13 Facts About Lester Reiff

Lester Berchart Reiff was an American jockey who achieved racing acclaim in the United Kingdom in the first decade of the twentieth century.

Lester B Reiff was born on April 26,1877, in Americus, Missouri, to John Wesley Reiff and Elizabeth Jane Reiff.

John Lester Reiff is a US Racing Hall of Fame inductee and Delbert Lester Reiff was a horse trainer that ran a horse importing business from Maisons-Laffitte, France.

The Reiff family moved to Findlay, Ohio, in the 1880s, and Lester became a jockey apprentice as a teenager.

Lester Reiff raced for horse trainer Enoch Wishard in 1894 but was suspended numerous times for throwing races and was barred from horse racing in late 1894 and the early months of 1895.

Lester Reiff traveled to the United Kingdom with Wishard in 1896 to race for the stable of Tammany Hall boss Richard Croker.

Lester Reiff was again suspended by the Jockey Club in July 1896 for interfering with another horse while running the Goodwood Cup and he returned to the United States to race in a few minor stakes races.

Lester Reiff won 143 races out of 549 mounts in 1900, heading the list of winning jockeys in Britain, and he was the first non-British jockey to accomplish this feat.

In 1901, Lester Reiff won The Derby aboard Volodyovski for American trainer John Huggins.

Lester Reiff's license was revoked for the 1902 season due to these incidents and he was barred or "warned off" from racing in other countries.

Lester Reiff's license was reinstated in 1904 but unlike his brother who resumed his career with success, Lester did not pursue horse racing again.

Lester Reiff retired from racing in 1902 and moved to Alameda with his wife.

Lester Reiff became a real-estate broker and venture capitalist, managing the property of his family and several friends until his death on October 10,1948, in Alameda.