Richard Marsh (horseman)

Richard Marsh
Occupation	Trainer
Born	31 December 1851 Kent, United Kingdom
Died	May 1933
Major racing wins
British Classic Race wins as trainer: 2000 Guineas (3) 1000 Guineas (2) Epsom Derby (4) Epsom Oaks (1) St Leger (3)
Racing awards
British flat racing Champion Trainer (1897), (1898), (1900)
Honours
Member of the Royal Victorian Order
Significant horses
Miss Jummy, La Fleche, Persimmon, Jeddah, Diamond Jubilee, Minoru

Richard Marsh MVO (1851–1933) was a British trainer of racehorses. After his promising career as a jockey was ended by his rising weight, Marsh set up as a trainer in 1874. He trained from a number of stables before eventually making his base at Egerton House in Newmarket, Suffolk. In a training career of fifty years, Marsh trained the winners of twelve British Classic Race and many other major races. His greatest success sprang from his association with King Edward VII, for whom he trained three winners of the Epsom Derby. Two of Marsh's sons later became successful trainers.

Richard Marsh was born on 31 December 1851, either in Dover or in the village of Smeeth in Kent. His father was a farmer and the family had no links to racing.

Marsh began riding racehorses in his mid teens and rode his first winner in 1866. He attracted the attention of some Newmarket trainers and rode his most important winner on Temple in the New Stakes at Royal Ascot in 1869. Marsh's rising weight forced him to abandon his career as a flat race jockey, although he had some success as a jockey in hurdle races and steeplechases until retiring from the saddle in 1881.

In 1874 or 1875, Marsh began training horses at Banstead Manor at Epsom. He later moved to the Newmarket area, where he was based at Six Mile Bottom before moving to Lordship Farm. He attracted the patronage of several major owners including the Duke of Hamilton. In 1883, he recorded his first classic win when the Duke's horse Ossian won the St Leger. Three years later, he won the 1000 Guineas and Oaks for the same owner with Miss Jummy.

The horses owned by the Prince of Wales had been trained by John Porter at Lambourn, but in late 1892 they were sent to Marsh, who had just opened a large and well-equipped new stable at Egerton House in Newmarket. The official explanation was that Newmarket was closer to the royal residence at Sandringham, although there had also been a disagreement between the Prince's racing manager Marcus Beresford and one of Porter's principal patrons the Duke of Westminster. One owner who followed the Prince'e example was Maurice de Hirsch, who transferred the outstanding racemare La Fleche from Porter to Marsh. La Fleche took some time to adapt, but won the Ascot Gold Cup for Marsh in 1894.

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