Sir Joseph Hawley Buy a print >>	View

Breeder (B),  Owner (O)

Also Known As:  3rd Baronet

Description:

Turf history regards Sir Joseph as being somewhat of a hypocrite, because although he held forth on the evils of gambling he was not adverse to a large wager himself - he won some £80,000 on his 1851 Derby winner, £70,000 from the victory of Beadsman and £75,000 from Musjid. However, John Porter, who trained for Sir Joseph in later years, had nothing but good to say of him.

Sir Joseph acquired his racing interests whilst living in Florence, where he was influenced by Mr J M Stanley (indeed, there were rumours that Teddington actually belonged to Stanley). With Stanley as a partner, Sir Joseph began his English racing career with horses trained at Newmarket but soon set up a private stable at Fyfield near Andover, under the care of Alec Taylor. Later trainers were the Days at Danebury, George Manning at Cannons Heath in Hampshire, and then John Porter.

Hawley was secretive, even with his trainers, and fell foul of Admiral Rous because of his gambling and giving of very generous presents to his jockeys. Hawley later tried his own reforms, trying to restrict two-year-old racing and to enlarge the membership of the Jockey Club to a wider circle, but with little success. Nevertheless he was an outstanding figure of the Victorian racing scene.