Fred Archer
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Fred Archer was one of the greatest and most tragic jockeys of all time. Born in Cheltenham on 11 January 1857, he was apprenticed to Newmarket trainer Matthew Dawson on the day before his 10th birthday.
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He rode his first winner, Athol Daisy, in September 1870 on his very first ride.
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He won 21 English Classics, including 6 Guineas here at Newmarket and 5 Epsom Derbys.
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In all he rode 2,748 winners in Britain from 8,084 rides, a sensational strike rate of 34%. He headed the list of winning jockeys every season from 1873 to 1886.
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He struggled desperately with his weight as he got older and used to take a concoction known as ‘Archer’s Mixture’, basically a crude and potent laxative.
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The physical and mental strain of his punishing regime, along with the sadness caused by the tragic death of his wife in childbirth in 1884 just a year after they were married, resulted in Archer becoming very ill. A few days later on 8th November 1886, in an apparent state of delirium whilst suffering from a fever, he shot himself. He was just 29 years old.
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Archer’s stables on the Snailwell Road, where he died, are now home to James Fanshawe’s string. Over the years there have been many reported sightings there of Archer, riding on a ghostly white horse!
