop Ratan winning. He was warned off, and took a job as a cook at Trinity College, Cambridge.

He was rescued three years later by a relenting Bentinck, who used his considerable influence to restore Rogers' licence. 

When Sam's father died in 1854, Sam took over the stable and trained and rode Habena to win Sam a second One Thousand Guineas in 1855. 

After enduring a protracted illness, Sam died at Newmarket on March 13, 1870. Aged 50, he was buried on March 18 in Newmarket Cemetery. He left over £3,000.

He had two sons; Joseph who died in 1904 & William who died in 1902.