John Eden Savill

John Eden Savill (c. 1847 – 1920), generally known as J. E. Savill or J. Eden Savill, was an Englishman who had a short but successful career in South Australia as a racehorse owner and trainer, culminating in his horse winning the 1882 Melbourne Cup.

Savill was born in Tinwell, Rutland, the only son of George Savill of Ingethorpe House, Stamford, Lincolnshire.

He arrived in Adelaide sometime before 1871, when he was, as "Cerberus", drawing political cartoons for The Portonian, a weekly satirical newspaper, and was also exhibiting his artwork. He married and had a home at a property at Campbelltown.

He was a member of the Adelaide Racing Club and acted as starter in 1874. He joined the rival South Australian Jockey Club after its re-formation in 1875. His horse The Buck raced in the Selling Hurdles of New Years Day 1877

With no other qualifications apart from long experience with horses he set himself up as a trainer of thoroughbreds, with considerable success: Wild Irishman, a brown gelding jumper he purchased from Hutchinson, performed credibly without placing and was sold to H. E. Downer. He trained A. R. Malcom's jumper Unknown, grey gelding Sheet Anchor for J. L. Stirling and flat-racer Nelly for George Church.

Around 1878 he took over Gabriel Bennett's lease of Charles Brown Fisher's (1818-1908) Lockleys training stable, just off the Henley Beach Road, and with the assistance of Tom Jordan (c. 1825–1906) made it the most influential training stable in Adelaide. For a time he handled William Pile's stable, but lost that valuable business early in 1880 after the Newmarket incident and Savill's legal tussle with the S.A.J.C. committee, (see below) of which Pile was a member. In May 1881 Pile sold up and Savill purchased his The Assyrian (previously Rothschild). He also trained horses for W. B. Rounsevell, M. C. Jacobs, C. Leslie Macdonald, J. Crozier and Tom Barnfield. Among his successes were:

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