THE jockey who won the Grand National is best known for being the multi-millionaire matchmaker who got Will and Kate back together.
Sam Waley-Cohen conquered the racing world with his win on 50-1 outsider Noble Yeats at Aintree.
Sam and Kate sit together at Cheltenham – the millionaire amateur jockey got his good friend and Will back together
Sam celebrates after pocketing £500,000 for winning the Grand National on 50-1 outsider Noble Yeats
It was at a party at Sam’s 17th century mansion the royal couple rekindled their romance
But before that he was the talk of the upper classes for being the man who rekindled the royal romance.
Sam, whose dental firm Portman Dental Care has been valued at £300million, previously won the Cheltenham Gold Cup on Long Run in 2011.
Yet it was at a party at his family’s 17th century mansion in Oxfordshire four years earlier that he got the future king onto a winner of his own.
The Daily Mail report that Will and Kate attended the party together and were seen deep in conversation.
Just a few weeks later they were spotted holidaying together in the Seychelles – and the rest, as they say, is history.
The jockey played down his role in the love story but the story has persisted.
Sam told the Mail in 2011: “There’s an idea that I was like Cupid with a bow and arrow.
“People love the idea that somebody put them back together but they put themselves together far more.
“They’ve both been friends for a long time.
“I think they got back together of their own accord.”
Whatever he did worked because in 2008 Kate repaid the favour and turned up a charity roller disco organised by Sam.
Wearing a green sequinned halterneck, tiny yellow shorts and eye-catching pink legwarmers, Kate looked like a real product of the Eighties.
Kate arriving at the charity disco organised by Sam
The whole Waley-Cohen clan celebrate winning the world’s most famous race
Sam and wife Bella have been part of two famous love stories – their own and Will and Kate’s
It turned out she could have done with a few lessons as The Mirror report she fell to her back while gliding round.
Sam saved the day, though, rushing to her side and helping her back to her feet.
Incredibly, Kate was accused by some of letting down the monarchy with her momentary lapse.
Ever the loyal friend, Sam stuck up for her and said: “The sniping really annoyed me.
“The whole event was done in really good humour with everyone out to have a good time and raise money for charity.
“And actually it just showed what a normal person Kate is. She was there to have fun, and she fell over.
“What’s the problem here?”
FIRST NAME ON ROYAL WEDDING LIST
Their close friendship persisted and while world famous celebrities sweated over invites to their 2011 wedding, Sam and wife Annabel were some of the first names on the list.
Sam, now 39, could have gone professional as a jockey but said he wanted to ‘have a life’ outside of the sport.
He has certainly made it pay.
Sam is CEO of a business that owns more than 100 dental practices all over the country.
