Its amazing that Dicey.Still Povall et.al. were riding at around 6st 9lbs.



Philip Povall was a lightweight jockey in the 1950s and early 1960s, the leading apprentice in the north who nearly won the Ebor.

Indentured to Percy Vasey at Wetherby, he enjoyed his best season in 1953, when his 30 wins made him the leading apprentice in the north and placed him fourth in the national apprentices' table, behind Joe Mercer Among the youngsters who finished below him were Edward Hide, Geoff Lewis and Wally Swinburn snr.

Bobby Elliott.

H.Ballantine
C.Rodrigues

Willie Snaith
Geoff Oldroyd
Dennis Ryan

Don Morris also D.W.Morris

Good thread plaudits to all.
Sinitram
I have a 1956 Form
Sparrow had a lot of rides that year...probably highlighted by a double at Thirsk
on Sep.29 Whinsway for John Weymes @25/1 and Salopian for J Ward @ 9/4.

R Wimbush had a few rides unplaced that year but I don't know anything else about him.
I'd forgotten that Josh Gifford and Jimmy Uttley (Persian War) had a lot of good winners on the Flat.
I also saw Kenny Glover was riding in apprentice races back then...took him a while
to lose his claim I guess.
Wish there was more info. out there on these old jocks who we grew attached to.
I know Eric Apter is on Facebook and did reply to me a while back.
Please post if you have any info.especially on the old guys

Uttley rode a lot of Staff Ingham`s on the flat. He could certainly do 9-0.
Wimbush must have still been around in 64ish cos I vaguely remember him.
Talking of Uttley who was the other guy who only rode over hurdles,not fences,around that time ? Dave Dennis is close I think but maybe not quite right.

Yes Salmon
Jimmy never would ride over fences but I overlooked that cos' I loved Persian so much...plus he was born in Nelson close to my childhood home.
Too bad the sons don't keep up their Fathers training record ..ala Turnell...Fairhurst Weymes Wainwright
Berry...I really think they do their best but their dedication is compromised by the world today.

I was in Bath last year and got speaking to a lovely old couple outside the Roman baths,the woman told me that her Brother-in-law was Jimmy Etherington and that her brother use to be a jockey and his name is Lionel Brown, anyone remember him..

I certainly remember Johnny Gilbert and it may have been him I was thinking of,but how I managed to think of him as David Dennis is beyond me.
Back to lightweight jockeys. David East for some years got a lot of rides from an owner-trainer called John Meacock. Meacock was an eccentric,who gave all his horses Persian names,and they were nearly all complete rubbish. East could be relied on to do 7-0,which Mea**** horses almost invariably got in h`caps. East must have picked up quite a lot in riding fees from him over the years,but not much in the way of winning percentages.

Sammy Millbanks, Ray Reader, David East, L C Parkes and Norman McIntosh. They could all do 7st 7lbs....they were much in demand when a gamble was layed out from the likes of ron smyth,herbert blagrave and georgie boyd...horses used to carry 6st 7lbs or less  in big hcap's after the war..most notably in the november handicap..does days long gone..the winner in 1947 carried 6st 3lbs...now thats a lightweight.....

David Dineley

Dont know what's happenning here the trainers name was john Meacock.

Paul Tulk was another old name..Also, Didn't Dennis Mckay ride the Lincoln winner 2 years on the trot in the 70s, he came from Stratford in East London,i think he went in to become an estate agent after he retired, don't know what hes up to now..

Another bit on Sparrow.

Povall was nicknamed 'Sparrow' because of his size, as he was one of a now-extinct breed, an ultra-lightweight jockey who specialised in handicaps. He could ride at less than 7st with ease, and gained his biggest win on Faint Hope in the Nottingham Stewards Cup in 1960.

The best horse he rode was Water Wings, a filly trained by Charles Elsey for Jim Joel. The partnership won the Ebor Trial Handicap by 12 lengths at Redcar in August 1959, and came second in the Ebor 12 days later. Water Wings (7st) might well have won had she not been badly crossed at the start (no stalls in those days) and relegated to last place, many lengths adrift. She made steady progress to lead over three furlongs out, but could not repel Primera (9st) and Piggott, and wa beaten a length and a half.

The demand for Povall's services declined as minimum weights rose, especially in handicaps, and he scored the last of his 134 wins in Britain in 1964. Other lightweights of that era included Micky Greening, Ray Reader, Jock Carson, Norman McIntosh, Derek Morris, Cliff Parkes, Walter Bentley and Tommy Carter.

Jock Carson was A Carson.Don`t know what his real first name was. By the time I became a follower in 1963 Bentley,Morris and Carter ( I think ) were not usually able to do 7-0. They tended to ride at 7-3 or 7-4. Brian Lee and Des Cullen were others who were riding about that weight by then. Doug Smith,ex-champ and still a top jockey though in the twilight of his career could still do 7-8. Piggott`s normal minimum was 8-5 and a lot thought that hampered his career somewhat.

I didn`t say I agreed with them.
And in 1963 he had nothing like that tally.

Vaguely remember him riding a horse for Richmond Sturdy (think it was called October) putting up nearly a stone overweight ...still won easy.

I think Sturdy also trained January, and at least one other 'month', and a few Pirates. (and Tintagel II?)

Of the regular jockeys there were only one or two as heavy,and apart from Jimmy lindley,they were towards the end of their careers. Nobody said it in those days of course but I think some media types were aware of the parallels with Fred Archer. His nickname " the longfellow " didn`t help. Of course the irony is these days at 5ft 7" he would hardly be above average height for a flat jockey and Baker would tower over him.