“Sam Cracknell was an outstanding personality in Australian Racing; a shrewd witty little man who had a racing record extending for a quarter of a century dating from 1865 – a record which was never approached by any other lightweight jockey of his day”. Source: Unknown newspaper cutting
Early Life
Sam was the 7th of eleven children and was born in Norfolk, England, who at the age of 23 months arrived in Adelaide with his parents and four siblings in 1848, after a four months sea voyage. His parents settled in Norwood, where his father continued in his profession as a tailor.
At an early age Sam’s love of horses led him to obtain work with a stock and station agent, delivering cattle to butchers and others. For these agents he piloted many winners at impromptu races in a cultivated paddock at Payneham; the prizes being saddles, bridles, whips or spurs. Harry Tothill a respected Adelaide trainer, ‘spotted’ Sam and asked if he would like to go into racing. In a short while Sam, now 17 years old, was working in Coghlan’s stables and riding his horses on the Old Adelaide Racecourse, now Victoria Park. After two years, Sam moved to Formby’s John Bull sale yards and livery stables. Formby was the buyer for horses for the Government, and here Sam was engaged for three years schooling and jumping the horses. He spent 9 weeks in the Adelaide Hospital in 1868 with a broken leg and the fractured hip, when his horse cannoned into another horse at the last hurdle in a Hurdle Race at the Old Adelaide Racecourse, and fell rolling on Sam. The Duke of Edinburgh was at the meeting in his honour, and after the accident he came around to enquire about Sam’s injuries. Sam then went to India riding for the Viceroy of India, but returned after a year as the climate did not agree with him. He spent the next year breaking in colts and doing boundary work on Mr. Dodd’s Corrong station, before moving to Victoria in 1871 to continue his riding career.
Move to Victoria
Sam came to Melbourne where he was apprenticed to Mr. W. Lang, for whom he rode his first winner Foam, in 1872. Mr. E. Dakin was the trainer for Lang, and when Dakin left Victoria to become the trainer for Sir Thomas Elder’s horses, he always engaged Sam as the jockey for any of his horses racing in Victoria. Sam held Sir Thomas Elder in veneration; both as a breeder and owner Elder expended a vast amount of money, but Sam only saw him once on a racecourse – when Irish Queen (riden by Sam) won the SAJC Derby in 1877. The steamer on which Sir Thomas had taken passage from Scotland put in at Glenelg so that the owner might see her land the classic.
Disqualification
In 1875 Sam won a Maiden Plate at Wyndam on ‘Defiance’, but the colt and the rider were disqualified. After passing the post Sam’s cap blew off and a boy picked it up and gave it to Sam, who then placed it on his head. A protest was entered by Joe Thompson who had fielded on the race and stood to lose over the success of the favourite ‘Defiance’. The stewards gave Sam 12 months suspension, which Sam considered improper as racing protests can only be entered by an owner, trainer or jockey. One month later, January 1876, Sam married Caroline Griffiths in Melbourne, and not realising that his disqualification prevented him from attending race meetings other than Wyndham, Sam took his new bride to Flemington. As a result of this action, the term of disqualification was extended to two years. This caused Sam much distress so he decided to return to his parents place in Adelaide. Sam valiantly endeavoured to keep the domestic flag flying by wheeling pug along narrow planks that led from the pit to the kiln at the local brick works, however his diminutive feet grew unbearably sore and he had to abandon the job. His earlier employer Mr. Formby, found Sam a job looking after a hunter for 30/- per week, and from there Sam gravitated into the service of Sir Thomas Elder. Elder went to Victoria to plead Sam’s case about the severity of the disqualification and was able to secure a reduction of the terms of his disqualification. Sam was precluded from racing for approximately 15 months, which he regarded as extreme for a mere act of thoughtlessness. Sam and Caroline remained in Adelaide for 18 months, during which their first child was born.
Move to Panton Hill
When Sam and his family returned to Victoria they lived in the New Market/ Flemington area where their next five children were born. Towards the end of Sam’s racing career they moved to Panton Hill where their sixth child was born.
Sam was a very small man – 4 foot 10 inches tall, with his calf measuring 6 inches. He always had a prolific growth of red hair and a long beard down to the second button of his shirt. As one newspaper report stated
… it was a never-to-be forgotten sight as his bright red beard waved in the breeze as he passed the winning post ….and the growth was not an austerity one either; in fact he was more whiskers than anything else! In later years Sam related a story of how:
“Once I was offered a mount on a good ’un if I’d cut off my beard. I had a long red beard – ginger for pluck, the boys used to say – but I refused. The owner gave in however, and I won I might say by a beard!”
He was a shrewd witty little man who was a popular jockey because of his natural lightweight and would ride 5-6 races in a day. He was one of the few lightweight jockeys who could keep himself below 7 stone without effort. His normal weight was around 5 stone 12 lb. and rode with a 5lb. saddle to make 6 stone.
Major Victories
Sam’s riding career extended from 1862 – 1890, and he rode many winners in Victoria, South Australia and New South Wales, including S.A.J.C. Derby, the Melbourne Cup and the Sydney Cup.
Some of his major victories were:
1877 – the SAJC Derby on Irish Queen
1879 – Melbourne Cup on Darriwell
1880 – Hawkesbury County Purse and the Hawkesbury Handicap on Hesperian, (His first rides in Sydney).
AJC Summer Cup on Milbrodale, The Geelong Cup on Zambesi, The Ballarat Cup on Son of Blue Gown, and the Hotham Handicap on Old Trick, all in 1880.
1881 – Adelaide Park Handicap and the VRC Hotham Handicap on Pawnbroker
1882 – the Sydney Cup on Cunnamulla and the VRC Hotham Handicap on Saunterer
1883 and the 1885 Newmarket Handicap.
1884 – A.R.C. Queen’s Birthday Cup on Ned of the Hills
1889 – Brunswick Stakes on Loyalist, Sandhurst Cup on Affluence.
He regarded his best wins were on Sir Thomas Elder’s mare Tyroneon who won the VRC Newmarket Handicap by a nose in 1883, and Coronet who was successful in the same race two years later. (For each victory it is reported that he received a present of £1500.)
Melbourne Cup
Sam rode in 13 Melbourne Cup races – his first Melbourne Cup was in 1872 and his last ride was in the Melbourne Cup on 1890. He rode in 9 Caulfield Cup races from 1879 – 1887 without success, having knocked back £1000 to ride “Blink Bonny’ who won in 1883.
In 1885, Sam was one of the six jockeys who were badly injured in the greatest race smash in history of the Caulfield Cup or any other Australian Race, when 17 horses came down and one jockey was killed. Sam was carried bodily by spectators from the course, motionless and was reported dead; afterwards he bragged that “not many get the chance to read their death!” He sustained a crushed chest, broken ribs and a fractured pelvis.
The technique of riding has changed greatly since Sam’s day. Unknown newspaper article from around 1907:
“The monkey like method of riding affected by jockeys made Cracknell marvel. ‘I could not ride that way,’ he declared a few days ago. ‘The first Melbourne Cup I appeared in was in 1872, won by The Quack, who carried the colours of Mr. Tait. There were big tussocks of grass in the straight… if his mount had tripped over one of these obstructions (using the monkey method) it would have been good-bye. Cracknell gave an illustration of the seat which he found advantageous. ‘On straddling a horse… I used to stand up in the stirrups, and if there was space for my hand between the crutch and the pommel of the saddle I knew that the leathers were of correct length. Mustering cattle in the bush I always stood up in the stirrups, and race riding didn’t require any alteration of style.’
Kenninghall
Sam invested much of his winnings into property, owning several houses in Flemington area and also the property known as ‘Bushy Park’ at Panton Hill, which he sold in later years to his nephew.
In 1890 Sam purchased 40 acres on the Main Road from Hurstbridge to Panton Hill @ £40 an acre from the Caudwell brothers. He and the family didn’t come to live there until the house was finished, around 1891. Before a house could be built and an orchard established, the land had to be cleared. While clearing the land, Sam lived in a bark hut, which was behind where the house was to be built. Sam dug a well and used the clay for the chimney, the walls being made of bark slabs, the floor was dirt, the table being four posts driven into the ground with a slab of wood placed across it, there were bunks on each side of the hut which consisted of two holes in bags which were slung as hammocks, for beds.
Sam called this property ‘Kenninghall’ after his birthplace. With the help of his family Sam developed a successful orchard on his property, where he remained for the rest of his life.
Sam was a dapper dresser – always seen in riding boots, bowler and cut away coat, and a man of quick movements, possessing a flowing beard – red in his younger days, white when he was older.
The Herald newspaper cutting undated, by ‘Khedive’ around 1927:
“After riding Firelock for Mr. William Pearson in the Melbourne Cup in 1890, Sam Cracknell retired from the saddle … for a quarter of a century, dating from 1865, Cracknell was an outstanding personality in Australian racing. Sparer in frame than any past or present rider of note, a flowing red beard marked him out from all contemporaries. Tom Corrigan wore moustaches of abnormal length, but Cracknell’s beard was unforgettable. It whitened with age and has been trimmed to a shadow of its original proportions … Sam was popular everywhere, and could hold his own in any company. He dressed neatly, wore a Paget coat when not riding, and was particularly noticeable for the rapidity with which he could move from one part of the course to another. Men high in the racing game sought Cracknell out, and valued any opinion he expressed.”
Family
Caroline, Sam’s wife died in 1921, and Sam remained living at ‘Kenninghall’ being cared for by his two unmarried daughters Ruby and Beatrice, until his death at home in 1933, at the age of 86. The family grave is in the Melbourne General Cemetery, however many of Sam’s descendants are buried at the Kangaroo Ground Cemetery.
Ruby a talented horsewoman never married and lived at ‘Kenninghall’ for nearly 80 years, while Beatrice, the only child to be born at ‘Kenninghall’ passed away there some 82 years later. When 46, Beatrice married a widower, who predeceased her some years later. Ruby and Beatrice farmed ‘Kenninghall’ all their lives, by themselves.
In December 1998, for the first time in more than 100 years, ‘Kenninghall’ passed out of the family’s ownership, and the now large Camelia tree planted in 1896 to mark the birth of daughter Beatrice, was destroyed.
Sam and Caroline Cracknell’s children were:
William Henry Cracknell m. Alice Lucy Glennon
Samuel Arthur Cracknell m. Alice Mary Smith
Alfred Cracknell m. Beatrice Dugdale
Caroline Norma who died at the age of 3 years 11 months – 24 Nov. 1886
John who died aged 16 months – 15 Nov. 1886
Caroline Ruby Cracknell never married.
Alice Beatrice Cracknell m. Arthur Johnston
by Lois Kennett, Cracknell family historian October 2008.
Featured Photo: Sammy Cracknell (SEPP 241) Shire of Eltham Pioneers Photograph Collection. Yarra Plenty Regional Library in partnership with Eltham District Historical Society
