Frank Butler (Jockey)

Frank Butler (1817-1856) was an English jockey who became one of the country's top riders. In a period of about 11 years he won The Derby twice, The Oaks on six occasions, the Two Thousand Guineas twice, the One Thousand Guineas twice, the St Leger, the Goodwood Cup on three occasions and the Triple Crown on West Australian. In his final years of racing he won 143 races from 384 starts. Illness forced him to stop riding in 1854 and he died two years later at the age of 39.

Butler, whose first name was actually Francis, was born into a horse racing family; his mother, Sarah, was the daughter of jockey Samuel Chifney Sr. and his father, William, was a Newmarket based training-groom who served the Duke of Richmond, Lord Lonsdale and Frederick the Duke of York. Butler was educated in Norfolk and Ealing, but after the death of his father in 1827 his uncles - jockey Sam Chifney Jr. and his brother, trainer William Chifney - took an interest in his future. They passed on knowledge of the racetrack and Butler gained experience in the Chifney stables and riding the gallops. In 1834 at the age of 17 he had his first winner with a horse called Moorhen in a handicap plate at Newmarket. At this age he could scale 7st 2lb (he was five feet six and a half inches tall) but in later years he struggled to make the racing weights.

For several years he showed little of the promise that would eventually make him such a success, but he continued to gain experience riding trials and platers, then in the 1842 season his fortunes started to improve with 23 winners. In this year he had rides in the Derby, Oaks and St Ledger, coming second in the Oaks. In addition he had some good results in other races on a horse called Bob Peel. He was also offered a training and riding job in Russia, which he turned down out of concern for the cold climate.

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