George Duffield

Who is George Duffield?

George Duffield MBE is a retired English flat racing jockey.

He served a seven-year apprenticeship with Jack Waugh, and rode his first winner on 15 June 1967 at Great Yarmouth Racecourse on a horse called Syllable, trained by Waugh.

He became stable jockey for trainer John C. Oxley in 1970, but this was not to be a successful partnership, and they split in 1972. After riding freelance for a bit, he was to become first jockey to trainer Sir Mark Prescott in 1974, a partnership which was to prove most enduring and fruitful.

George Duffield spent 30 years as stable jockey to Prescott, riding 830 winners for him, including successes in Ireland, France and Belgium.

Duffield was a journeyman jockey for a great part of his career, but he became much better known in 1992 thanks to the exploits of the three-year-old filly User Friendly, trained by Clive Brittain, also at Newmarket, User Friendly gave Duffield his first 'Classic' success when winning The Oaks, she followed up by winning the Irish Oaks, Yorkshire Oaks and St. Leger Stakes, before going down by a neck to Subotica in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe at Hippodrome de Longchamp.