Sir John Layton Jarvis (27 December 1887 – 20 June 1968) was a British
trainer of racehorses. Born into a racing family, Jarvis had a brief but successful career as a jockey before taking up training. He was one of the most prominent British trainers of the mid 20th century, winning nine
British Classic Races
The British Classics are five long-standing Group 1 horse races run during the traditional flat racing season. They are restricted to three-year-old horses and traditionally represent the pinnacle of achievement for racehorses against their ow ...
and being the
British flat racing Champion Trainer
The Champion Trainer of flat racing in Great Britain is the trainer whose horses have won the most prize money during a season. The list below shows the Champion Trainer for each year since 1896. The Championship was originally run from November ...
on three occasions. In 1967 he became the first trainer to be knighted for services to horse racing.
Background and riding career
Jack Jarvis was born in 1887, the third son of William Arthur Jarvis, who trained racehorses at Waterwitch House at
Newmarket, Suffolk
Newmarket is a market town and civil parish in the West Suffolk (district), West Suffolk district of Suffolk, England, 14 miles west of Bury St Edmunds and 14 miles northeast of Cambridge. In 2021, it had a population of 16,772. It is a global ...
. William Jarvis trained several leading horses in the 1890s including
Bona Vista
Bona Vista (1889–1909) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse. As a two-year-old he won the Woodcote Stakes at Epsom Downs. As a three-year-old he won the Newmarket Biennial Stakes, before winning the 2000 Guineas Stakes by one and a half leng ...
and
Cyllene. Two of Jack Jarvis' brothers trained Classic winners: William Rose "Willie" Jarvis (1885–1943) sent out the filly
Godiva
Lady Godiva (; died between 1066 and 1086), in Old English , was a late Anglo-Saxon noblewoman who is relatively well documented as the wife of Leofric, Earl of Mercia, and a patron of various churches and monasteries.
She is mainly remembere ...
to win both the
1000 Guineas
The 1000 Guineas Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old fillies. It is run on the Rowley Mile at Newmarket over a distance of 1 mile ...
and
Epsom Oaks
The Oaks Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old fillies. It is run at Epsom Downs over a distance of 1 mile, 4 furlongs and 6 ya ...
in 1940, whilst Basil Jarvis (1887–1957) won
The Derby with
Papyrus
Papyrus ( ) is a material similar to thick paper that was used in ancient times as a writing surface. It was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, ''Cyperus papyrus'', a wetland sedge. ''Papyrus'' (plural: ''papyri'' or ''papyruses'') can a ...
.
Jack Jarvis became an apprentice jockey at his father's stable and rode his first winner in 1902 at the age of fourteen. In subsequent seasons he showed considerable promise, winning the
Cambridgeshire Handicap
The Cambridgeshire Handicap is a flat handicap horse race in Great Britain open to horses aged three years or older. It is run on the Rowley Mile at Newmarket over a distance of 1 mile and 1 fur ...
on Hackler's Pride in 1902 and the
Ayr Gold Cup
The Ayr Gold Cup is a flat handicap horse race in Great Britain open to thoroughbreds aged three years or older. It is run at Ayr over a distance of 6 furlongs (1,207 metres), and it is scheduled ...
in 1905 on Kilglass. Jarvis' rising weight made him unsuitable as a flat race jockey and after briefly competing under
National Hunt
National Hunt Racing, also known as Jump Racing, is a form of horse racing particular to many European countries, including, but not limited to: France, Great Britain and Ireland. Jump Racing requires horses to jump over fences and ditches.
In ...
rules he retired from riding in his early twenties. He then worked as his father's assistant trainer for five years.
Training career
Jarvis set himself up at Warren House stable, Newmarket as a private trainer for A. E. Barton in 1914, but after two years the yard was closed because of the
First World War
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
. After serving with the
Tank Corps
An armoured corps (also mechanized corps or tank corps) is a specialized military organization whose role is to conduct armoured warfare. The units belonging to an armoured corps include military staff, and are equipped with tanks and other armou ...
Jarvis recommenced his training career in 1919 at Park Lodge, one of the oldest training stables in Newmarket.
Jarvis won his first significant race in his second season when he trained Golden Orb to win the
Wokingham Stakes
The Wokingham Stakes is a flat handicap horse race in Great Britain open to horses aged three years or older. It is run at Ascot over a distance of 6 furlongs (1,207 metres), and it is schedu ...
at
Royal Ascot
Ascot Racecourse is a dual-purpose British racecourse, located in Ascot, Berkshire, England, about 25 miles west of London. Ascot is used for thoroughbred horse racing, and it hosts 13 of Britain's 36 annual Flat Group 1 races and three Gra ...
, and confirmed his reputation by winning the
Ascot Gold Cup
The Gold Cup is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to horses aged four years or older. It is run at Ascot over a distance of 2 miles 3 furlongs and 210 yards (4 ...
and
Eclipse Stakes
The Eclipse Stakes is a Group races, Group 1 Flat racing, flat Horse racing, horse race in Great Britain open to horses aged three years or older. It is run at Sandown ...
with Golden Myth in 1922. Jarvis' success attracted the attention of
Lord Rosebery
Archibald Philip Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, 1st Earl of Midlothian (7 May 1847 – 21 May 1929) was a British Liberal Party politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from March 1894 to June 1895. Between the death of h ...
and his son
Lord Dalmeny who became the major patrons of the Park Lodge stable. At around the same time Jarvis employed Charlie Elliott as his stable jockey.
Throughout his career, Jarvis was known for the amount of hard exercise to which he subjected his horses. His methods were considered rather old-fashioned, but often gave his charges a fitness advantage in the early part of the season. Another feature of his training programme was that he often sent a strong team to campaign in Scotland in autumn: he trained over 100 winners at
Ayr Racecourse
Ayr Racecourse at Whitletts Road, Ayr, Scotland,''British Racing and Racecourses'' () by Marion Rose Halpenny – Page 71 was opened in 1907. There are courses for Flat racing, flat and for National Hunt racing.
History
Horse racing in Ayr dat ...
, including three successive Ayr Gold Cups.
Jarvis' first classic success in 1923 when Elliott rode Rosebery's colt
Ellangowan to victory in the
2000 Guineas
The 2000 Guineas Stakes is a Group 1 flat race in Great Britain open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run on the Rowley Mile at Newmarket over a distance of 1 mile (1.6 km) and scheduled to take place each yea ...
and the same team combined to win the
1000 Guineas
The 1000 Guineas Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old fillies. It is run on the Rowley Mile at Newmarket over a distance of 1 mile ...
with
Plack a year later. Jarvis had deliberately misled Rosebery about Ellangowan's condition in 1922: he wanted to give the colt time to develop and discouraged the owner from racing him by claiming that the horse had a recurrent coughing problem.
Further classic success followed: in 1929 Elliott won the 2000 Guineas on Sir Laurence Philipps'
Flamingo
Flamingos or flamingoes () are a type of wading bird in the family Phoenicopteridae, which is the only extant family in the order Phoenicopteriformes. There are four flamingo species distributed throughout the Americas (including the Caribbe ...
and two years later
Sandwich
A sandwich is a Dish (food), dish typically consisting variously of meat, cheese, sauces, and vegetables used as a filling between slices of bread, or placed atop a slice of bread; or, more generally, any dish in which bread serves as a ''co ...
won the
St Leger
The St Leger Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run at Doncaster over ...
after finishing an unlucky third in the Derby.
In 1938 Jarvis trained Blue Peter for Lord Dalmeny who had succeeded his father as Earl of Rosebery in 1929. The colt was beaten in both his races as a two-year-old, but he showed his best form in 1939, winning the 2000 Guineas and the Derby. He was denied the opportunity to win the
Triple Crown when the outbreak of
War
War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...
forced the cancellation of the St Leger, but his earnings enabled Jarvis to win his first trainers' championship.
During the war, Jarvis' best horses were the
filly
A filly is a female horse that is too young to be called a mare. There are two specific definitions in use:
*In most cases, a ''filly'' is a female horse under four years old.
*In some nations, such as the United Kingdom and the United States
...
Ribbon
A ribbon or riband is a thin band of material, typically cloth but also plastic or sometimes metal, used primarily as decorative binding and tying. Cloth ribbons are made of natural materials such as silk, cotton, and jute and of synthetic mate ...
who finished second in three classic races and the colt
Ocean Swell
A swell, also sometimes referred to as ground swell, in the context of an ocean
The ocean is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of Earth. The ocean is conventionally divided into large bodies of water, which are also ref ...
who won the substitute Derby at Newmarket in 1944. Immediately after the war he trained
Royal Charger
Royal Charger (1942–26 November 1961) was a British Thoroughbred that was successful as a horse racing, racehorse, but much more important as a Horse breeding#Terminology, sire.
Background
Royal Charger was a chestnut horse sired by the import ...
, owned by his namesake
Sir John Jarvis, who won the Ayr Gold Cup in 1946 before becoming a highly successful breeding stallion in the United States.
Jarvis opened a second yard at
Palace House
The National Horseracing Museum (NHRM) is a museum in Newmarket, Suffolk dedicated to the history of horseracing. It covers a 5-acre site on Palace Street in the centre of the town, having previously been housed in the Jockey Club Rooms on New ...
in Newmarket in 1950 and won a second championship a year later when he trained the winners of 62 races worth £56,397.
There were no classic winners among them, with his best horses being the handicapper Fastnet Rock and the two-year-old filly Primavera, who won the
Queen Mary Stakes
The Queen Mary Stakes is a Group 2 flat horse race in Great Britain open to two-year-old fillies. It is run at Ascot over a distance of 5 furlongs (1,006 metres), and it is scheduled to take place ...
at Royal Ascot. The trainer's final classic success came in 1953 when he trained
Happy Laughter and Tessa Gillian to finish first and second in the 1000 Guineas. Happy Laughter later went on to win the
Coronation Stakes
The Coronation Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old fillies. It is run at Ascot over a distance of 7 furlong and 213 yards (1,603 metres), and it is sche ...
and her earnings helped Jarvis win the trainers' title for a third time. In 1955 Jarvis threatened to retire after the
Jockey Club
The Jockey Club is the largest commercial horse racing organisation in the United Kingdom. It owns 15 of Britain's famous racecourses, including Aintree Racecourse, Aintree, Cheltenham Racecourse, Cheltenham, Epsom Downs Racecourse, Epsom ...
attempted to introduce new rules making trainers liable for any delays caused by adjustments to a horse's
girth strap before the start of a race. The rule was subsequently amended.
In 1965 Jarvis, by now 77 years old, scaled down his training commitments by giving up his Palace House stable. A year later he had two of the leading contenders for the Epsom Derby in General Gordon and
Pretendre
Pretendre (1963–1972) was a Great Britain, British Thoroughbred horse racing, racehorse who came within a neck of winning the 1966 Epsom Derby. Bred by Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood, Mary, Princess Royal, Pretendre's damsire was V ...
. General Gordon won the
Chester Vase
The Chester Vase is a Group 3 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old colts and geldings. It is run over a distance of 1 mile, 4 furlongs and 63 yards () at ...
but was fatally injured in training shortly afterwards while Pretendre was beaten a neck by
Charlottown
Charlottown (1963 – 1979) was a Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. In a career which lasted from 1965 until 1967 he ran ten times and won seven races. He is best known for winning the 1966 Derby.
Background
Charlottown was bred in England by his ...
at Epsom. Jarvis continued training until his death on 18 December 1968. At the time, Park Lodge stable housed a two-year-old filly named
Sleeping Partner
A partnership is an agreement where parties agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests. The partners in a partnership may be individuals, businesses, interest-based organizations, schools, governments or combinations. Organizations m ...
who went on to win the following year's
Epsom Oaks
The Oaks Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old fillies. It is run at Epsom Downs over a distance of 1 mile, 4 furlongs and 6 ya ...
, the only classic to have eluded Jarvis during his training career.
Personal life and interests
Jarvis married Ethel Leader, the daughter of the trainer Thomas Leader, in 1914 and had one daughter.
Away from racing he had a keen interest in cricket and
coursing
Coursing by humans is the pursuit of game or other animals by dogs—chiefly greyhounds and other sighthounds—catching their prey by speed, running by sight, but not by scent. Coursing was a common hunting technique, practised by the nobility, ...
, and won the
Waterloo Cup
The Waterloo Cup was a hare coursing event organised by the National Coursing Club. The three-day event was run annually at Great Altcar in Lancashire, England, from 1836 to 2005 and it used to attract tens of thousands of spectators to watch and ...
in 1926 with his
greyhound
The English Greyhound, or simply the Greyhound, is a dog breed, breed of dog, a sighthound which has been bred for coursing, greyhound racing and hunting. Some are kept as show dogs or pets.
Greyhounds are defined as a tall, muscular, smooth-c ...
Jovial Judge.
He was
knighted
A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity.
The concept of a knighthood ...
by the
Queen
Queen most commonly refers to:
* Queen regnant, a female monarch of a kingdom
* Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king
* Queen (band), a British rock band
Queen or QUEEN may also refer to:
Monarchy
* Queen dowager, the widow of a king
* Q ...
in the
1967 Queen's Birthday Honours List for services to horse racing, making him the first trainer to be so honoured. Jarvis wrote an autobiography entitled ''They're Off'', which was published in 1969.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jarvis, Jack
1887 births
1968 deaths
British racehorse trainers
Knights Bachelor
British Army personnel of World War I
Royal Tank Regiment soldiers