Name

Sir Jack Jarvis (West 1901)

CLAIM TO FAME

In 1939, Blue Peter won the 1000 Guineas and the Derby, and Jack Jarvis topped the list of winning trainers for the first of three occasions. In 1967 he became the first racehorse trainer to be knighted.

PROFILE

Jack Jarvis was one of three brothers sent to Cranleigh; all three followed their father into racehorse training with success, and all three trained Classic winners. Jack rode a few races as an amateur while still at Cranleigh, winning for the first time as a 14-year-old, his father eventually agreeing to his pleas to be allowed to leave school to concentrate on riding. As he got older he struggled to make the weight to ride and so switched to training in 1914.

After serving in the war, he returned to Newmarket and over the next five decades he trained nine Classic and four Ascot Gold Cup winners. His zenith came in 1939 when Blue Peter won the 1000 Guineas and the Derby, and he topped the list of winning trainers for the first of three occasions.

He had a reputation for working his horses hard, particularly early in the season, and while his methods were considered old fashioned by some, they produced success. In 1967 he became the first trainer to be knighted and was still working when he died the following year.  His autobiography, They’re Off, was published posthumously.