Francis Edward (Frank) Wootton (1893-1940), jockey, was born into the family of a Sydney horse trainer who is said to have been so determined that his sons would become jockeys that he denied them adequate meals. Aged nine, Frank was taken to South Africa to evade the Australian requirement that boys be fourteen before they could ride professionally. Frank won his first race in 1903 and had won seventeen races by 1906. Wootton senior then took his family to England where Frank - known as the 'Wonderboy' - became the first Australian to top the English jockey's premiership. Frank served in WW1 and returned to Sydney in 1933.
Updated 2018
