Robert Robson (c.1765–1838) was a

horse trainer A horse trainer is a person who tends to horses and teaches them different disciplines. Some responsibilities trainers have are caring for the animals' physical needs, as well as teaching them good behaviors and/or coaching them for events, which ...

, known as the Emperor of Trainers who ran "the outstandingly successful stable of the first quarter of the 19th century."The leading racehorse trainer of his time, he raised their status from glorified groom to professional. He was based initially at

Lewes Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. The town is the administrative centre of the wider Lewes (district), district of the same name. It lies on the River Ouse, Sussex, River Ouse at the point where the river cuts through the Sou ...

where he was private trainer to Sir Ferdinand Poole from 1793. In that year he won his first

Derby Derby ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. Derbyshire is named after Derby, which was its original co ...

with Waxy. He then spent rest of his career at Newmarket and trained six more Derby winners -

Tyrant A tyrant (), in the modern English usage of the word, is an absolute ruler who is unrestrained by law, or one who has usurped a legitimate ruler's sovereignty. Often portrayed as cruel, tyrants may defend their positions by resorting to ...

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and

Whalebone Baleen is a filter-feeding system inside the mouths of baleen whales. To use baleen, the whale first opens its mouth underwater to take in water. The whale then pushes the water out, and animals such as krill are filtered by the baleen and ...

for the 3rd Duke of Grafton,

Whisker Whiskers, also known as vibrissae (; vibrissa; ) are a type of stiff, functional hair used by most therian mammals to sense their environment. These hairs are finely specialised for this purpose, whereas other types of hair are coarser as t ...

for the 4th Duke of Grafton, Mr Payne's

Azor Azor () is a local council (Israel), local council in the Tel Aviv District of Israel, on the old Jaffa-Jerusalem road southeast of Tel Aviv. Established in 1948, Azor was granted local council status in 1951. In it had a population of , and ha ...

and Mr Udney's Emilius. Accordingly, he jointly holds the record for training winners of The Derby. His horses won the race seven times; only two other trainers have achieved this. As for other successes, his horses won the

2,000 Guineas Stakes 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 year ...

six times, the 1000 Guineas Stakes nine times between 1818 and 1827 and he saddled thirteen winners of The Oaks. To his contemporaries he was known as "the Emperor of Trainers" and his horses benefited from a gentler regime from that then practised by most stables. He continued to live in Newmarket after his retirement in 1828, when, as a testimonial, members of 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 ...

presented him with a piece of plate. He was said to be worth £60,000 at his death.

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article includes painting
British racehorse trainers 1760s births 1838 deaths People from Newmarket, Suffolk {{UK-horseracing-bio-stub