Robert Lewis (jockey)
{{Short description|Australian Jockey}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{Use Australian English|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox horseracing personality|name=Robert Lewis|occupation=Jockey|birth_place=Clunes, Victoria
Australia|birth_date={{Birth date|1878|11|30|df=yes}}|death_date={{Death date and age|1947|3|31|1878|11|30|df=yes}}|death_place=Glenroy, Victoria, Australia|career wins=900+|race=Melbourne Cup (1902, 1915, 1919, 1927)
Caulfield Cup (1916, 1926)
AJC Derby (1900, 1901, 1904, 1927)
Victoria Derby (1900, 1901, 1904, 1908, 1912, 1914, 1921, 1927)
The Metropolitan (1912)|awards=|honours=Sport Australia Hall of Fame
Australian Racing Hall of Fame
Bobbie Lewis Quality|horses=The Victory, Patrobas, Artilleryman, Trivalve, Phar Lap|updated=24 January 2025|nationality=Australian|children=2|spouse=Mary Irene}}Robert "Bobby/Bobbie" Lewis (30 November 1878 – 31 March 1947) was an Australian jockey of the late 19th century to the early 20th century. During his 46-year career span from 1892 to 1938 he won over 900 races including the Melbourne Cup on four separate occasions in 1902, 1915, 1919 & 1927. He also won eight Victoria Derbies, four Australian Derbies, seven Crown Oaks and eight AJC St. Legers.
Early life
Lewis was born in Clunes, Victoria, a small town north of Ballarat on 30 November 1878 to Thomas Lewis, and Martha Ann (née Miller).{{Citation |last=Molony |first=John N. |title=Robert (Bob) Lewis (1878–1947) |work=Australian Dictionary of Biography |volume=10 |publication-date=1986 |url=https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/lewis-robert-bob-7189 |access-date=2025-01-24 |place=Canberra |publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University |language=en |isbn=0-522-84236-4 |issn=1833-7538 |lccn=66013723 |oclc=70677943 |ol=5984223M}}
Career
Lewis won his first race on the Clunes racing course in 1892 at age 14 in a pony event and his first metropolitan in Melbourne in 1895. In 1899 Lewis begin a 40-year association with the master-trainer Jim Scobie.{{Cite web |title=Robert Lewis {{!}} Sport Australia Hall of Fame |url=https://sahof.org.au/hall-of-fame-member/robert-lewis/ |access-date=2025-01-24 |website=Sport Australia Hall of Fame |language=en}} Lewis would find much success with Scobie's horses winning the 1927 Melbourne Cup on Trivalve and the Victoria Derby on Malster (1900), Hautvilliers (1901), Sylvanite (1904), Alawa (1908), Wolawa (1912), and Trivalve (1927).{{Cite news |last=Thomas |first=Ray |date=31 October 2013 |title=INSIDE MAIL - Victoria Derby |url=https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/superracing/inside-mail--victoria-derby/news-story/09858077890effb2ed31efce75d24f7f |access-date=25 January 2025 |work=Herald Sun |publisher=The Herald and Weekly Times Pty Ltd |language=en}}
At 17 years old, Lewis would race in the 1895 Melbourne Cup on Onward, finishing among the tail enders in the thirty six horse field. He had unplaced finishes in the next four Melbourne Cups, before placing for the first time in the 1900 Melbourne Cup.{{cite news |date=26 October 1929 |title=BOB LEWIS'S 32nd MELBOURNE CUP MOUNT |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article165612106 |accessdate=25 January 2025 |newspaper=Observer |location=South Australia |page=26 |via=National Library of Australia |volume=LXXXVI |issue=4,505}} Lewis would achieve his first Melbourne Cup on The Victory in the 1902 Melbourne Cup, helped by the scratching of champion mare Wakeful.{{Cite web |date=2009-09-22 |title=Past Winners - 1901 to 1910 Melbourne Cup Winners - Races.com.au |url=https://www.races.com.au/melbourne-cup/melbourne-cup-history/past-winners/1901-to-1910-melbourne-cup/ |access-date=2025-01-25 |website=www.races.com.au |language=en-US}}{{cite news |date=5 November 1902 |title=THE MELBOURNE CUP. |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4894692 |accessdate=25 January 2025 |newspaper=The Advertiser |location=South Australia |page=9 |via=National Library of Australia |volume=XLV |issue=13,744}} Lewis would have six more unplaced finishes in the Cup, before placing second in the 1909 Melbourne Cup on Alawa,{{cite news |date=3 November 1909 |title=THE MELBOURNE CUP |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5199753 |accessdate=25 January 2025 |newspaper=The Advertiser |location=South Australia |page=11 |via=National Library of Australia |volume=LII |issue=15,927}} three lengths behind Prince Foote.{{cite book |last=O'Reilly |first=Paddy |title=Facts, Stats & Trivia of The Melbourne Cup |publisher=New Holland Publishers Pty Ltd |year=2016 |isbn=9781742579054 |location=Melbourne |pages=50 |chapter=Prince Foote (1909)}}
In the 1915 Melbourne Cup Lewis replaced jockey William Smart on the three year old Patrobas as the jockey couldn't make the Cup weight of 7st 6 lbs (47 kg).{{Cite news |date=1880 |title=Sporting Notions |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-657661641/view?sectionId=nla.obj-661928557&partId=nla.obj-657712397#page/n33/mode/1up |work=The Bulletin |publisher=John Haynes and J.F. Archibald |publication-place=Sydney |via=Trove |volume=36 |issue=1865 |issn=0007-4039}} Lewis finished first earning him his second Melbourne Cup.{{cite news |date=3 November 1915 |title=PATROBAS WINS MELBOURNE CUP |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article155529729 |accessdate=25 January 2025 |newspaper=Winner |location=Victoria, Australia |page=1 |via=National Library of Australia |issue=67}}{{Cite web |date=2009-09-22 |title=Past Winners - 1911 to 1920 Melbourne Cup Winners - Races.com.au |url=https://www.races.com.au/melbourne-cup/melbourne-cup-history/past-winners/1911-to-1920-melbourne-cup/ |access-date=2025-01-25 |website=www.races.com.au |language=en-US}}
Lewis' third Melbourne Cup win was in the 1919 Melbourne Cup on the stallion Artilleryman.{{cite web |title=Artilleryman Melbourne Cup Winner |url=http://www.racerate.com/Artilleryman.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150303124741/http://www.racerate.com/Artilleryman.htm |archive-date=2015-03-03 |publisher=racerate.com}} In winning the 1919 Melbourne Cup, lewis set a new race record time of 3 minutes 24.5 seconds.{{cite web |date=1919-12-22 |title=Artilleryman Wins Melbourne Cup: Eighty Thousand People See the Colt Win Australia's Great Spring Race |url=https://drf.uky.edu/catalog/1910s/drf1919122201/drf1919122201_1_4 |accessdate=2021-09-28 |publisher=Daily Racing Form at University of Kentucky Archives}}{{Cite web |last=McGrath |first=Joe |date=6 December 2023 |title=Fast finishers in the Melbourne Cup |url=https://www.vrc.com.au/latest-news/fast-finishers-in-the-melbourne-cup/ |access-date=2025-01-24 |website=Victoria Racing Club |language=en}} He secured victory by at least six lengths ahead of Richmond Main.{{Cite web |last=Lemon |first=Dr Andrew |last2=McGrath |first2=Joe |title=Melbourne Cup Winners Honour Roll |url=https://www.vrc.com.au/racing/melbourne-cup-winners-honour-roll/ |access-date=2025-01-25 |website=Victoria Racing Club |language=en}} Lewis in the following years would see a decreases in his racing wins but would maintain consistent placings through the 1920s and early 1930s. In 1926 lewis won the Caulfield Cup on Manfred{{cite news |date=16 October 1926 |title=MIGHTY MANFRED WINS AGAIN |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article83381560 |accessdate=25 January 2025 |newspaper=The Daily News |location=Western Australia |page=1 (FINAL SPORTING EDITION) |via=National Library of Australia |volume=XLV |issue=16,060}}{{cite news |date=18 October 1926 |title=MANFRED'S CAULFIELD CUP |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3815599 |accessdate=25 January 2025 |newspaper=The Argus (Melbourne) |location=Victoria, Australia |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia |issue=25,020}} but did not race in the 1926 Melbourne Cup. In 1927 Lewis placed first in both the 1927 Victoria Derby and 1927 Melbourne Cup on Trivalve.{{Cite web |date=2009-09-22 |title=Past Winners - 1921 to 1930 Melbourne Cup Winners - Races.com.au |url=https://www.races.com.au/melbourne-cup/melbourne-cup-history/past-winners/1921-to-1930-melbourne-cup/ |access-date=2025-01-25 |website=www.races.com.au |language=en-US}} His four Melbourne Cup wins constitute a record that has only been equalled by Harry White, but never bettered.
In the 1929 Melbourne Cup Lewis rode the favourite Phar Lap after jockey Jim Pike was unable to get below the weight limit of 7st 6lbs (47 kg), where he was expected to achieve his fifth Cup. Phar Lap was the shortest priced Cup favourite ever, at the time, due to his recent back to back wins in the Australian Derby and Victoria Derby in record times.{{Cite web |last=McGrrath |first=Joe |date=17 October 2023 |title=The incomparable Phar Lap |url=https://www.vrc.com.au/latest-news/the-incomparable-phar-lap/ |access-date=2025-01-25 |website=Victoria Racing Club |language=en}} The three-year-old refused to settle under Bobby Lewis and only ran third behind fellow Night Raid-sired horse, Nightmarch.{{cite news |date=6 November 1929 |title=MELBOURNE CUP. |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article32327730 |accessdate=25 January 2025 |newspaper=The West Australian |location=Western Australia |page=17 |via=National Library of Australia |volume=XLV |issue=8,543}}{{Cite web |last=Presnell |first=Max |date=2014-10-29 |title=Phar Lap's Melbourne Cup failure in 1929 had the conspiracy theorists out in force |url=https://www.smh.com.au/sport/racing/phar-laps-melbourne-cup-failure-in-1929-had-the-conspiracy-theorists-out-in-force-20141029-11dorj.html |access-date=2025-01-25 |website=The Sydney Morning Herald |language=en}}{{cite book |last=O'Reilly |first=Paddy |title=Facts, Stats & Trivia of The Melbourne Cup |publisher=New Holland Publishers Pty Ltd |year=2016 |isbn=9781742579054 |location=Melbourne |pages=62–63 |chapter=Nightmarch (1929)}} Punters lost an estimated 1 million pounds as a result and it was suggested that Lewis conspired with his friend and punter Eric Connolly to lose on purpose.
Lewis did not race in 1930 Melbourne Cup. In the 1931 Melbourne Cup lewis rode Prince Dayton to sixth place.{{cite news |date=4 November 1931 |title=MELBOURNE CUP TO WHITE NOSE |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article29930926 |accessdate=25 January 2025 |newspaper=The Mercury |location=Tasmania, Australia |page=7 |via=National Library of Australia |volume=CXXXV |issue=20,044}} This was the last Cup lewis would ride in and was not offered another Cup ride. Lewis continued to ride professionally for another seven years before retiring from horse racing in 1938.
Personal life
On 15 June 1920, Lewis married Mary Irene, née Rowntree, at Christ Church, Hamilton, whom to which he had two daughters. After retiring from horse racing in 1938 he become a grazier with properties in Glenroy and Ferntree Gully until his death on 31 March 1947.{{cite news |date=1 April 1947 |title=DEATH OF BOBBY LEWIS, JOCKEY |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article30520815 |accessdate=24 January 2025 |newspaper=The Advertiser (Adelaide) |location=South Australia |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}}
Legacy
In 1974, the Victoria Racing Club named a Group 2, Thoroughbred quality handicap horse race in his honour, the Bobbie Lewis Quality Handicap (now shortened to just Bobbie Lewis Quality).{{Cite web |title=Bobbie Lewis Quality |url=https://www.racingandsports.com.au/thoroughbred/feature-race/australia/bobbie-lewis-quality/343 |access-date=25 January 2025 |website=Racing and sports}}
On 9 December 1986, Lewis was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame for his achievements in the sport of Horse Racing.
In 2002, Lewis was inducted into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame for his achievements in the sport of Horse Racing.{{Cite web |last=Victoria |first=Thoroughbred Horse Racing In Victoria {{!}} Racing |title=Bobby Lewis |url=https://www.racingvictoria.com.au/the-sport/racing/australian-racing-museum/hall-of-fame/jockeys/bobby-lewis |access-date=2025-01-24 |website=Racing Victoria |language=en}}