LORD VES TEY


‘ Sam Vestey was patron of the Stowell Park polo team... one of the most successful teams in the history of British polo’


to play. As both Eddie and Hector were rather better than us, we thought it better if we sacked one of us instead! So, I started the Foxcote team, and we took it in turns to play with Eddie and Hector.” Sam Vestey retired from polo in the


early 1980s but came out of retirement to play in his brother’s Foxcote team in the 1984 Queen’s Cup tournament. Mark had broken his back in a hunting fall earlier in the year and so Sam got himself fit to play one last high-goal tournament. It paid off as Foxcote won the final – with Mark being allowed out of Stoke Mandeville Hospital to watch the game and then receive the Cup from HM The Queen. In addition to polo, Sam Vestey was a


passionate racegoer with horses in training, with much success, with both his sister-in-law Henrietta Knight and James Fanshawe. This included his home-bred Karshi winning the Stayers’ Hurdle at Cheltenham in 1997 and Macadamia taking the Royal Hunt Cup in 2003. Sam Vestey also played a key role at this racecourse, holding the post of Chairman from 1990 to 2011. During his tenure, the racetrack implemented a successful expansion scheme which resulted in the number of visitors to the renowned Festival increasing by some 73,000. He was also a steward of the Jockey Club and at one time chairman of its disciplinary committee. Some years before his chairmanship at


Cheltenham, Sam Vestey took on the role of Chairman of Cirencester Park Polo Club, holding that important post from 1975 – 1985. Not surprisingly he did much to encourage high-goal polo at the Gloucestershire club during this time. HM The Queen appointed Sam Vestey


Master of the Horse in 1999, a post he held for the next 19 years, and he could be regularly seen riding in ceremonies such as the Trooping the Colour, wearing the eye-catching uniform of the Master of the


72


Top: The Stowell Park high-goal polo team with a collection of its trophies - Sam Vestey, Eduardo Moore, Hector Barrantes, Mark Vestey. Above: Action from the 1972 Queen's Cup at Guards Polo Club featuring Stowell Park v Cowdray Park


Horse. He was appointed Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (KCVO) in the 2009 Birthday Honours and Her Majesty then promoted him to Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victoria Order (GCVO) in December 2018. He was appointed a permanent Lord-in-Waiting to Her Majesty the following year. Despite his title and great wealth, it is


clear from all the tributes that have been published since his death in February that Sam Vestey will be remembered as a good-natured man with a clear lack of pomposity. A racing colleague, quoted in


GUARDS POLO CLUB OFFICIAL YEARBOOK 2021


The Daily Telegraph obituary, summed him up perfectly: “He was the sort of man who never looked over your shoulder to see if there was someone more important”. Sam Vestey is survived by his five


children: his daughters Saffron and Flora from his first marriage to Kathryn Eccles and his two sons and daughter, William, Arthur and Mary, from his marriage to Celia (CeCe) Knight. Sadly, CeCe died unexpectedly just nine weeks before Sam and so we send our deepest condolences to all the family. ◆


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