 Tristan was a dark chestnut horse standing just under 16 hands ( 64 inches , 163 cm ) high , bred by Robert St Clair @-@ Erskine , 4th Earl of Rosslyn at the Easton Stud near Great Dunmow in Essex . As a yearling , Tristan was bought by the French owner C. J. Lefevre , who sent the colt to be trained by Tom Jennings at the Phantom House stable at Newmarket , Suffolk . Jennings would later say that Tristan had been mistreated as a yearling before his arrival at Newmarket and this explained his well @-@ known temperament problems . Tristan was ridden in most of his races by George Fordham and came to show a strong and sometimes violent dislike for other jockeys . 
