Joe Childs

Joseph Childs (6 May 1884 – 5 February 1958) was a French-born, British-based flat racing jockey. He won fifteen British Classics in a 35-year career, the last ten years of which were spent as jockey to King George V. He was known for riding a slow, waiting race, and also for having a short temper which regularly saw him at odds with his trainers and owners.

Early life Childs was born in Chantilly into a racing family. His father had ridden successfully in France, and his grandfather had worked at the stables of Peter Price in Newmarket. There were also four brothers – Albert, Arthur, Charles and Henry – who all became jockeys. Joe would go on to be the foremost of these, but Charles Charlie Childs would win the 1916 St. Leger on Hurry On, two years before Joe himself won it. Albert became a trainer in Marseille, France. He remarried to Amelia Hopkins, the daughter of jockey William Hopkins (1849?-1892) in 1917 by whom he had two further children Frederick and John.

Career

Apprenticeship (1900–1902) Childs spent his apprenticeship at Phantom House, Newmarket, the stables of trainer, Tom Jennings Jr.