Samantha ‘Sam’ England once said of her preferred, unisex forename, “Everyone thinks I’m a bloke! I don’t really care.” Prior to turning her hand to training, and marrying jockey Jonathan England, in 2016, she rode 31 winners under National Hunt Rules – nearly half of which were for West Yorkshire trainer Joanne Foster – in her maiden name, Samantha Drake. Nowadays, Sam England is based at Manor Farm, Guiseley, West Yorkshire, which is owned by her parents and where her father, Robert Drake, initially trained a small string under permit.
England made the perfect start to her career as a licensed trainer, saddling a winner with her very first runner, Star Presenter, ridden by husband-to-be Jonathan, in a handicap chase at Catterick on January 27, 2016. On February 5, 2016, she saddled Raktiman, also ridden by Jonathan England, to victory in another handicap chase at the North Yorkshire venue, taking her record to two winners from her first four runners. On the Flat, England opened her account on December 22, 2016, courtesy of My Renaissance, ridden by Andrew Mullen, in a handicap at Wolverhampton.
Big race success has so far proved elusive, under either code, but England has gradually improved her seasonal tallies, year-by-year. On the Flat, she enjoyed her most successful season so far, numerically and financially, in 2025, when she saddled 22 winners from 167 runners, at a strike rate of 13%, and amassed over £220,000 in total prize money. Likewise, in the National Hunt sphere, he most successful season so far, numerically, came in 2025/26, when she saddled 32 winners from 203 runners, at a strike rate of 16%. Her prize money total that season was not quite her highest ever, but was only £10,000 or so shy of the career-best £297,038 she achieved in 2022/23.
