Sam Bernard Waley-Cohen (born 15 April 1982) is an English entrepreneur and retired amateur

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 ...

jockey.

Horse racing

Waley-Cohen was reported in the sports pages in 2007 when he came 5th on his father's horse Liberthine in the

Grand National The Grand National is a National Hunt horse race held annually at Aintree Racecourse in Aintree, Merseyside, England. First run in 1839, it ...

. He won the delayed 2010 King George VI Chase in January 2011 on

Long Run In economics, the long-run is a theoretical concept in which all markets are in equilibrium, and all prices and quantities have fully adjusted and are in equilibrium. The long-run contrasts with the short-run, in which there are some constraints a ...

, preventing

Kauto Star Kauto Star (19 March 2000 – 29 June 2015) was a France, French-bred National Hunt racing, National Hunt champion thoroughbred racehorse trained by Paul Nicholls (horse racing), Paul Nicholls in Somerset and owned by Clive Smith. He was known ...

from winning the race for a record fifth consecutive year. In 2011 Waley-Cohen also won the

Cheltenham Gold Cup The Cheltenham Gold Cup is a Grade 1 National Hunt horse race run on the New Course at Cheltenham Racecourse in England, over a distance of about 3 miles 2½ furlon ...

on Long Run.

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

, 9 March 2012
Online
accessed 9 Mar 12 He is the first amateur jockey in 30 years to win the race. In the 2012 and 2013 runnings they finished third to Synchronised and Bobs Worth respectively. In 2022 Waley-Cohen announced that he would be retiring and that his 2022 Grand National ride on Noble Yeats would be his last. He went on to win the race with final odds at 50/1. Waley-Cohen became the first amateur jockey to win the Grand National since Marcus Armytage on Mr Frisk in

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

. Having also finished second in the 2011 Grand National on Oscar Time, and won seven races on the Grand National course from 41 rides, this made him the most successful course jockey of the modern era.

Business interests

Waley-Cohen started his career at Louis Dreyfus Trading Ltd in London, spending time with the successful sugar trading division. Waley-Cohen has also built up the Portman Dentalcare chain of dental practices since he started the business in 2009. By March 2011 the business had grown to eight dental practices employing 170 staff and by 2013 it has grown to 15 dental practices. His business activities saw him nominated as Spears young entrepreneur of the year in 2011. In 2020 the Portman Group had grown to over 160 practices and expanded to operate across Europe. In 2023 Portman acquired Dentex Health. When combined they will operate more than 350 practices, with 2,000 clinicians and 4,000 employees, providing dental care for over 1.5 million patients per year. The move will also make them one of Europe's largest dental care platforms, operating in five European countries.

Personal life

Waley-Cohen is the son of Felicity Ann (Samuel) and businessman, racehorse breeder and trainer Robert Waley-Cohen, nephew of the theatre owner and producer Sir Stephen Waley-Cohen Bt.

Joanna Waley-Cohen Eleanor Joanna Waley-Cohen (born 10 June 1952) is an English academic who is Provost for New York University Shanghai and Silver Professor of History at New York University, where she has taught Chinese history since 1992. As Provost, she serves ...

, provost at NYU Shanghai, and collegiate professor and professor of history in the NYU History Department in New York and grandson of Lord Mayor of London, Sir Bernard Waley-Cohen. The founder of Shell Oil -

Marcus Samuel, 1st Viscount Bearsted Marcus Samuel, 1st Viscount Bearsted, (5 November 1853 – 17 January 1927), known as Sir Marcus Samuel between 1898 and 1921 and subsequently as Lord Bearsted until 1925, was a Lord Mayor of London and the founder of the Shell Transport and Tr ...

- was his great-great-grandfather. Waley-Cohen was educated at

Dragon School The Dragon School is a private school across two sites in Oxford, England. The Dragon Pre-Prep (children aged 4–7) and Prep School (children aged 8–13) are both co-educational schools. The Dragon Prep School was founded in 1877 as the Oxfo ...

and

St Edward's School, Oxford St Edward's School is a public school (English fee-charging boarding and day school) in Oxford, England. It is known informally as 'Teddies'. Approximately sixty pupils live in each of its thirteen houses. The school is a member of the Rug ...

followed by the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

. Waley-Cohen married Annabel Ballin in 2012.

Charity links

Waley-Cohen is a celebrity ambassador for The Bone Cancer Research Trust (BCRT). He is also a trustee of th
Injured Jockeys Fund
and founder of the TAWC Fund.

References

External links

Portman Healthcare
{{DEFAULTSORT:Waley-Cohen, Sam 1982 births Living people People educated at The Dragon School People educated at St Edward's School, Oxford Alumni of the University of Edinburgh English jockeys English businesspeople Jewish English sportspeople Sam