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These 2556 comments are related to the topic:
old time jockeys ...
old time jockeys ...
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Replies: 2,556
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wee eck
you are correct |
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A really good looking girl was Susan she had two nice daughters, Taffy pissed off to the States later,
used to see odd times at York when he came home on holiday |
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has anyone mentioned Taffy Salaman, now there was a good man in all forms of life.
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Just found some old books in the garage with lots of racing results through the 60s/70s and 80s..i'll try and answer some questions.
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sooty 1...I'm fairly sure you mean Jason Weaver who now works for ATR. He just got touched off in the 2,000 by Frankie.
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hi ronnie,he is still involved but haven't seen him racing for a while,i'm quite friendly with his son who is still keen although maybe not as keen as before this place happened,kay gee bee runs in george's colours, i remember george and reg spencer sharing a horse called soldby,it won the last race at haydock one day,it was the 2nd division of a maiden and landed a bit of a gamble,as did the winner of the other division,prolific major trained by keith stone who was owned by a group of northern regulars,you and wee eck will remember one well-billy henderson from newcastle,the story goes they locked billy in the car that afternoon until the money was on as he couldn't hold his own water! i was lucky enough to back them both,happy days.
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Henderson the fruit man, could he rant and rave. Lived a couple of
hundreds yards from me. |
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that's him wee eck.
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ribero, remember once at Haydock when Howard fancied a horse trained by his father
Roy, I backed it with Colin Webster who was a friend of mine £2000-320 it whizzed in, Colin after the race moaned about me doing him up I replied did you think I was backing a non jigger? Happy days earning plenty and playing it up. |
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ah thats him, he put's silly nonsence on the forum under * so i'm told.
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reculver, you mention A Beech. I don't know exactly when he was riding, but I seem to recall him riding after 1997 (Alan Beech wasn't it) which is when I regained an interest in racing after an absence of around ten years. He joins the endless conveyer belt of young riders who have two or three years in the sun when they are claiming their allowance and then in no time disappear totally from the scene. If you look at the official list of apprentices for any season, there are hundreds of names but you can count on the fingers of your hands the number that go on to be successful jockeys. It's a tough game.
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Has anyone yet mentioned T Ives a rattling good jockey.
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A lot of people think that Tony Ives was a protege of Reg Hollinshead but he was with Snowy Wainright as a claimer before joining Reg in the mid 70s as a fully fledged jockey. Wainwright had a good 2-y-o called Burlington Boy, ridden by Ives to all his wins. I was at Beverley one day when a first time out Burlington Boy beat a southern hot pot previous winner pulling up. The owner of the horse passed away shortly after this race but Ives partnerd him to a string of wins in top northern races including the Hornblower at Ripon and that Robert Massey thingy at Beverley. Also ran close up in the Gimcrack, he might have won if Ives had been alowed to claim his 'five'. I think John Banks bought the horse at the end of the season and sent it to Frank Carr. Burlington Boy died early on in the following season.
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T.Ives rode Remainer Man in the derby i think, rode a lot for Bill O'gorman
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reculver, There weren't many Bill O'Gorman winners circa 1979 to 1986 that weren't ridden by Tony Ives
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Wee Eck
I put a piece on Tony Ives up in thread 15....also if you go to the top of the Forum page and put a Jocksy name in the box it will cough up the thread....it takes too to trawl through now. Paul Think probably Mark Birch was up there as one of the top all time Northern Jockeys....not much I could find on his background on the net. |
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Mark Birch couldn't have timed things better. He emerged in 1970 just as Jimmy Etherington, Peter Easterby's long time stable jockey, was calling it a day. Apprentice to M.H.E., he went through his claim very quickly and by 1972 was stable jockey to what was arguably the most powerful stable north of the Trent. The rest is history.
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PS Mark Birch will live long in the memory of the followers of 'Split Second' in the Sporting Chronicle Handicap Book, riding the top rated Bronze Hill to victory in the 1973 Lincoln.
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Cheers Paul
Is he still Ryans asst.at Hambleton? See he just won the first at Redcar .. |
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Others on here will be able to answer that, I'm out of touch. By the way Bronze Hill was 50-1.
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On that 1970 Racecard - in the Daily Mirror - link posted earlier -
Mark Birch was a 3lb claiming Apprentice. I noticed in the Redcar 2-yr-old race - The Fav was ridden by George Duffield, for Trainer JOHN OXLEY - and the second fav was trained by RYAN JARVIS. Both trained at Newmarket - and it got me wondering just hpow long it took to drive a Horsebox from Newmarket to Redcat in those days. For a start - The Horsebox was probably some kind of 'Double De-clutch' 'Crash Box' type, based on an original ex-Second World War type army truck. Add to that - Motorways were very much in their infancy - and the long drive up the A1 would be arduous - with several towns not yet having by-passes - and most of the A1 still NOT being Dual Carriageway. The M62 across the Pennines did not exist either - So imagine taking horses from Yorkshire to Haydock, Aintree and Chester - across the A58 from Leeds and Halifax, and down Blackstone Edge to Rochdale - with dodgy Drum Brakes  ....- and going back up Blackstone Edge, going home, must have taken 'forever'.  Jockeys with cars, and Trainers, also had long journeys - even if you had a 'fast car'. The early E-Type Jags, and other Sports cars, still had those Drum Brakes all-round, and stiff Shock Absorbers. Frightening - No wonder that there were some horrendous accidents. |
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I think Mark Birch sometimes got the ride on Sea Pigeon.
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Onlooker, Mark Birch was still a 7lb claimer in 1970, or for part of it anyway. He was still claiming 5lb at the start of the 1972 season. You can't trust the Daily Mirror.
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Onlooker...good point about getting to the tracks in the old days...imagine being in the car with Lester on hir trips to Edinburgh...I read somewhere he subsisted on a diet of cigars and oranges for long periods.
Dug this up on Mark Birch from 10 years ago. Mark Birch ALMOST three decades have passed since Mark Birch gained his one and only win in the Lincoln on Scottish-owned 50-1 shot Bronze Hill. But Birch, who retired four years ago with 1,500 victories under his belt, still cherishes the memory of the day in 1973 when he ruined many Spring Doubles by scoring on Peter Easterby's shock winner. Now 52 and assistant to Hambleton trainer Kevin Ryan, he told me: "Bronze Hill was owned by a Mrs Smith, who had the Pittencrief Hotel near Musselburgh racecourse. He only just got in the race and we had bottom-weight of 7st 9lb. "All through the winter his lad Billy Hunt had been backing him for the Lincoln but then laid off a lot of the bet when there was a danger he might not get a run. After we'd made all to win he was desperately trying to get his money back as the odds were so big!" Birch also recalls the day he won the 1984 Ayr Gold Cup on Able Albert. He said: "That was a great day as I always enjoyed coming up to Scotland, particularly during the summer circuit." It's unlikely that any Flat jockey will have partnered the fine array of National Hunt stars that Birch has. It's his proud boast to have ridden Easterby horses that have won four Champion Hurdles and a Gold Cup between them. He said: "I won eight or nine races on Sea Pigeon including back-to-back Chester Cups in 1977-78 and I also rode Night Nurse a few times. "I was on Alverton when he won his maiden and again when he won at 100-1 at Teesside on his first run for 18 months after he'd broken down." Having started his career with Geoffrey Brooke, Birch then went on to spend 30 years as stable jockey at Easterby's Habton Grange stable. And by strange coincidence, his first winner came at Chester in 1968 on Bollin Charlotte while he reached the 1000 mark on the mare's son Bollin Patrick. Birch said: "I enjoyed every minute of riding but I love what I'm doing now too. Seeing the young horses and helping someone like Kevin gives me a great sense of satisfaction and enjoyment." |
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Alan Beech had his first ride on BLOCKADE for M Bell on Weds May27 1998 at Yarmouth. He finished third. Alan had to wait for over a year before the same horse gave his his first winner - again at Yarmouth on Thurs June 3. Alan's last winner was ROYAL WEDDING on Jan 6th 2005 at Southwell. His last ride (still claiming 3 lb) was on SOVEREIGNTY on Thurs Feb 3 2005. Then he vanished from the scene.
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The husband of the owner of Mark Birch's first winner, Bollin Charlotte, was sat next to me at a dinner about ten years ago. He told me, 'the wife owns all the fillies and I own all the colts and they all have the Bollin first name'. His wife died a few years ago and since then he's sold up and and gone to live in the Isle of Man where he's married a young 'piece'. Not bad for nearly 90.
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PAULBU - We will have to 'split the difference' - re: Mark Birch's Allowance ...
That Daily Mirror Card says .... * Apprentices: Coates, W. McCaskill, 31b.: Birch, Corr, Richard Hutchinson 51b.; others 71b. As you probably remember - They did not - maybe still do not - Put the Allowance after the Jockey's name - But just an asterisk - with the above at the bottom of the card. |
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Onlooker
You could count the number of winners that Birch had before 1970 on the fingers of one hand. He couldn't have been down to 3lb by August 1970, so it had to be 5lb or 7lb as I said. The Mirror is in fact correct saying 5lb. |
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PaulBu - I wasn't being dogmatic about Birch's allowance
I had merely read that card wrong - It is a Scanned pdf - and far from easy to read, without much magnification, which them Bluuurrrsss it. |
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No problem, Onlooker.
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Does anyone remember David Dutton think he rode some of Easterbys second string ?
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hologon, I was talking to Duggan at Newcastle a couple of weeks ago at the moment he is driving a box for Tim Eas
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Anyone remember Steve Jobar,rode for Stan Mellor i think
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A (Tony) Beach along with his brother run a very sucessful plumming buisness in Newmarket.reculver Steve Jobar did ride for Stan Mellor if memory serves he was his 1st jockey for a time, Tony Ives did finsh 3rd in Darby and 2nd in the 2 thousand G on Remainder Man for Reg Hollinshead and rode for a few years for Bill O'Gorman, Bill had a rew good "Mainly" 2yo's like Bronsbury and Provido plus many more.
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Today’s birthday - Bunny Hicks, born this day in 1945. Served his apprenticeship with Tom Masson (Lewes) during the early sixties His first win came on DETERMINATION on April 24 1962. He also rode PERSIAN WAR to victory over hurdles.
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hologon - David Dutton's first ride was on the flat at Catterick, on the 2-y-o Kate Grey on March 26 1975. His ride over the sticks was on Blue Blood for J Fitzgerald at Sedgefield on Tues Feb 8 1977. His first win was on Miss Kuwait, Friday Jan 30 81 at Sedgefield for W.Bissill (3/1). His last ride was on Rubydora on Friday Jan 13 1989 when he was beaten into second place by 66/1 shot Poppin On at Huntingdon. His best win came on Cockle Strand in the 1982 Scottish Grand National. He trained for awhile, his last runner being Foxes Diamond at Beverley on May 11 1991. He became involved in a betting scandal involving Brian Wright, identified as 'a well known criminal...placing large each-way bets for the jockey David Dutton'.
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Interesting about Bunny Hicks. I was never an expert on NH racing and I always associated Persian War with Jimmy Uttley.
Hicks had a hat-trick of wins on 4-y-o Persian War late 1966 when trained by Tom Masson. By January 1967 the horse was with Brian Swift and Jimmy Uttley took over. You live and learn. |
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"When we put a tongue strap on Persian War, a few people said it was a pity we didn't put it on the owner"
Trainer Colin Davies about Henry Alper. |
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Just had a look at the days racing on Derby day 6th June 1973..
Sea pigeon J.Tree A.Murray ran in the Derby and on the same day at Ripon in the 4.55 The sapper plate over 6 furlongs was Night Nurse M.H.Easterby M.Birch...What a future over the sticks they had. |
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what a pair of champions there were ....
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