Joe Mercer

Are my ears deceiving me? Did he not mention Piggott?

dont think so mate...was only half listening though tbh

He was asked who the best he had ridden against. Sure there was no mention of Piggott.

Are my ears deceiving me? Did he not mention Piggott?

Just replayed it. No mention at all. Amazing.

Lester wasn't over popular in the weighing room.
Quite incredible he hasn't mentioned him though.

Can only think there was a spat between them. A different story but Walter Swinburn visited Greville Starkey's home at Newmarket for some advice. Walter asked Greville if he could have pat'e and crackers with his cup of tea. Greville obliged only to tell Swinburn after he had finished that he had put dog food in his crackers. They barely ever spoke again.

tbh, It's not Mercer who should feel shame, it's Mick Fitz.

He did mention Lester after all. Easy to miss, but he said Lester, fantastic, phenomenal jockey but it was a brief 3 second mention.

I never saw it and just believed what people said about Joe not mentioning him.

Regardless sparrow, he should have been the first on his list but he did ride against Gordon Richards but not as long a period when he was well down the pecking order to Piggott.

There was some fantastic jockeys back then, including Joe. Sir Gordon, Lester, Scobie, Doug Smith, Charlie Smirke, George Moore, the list is endless.

There was some fantastic jockeys back then, including Joe. Sir Gordon, Lester, Scobie, Doug Smith, Charlie Smirke, George Moore, the list is endless.

There was some fantastic jockeys back then, including Joe. Sir Gordon, Lester, Scobie, Doug Smith, Charlie Smirke, George Moore, the list is endless.

Looking good for 83, enjoyable interview.

He did mention that he and another jockey put £80 on a horse which won when he first started riding. Could jockeys bet then? I thought they were not allowed to , but maybe it was a rule bought in later any one know?

Can't answer that one but someone will. Strange how they allow trainers to bet as if they are any good, (the trainers that is) they will know if a horse is primed or not. Maybe why so many big drifts on here?

Old adage that Trainers and Jockeys are notoriously bad tipsters has a large degree of logic.
After all, they only know their own animal and not the strength of all the opposition.
Always remember Fireside Chat getting beat as a 2-y-o @ 1/5..............by Mill Reef.

I don't think George Moore rode over here till the mid to late 60s long after Richards and even Smirke had retired.
In 1963 when I started following racing Lester and Scobie were joint top dogs. Doug Smith was a relative lightweight so got a lot of wins but was in the twilight of his career. Hutchinson,Mercer,Lewis ( on the up ),Keith and Lindley ( he was a bit restricted by weight problems) were the next layer in the south.

George Moore brought over from Australia to ride for the  Noel Murless stable.
Stayed for only a season and a half until Lester Piggot's henchmen put the frighteners on him as he was winning all the Classics - alledgedly.
Returned to Australia soon afterwards.

That's what I thought. Murless had effectively sacked Piggott for breaking his retainer to ride an O'Brien horse ( in The Oaks I think ). When Moore went back,whether threatened or not,Murless took a risk and appointed the very young Sandy Barclay.

I thought Barclay did pretty well all things considered. Those jockeys were certainly hard acts to follow.

I don't remember the details but didn't Barclay rather self-destruct off the track ?

Professional jockeys have never been allowed to bet as far as I know but many of them used to do so via "runners" or in some cases trainers who would put money on for them.

I don't remember the details but didn't Barclay rather self-destruct off the track ?




I can't post what I want to but I was at Edinburgh one morning arriving early and happened to join about six bookies in the members bar for breakfast. I asked them if the rumours were true and it was unanimous...

Horseracing: Super Sandy; Barclay made Piggott fight all the way.


HE was the boy wonder who rocketed to stardom in a truly golden era for the sport of Kings.

And, though Sandy Barclay may not have an Ayr Gold Cup tucked into his big-race portfolio, there aren't many major Flat prizes that eluded his grasp during a glittering career in the saddle.

Crowned champion apprentice in 1966 as a 17-year-old while with Harry Whiteman at Cree Lodge, the Ayrshire lad was head- hunted for the post of stable jockey to legendary Sir Noel Murless the following season and it was a partnership that proved to be almost invincible over the next few campaigns.

Brushing aside retained Warren Place pilots Lester Piggott and George Moore, Barclay became the darling of the racing world when capturing one big race after another in 1968.

The year began with victory aboard Caergwrie in the 1000 Guineas and the season also yielded a massive Group 1 hat-trick for Jim Joel's Royal Palace in the Coronation Cup, Eclipse and King George V1 and Queen Elizabeth Stakes followed by a win for The Queen on Hopeful Venture in the Grand Prix de Saint Cloud.

One of the few reverses Barclay suffered came when he had Derby glory snatched from under his nose as Piggott produced one of his famously powerful Epsom rides on Sir Ivor to touch off hapless Connaught by a length and a half.

A remarkable season ended with Barclay runner-up to Piggott in the jockeys' championship. But though his tally of 116 saw him 23 winners adrift of the `Long Fellow', it was still a magnificent haul from a youngster who had been relatively unheard of 12 months earlier.

Barclay, who is married to Lady Lloyd-Webber's sister Miranda, recalled: "I enjoyed every minute of being a jockey and I had a fantastic time - I wouldn't change a single minute.

"The Derby on Connaught was a shattering, bone-crushing moment but, to finish so close, still opened a lot of doors for a 20-year-old.

"Riding at Epsom like that was a childhood dream and within sight of the post I'd won the Derby. I'm thinking to myself: `dreams must come true after all' and then all of a sudden this thing flies past me as if I was in a different race!

"But when you set out in racing it's days like that you aim for. The races like the Classics are up in lights and the atmosphere of the race-day itself gives you a tremendous adrenalin rush." But the Derby dream must have seemed light years away when Barclay opened his account as a raw 16- year-old on Saronis at Hamilton Park in 1965.

But he wasn't long in making the big-time and in that year's Cambridgeshire he was only beaten a neck on Karelia, owned by Timeform founder Phil Bull and trained by Bill Elsey.

His apprentice championship campaign saw him lose his allowance at the Western Meeting and his tally for the year, 71, made plenty of people stand up and take notice of the new kid on the block. And if he needed to rubber-stamp his arrival on the scene, he signed off in the perfect manner by landing the Manchester November Handicap at Doncaster on Polish Warrior.

After his exploits in 1968, Barclay had a relatively low-key campaign the following year although he still managed to register 80 winners.

But he was back on the glory trail in 1970 thanks to Arthur Budgett's crack sprinter Huntercombe and the high- class Murless-trained pair Lupe and Connaught.

Huntercombe won the July Cup while further Group 1 success came through Lupe in the Oaks and Yorkshire equivalent with Connaught supplying Barclay with his second Eclipse in the space of three years in high summer at Sandown Park.

Despite regularly getting on the scoreboard at Royal Ascot and Glorious Goodwood, he diplomatically still refuses to be drawn on the best horse he ever rode or even an animal that was a particular favourite.

Barclay said: "I was lucky enough to ride some fantastic horses and to mention one at the expense of another wouldn't be fair. But I will say that Royal Palace, Lupe, Connaught and Caergwrie were all exceptional as they went out and achieved the targets they were aimed at."

Some of the biggest names in racing hung their togs on the pegs next to Barclay in the riders' changing- room and even now he admits he was gobsmacked by their reputation when he first went south.

"It was a wonderful day when I met Lester Piggott, Bill Williamson and Ron Hutchinson in particular. My main rival always seemed to be Piggott but I had an awful lot of time for Bill Williamson and we all called him `Wearie Willie' because of his slow pace!"

Barclay's time at Warren Place was short-lived and at the end of the 1970 season he was replaced by Geoff Lewis. But a lucrative deal was almost immediately secured in France where he was offered a huge annual retainer to ride for Chantilly trainer Francois Boutin.

In a two and half year stint across the Channel he rode more than 150 winners before he became disillusioned and returned to the UK. He didn't cut much ice as a freelance and his career sunk to an all- time low when he suffered a badly broken leg in 1977.

A five-year spell in India saw him win several sub-continent Classics including the Indian Derby and he married Miranda shortly after coming back home in 1983. He finally called it quits in 1990 after a roller-coaster riding career that spanned 26 years.

These days Barclay, 53, hardly has a spare minute in his crowded schedule. He may not be riding but he still clocks up 40,000 miles a year as part of his role in the language school for foreign students he helps Miranda organise.

Home to the Barclay family is a converted rectory at Blexhall in Suffolk. As well as three children, Iona, Alexander and India, horses, ponies, dogs and various other pets can be found wandering around the sizeable grounds.

Sandy, brother of Jockey club starter Hugh and Fife trainer Jim, said: "I try to keep my finger on the racing pulse and I'm still interested in the sales. But I don't go racing much and I haven't been at Ayr since it was my turn to present my father's challenge trophy at a national hunt meeting about eight or 10 years ago.

"I still sit on a horse now and again and I quite enjoy it. Normally I'm the person people send a problem horse to in order to get it sorted out although they are usually eventers as opposed to racehorses.

"Tennis is one of my big passions and my son Alex is county standard now - in fact he can nearly beat me! My eldest daughter Iona is a very good event rider and I'm very proud of her achievements as well."

And with the Western Meeting upon us, Barclay recalled how he never did manage to get his hands on the Ayr Gold Cup although his rides in the big sprint were few and far between.

He laughed: "It is a race I would have loved to have won and when I was an apprentice with Harry Whiteman I was due to ride a filly called Royal Helen and I really thought `this is my year'.

"She had been doing tremendously well winning several times on her way to Ayr but the ground turned against her and she only ended up about fifth although not beaten very far."

That must be from 2001/2 but I must admit he seems to be OK. I'd got it into my head he died quite a long time ago but jockeypedia gives the impressionreason he is still alive at 70ish. They do say everything went downhill ( or words to that effect )for no apparent reason  after he split with Murless. That might refer to something I vaguely remember and stewarty seems to know.

I also remember Sandy in the news for the wrong reasons but I cannot remember what they were

That might refer to something I vaguely remember and stewarty seems to know



Trust me salmon, what I heard as rumour beforehand was confirmed that day at Edinburgh.

Very good write up Sparrow,well done.

Not mine rob. It was from "The Free Library".

I was going to say you could post it stewarty as I thought Mr Barclay was no longer with us. As it appears he is you'd perhaps better not.

I heard he left his wife Miranda for the australian actress Esma Cannon

Barclay went to France to ride for Boutin and couldn`t conquer the language barrier, which led to his downfall there. Last I heard he was driving a Taxi.

I can imagine that,but he came back to England when he was under 30 and his career never took off again. I have a feeling I knew something about him then but I may have got it from "sources" not the media. And if I did I can't remember what it was     

Alistair was a strong character who did not like/respect/appreciate racing protocol or authority, which led to him ending up being "on the move" most of his career, when he finally accepted that you had to play the game to certain rules, he was no longer in demand and despite several attempts his career never took off again in the UK, he is now enjoying retirement and living in Newmarket.

Cork - Who's Alistair?   I thought Sandy's given name was Alexander.

In the late 1960's, no one's potential matched that of Alexander Macfarlane Barclay's, who had future champion jockey written all over him.
Born on June 13, 1948, in Ayr, Scotland, he was on the backs of ponies at the age of three and, by eight, he was out riding to the hounds.His meteoric rise to fame began in the Cree Lodge racing stables of Harry Whiteman, Ayr.

Well, it says Alexander on Jockeypedia, but just remembered an article on him in one of my old Tote Racing Annuals; This (1967) quotes his name as Andrew!!  So who knows; I'd bet he ain't Alistair though.

Is Joe still alive? He was my dad's best jockey?

I read that too Sparrow!!  I be inclined to favour Alexander, given "Sandy" and the various sources.  Aren't most Andrews "drew????.

Very inappropriate on a forum to use selective knowledge.

Joe is still alive Cutter. Unfortunately Manny was killed in 1959.     

I like that, Salmon, as he was my dad's best jockey.

Alistair is gaelic for Alexander

Well done. Go to the local employment department, and produce you CV. A sweeping post awaits.

cork now that made me laugh great side step there hahaha

Even when he's wrong he's sort of right

No sort about it, is all true, unless I am having one of those "dim" moments...!

Wiki says........"Alistair is a masculine given name. It is an Anglicised form of the Scottish Gaelic Alasdair. The latter is most likely a Scottish Gaelic corruption of the Norman French Alexandre or Latin Alexandrus, which was incorporated into English as Alexander".

Thats what I mean by sort of    His given name apparently IS Alexander!!

Sandy is Scottish for Alexander, so I would assume that you are correct blackbarn.

If my memory is correct, did he not ride for Sam Hall when he returned from France. I`m pretty sure he did, but I may be wrong, but I seem to recall that he struck up a good partnership with Dakota?

He was stable jockey for Denys Smith for a while I think. Certainly confined largely to the north.

Denys Smith was an excellent Northern trainer. Did he not train for L B Holliday?

If that's Major Lionel Holliday didn't he have a lot of horses with Dick Hern ?
Which would bring us neatly back to Joe Mercer     

Correct Salmon, in fact Hern moved from asst trainer to Michael Bishop to be private trainer to Major Holliday in 1957. He was still defo training for LBH in 1962 because he trained his first classic winner that year (Hethersett). Re Denys Smith, I think he trained for Brook Holliday (son of Major) but not sure if he  ever trained for the Major.  Hard to be sure as the Major changed his outside trainers very frequently (private trainers were Brooke, Cottrill, Hern and Wharton in that order)

Joe Mercer was an excellent jockey who finally won a championship and thoroughly deserved to. He was too loyal to trainers to beat Lester.

In HRAC's 1983 "On the level" he said........

"Joe Mercer was a wonderfully conscientious stable jockey.....a true professional and a very stylish rider, who keeps his horses so perfectly balanced that they always run for him. He was retained for us the year that he became champion, 1979 and deserved to be acclaimed as a truly great one, as he was absolutely brilliant. At 44, he was by no means a young man in years, but very much in heart, and proved himself a real master of his craft in his handling of Kris, Light Cavalry, Le Moss and Buckskin".