Samuel Jesse Doggett (November 29, 1871 - October 4, 1935) was one of the leading American Thoroughbred horse racingjockeys of the 1890s and a founding director of the Horsemen's Protective Association who went on to train and own racehorses.[1][2]
Samuel Doggett began his career in horse racing as an exercise boy and began riding competitively as a fifteen-year-old in 1887 in County Fair races. By the early 1890s his success at the big racetracks led to his hiring by major stable trainers including Matthew Allen, John Hyland, John Rogers and Walter Rollins.
In 1895, the Boston Post reported he was among the elite jockeys and was earning in excess of $10,000 a year.[3] (US$300,522 in 2018)[4] By the early years of the 1900s American jockeys were in great demand by owners throughout Europe and in 1901 Doggett joined Fred Taral in signing a lucrative contract to ride in Austria.[5] Samuel Dogget's biography in the 1898 edition of The American Turf reported that "Throughout his career, Doggett has been noted for temperance, attention to business, and frugality" and that his home was "one of the most beautiful places in Gravesend, Brooklyn".
[6]
Samuel Doggett rode Dr. Rice in the June 10, 1893 Belmont Stakes, marking the first of three appearances in races that would become part of the U.S. Triple Crown series. In a field of five runners, he was aboard the favorite Dr. Rice, who had won the Withers Stakes, but it would be African-American jockey Willie Simms aboard Commanche who won by a head.[7]
In 1903 Samuel Doggett was no longer riding but had begun to train a small stable of four horses for himself then for other owners.[11][12] In February 1907 he announced his retirement from racing and relocated to Denver, Colorado to go into the dry goods business with his brother.[13]
