W. A . Stephenson Trainer...Bishop Auckland ..

He was happy to watch the thinker win the gold cup from Hexham didn’t fancy all that fuss at Cheltenham,Hexham suited him more.

That  was a smart move - jimnast -  as ...

The Thinker's Gold Cup was  delayed for over an hour - whilst  they waited for it to stop Snowing - and then Thaw sufficiently to actually run the race.

Remember it well onlooker the Cathcart then the last race was run around 7 o’clock I think half free won the race

Not a hope the race would have been on in the 21st century health and safety asylum

The Thinker slithered to the ground in th4 89 race coming down the hill first time ....thend finished 3rd at Aintree giving 21 pounds to Little Polvier.

Was One Man with the stable for a time or am I incorrect ?

backed Durham Edition A/P @40s for the National
when he was 2nd to Rhyme n Reason.Looked all
over the winner that day.

Correct 626 made his debut at Hexham

A great national horse penzance

He also trained at Royston in North Hertfordshire before John Jenkins.I lived close to there back in the day and used to see their horses on the gallops often.

Watching Blazing Walker on the BBC every other Saturday is what got me into the jumps.

this might sound silly but I don't think he
truly see the trip out.Looked to empty quickly
late on.Travelled well in his national races.

W A Sptephenson - Not to be confused  with another Trainer  - just - W Stephenson ...

Who trained 300 miles away at  Royston, Hertfordshire - at  the same time.


W  'Willie' Stephenson trained both a Derby Winner and Grand National Winner.

One man won his first race in a Nottingham handicap hurdle a great national hunt track.

Then last of 3 in the then grade 2 Mersey novice hurdle

Trained then by Peter cheesbrough

Then in the blazing Walker colours,then in his regular colours made his chase debut for Gordon richards winning 20 lengths at ayr

5 from 5 in his novice chase season until getting well beaten in the sun alliance chase won by monsieur le cure a horse he had easily beaten earlier in the season at haydock,won the following seasons hennessy of 10 stone.

Two failures in the Gold Cup and the Sun Alliance ...still see him swinging on the bridle coming down the hill  ......similar to Wayward Lad might have been multiple winner of the Ryanair had it existed.

I have a huge framed picture of One Man in the hall ....my missus bought it for me.

Different gravy when blazing Walker won at aintree he beat the winners of 3 champion chases,an arkle chase,a sun alliance hurdle and a horse who beat dessie over fences at levels.

626 I often wonder if dessie would have ran in a gold cup if the Ryanair was around back then ,I know he clearly stayed in the end but there was big doubts,also would one man have won a champion chase if the Ryanair was around ?

Has to be doubtful he would have run in the Gold Cup ......still wonder how a horse who was out on his legs after going flat out over 2 miles hurdling won the Irish Grand National under top weight.

I remember a horse Arthur trained that Peter Pillar owned.

Many years ago when  I used to run a book in an old fashion bar lounge type Tetley’s pub that served a cracking pint of imperial, I took a good few bets on it and thought to myself I’m in the clarts here

A guy asked how’s the horse going Ronnie to which I replied “fine its either fell or pulled up” I thought to myself going to enjoy another few beers and a nice steak tonight, we all know the story but I tell you what I was very careful crossing the road home or I would have been RUN OVER and I ended up having spam.

Regards Ronnie

That was the last time the Irish national was ran over 3 m 4 furlongs it’s now 3 m 5 furlongs ,would not have mattered to dessie that day.

the way he won the King George 1st time,he would've
definately run in the Gold Cup.Just my view.

Serves you right Ronnie for been in a tetleys pub

Nothing wrong with that view Penzance on the balance I think he would have ran in the gold cup but the choice of the Ryanair may have had connections thinking ,mind you Ellsworth has never been known for bottling it.

Jimnast

It was a cracking  pint, i remember being at Cheltenham the year Arthur won the foxhunters with Timmys Battle,  it was owned by Joe Lisle and Giles Deveraux who at the time lived down the road in Darlo do you remeber either of them?

p.s. where your vocal cords in fine fettle last week, roll on 2022

Ronnie

The answer to question one is no I can’t say I do remember them,question two the answer is yes

Ballysagert was a very decent novice for him in the 71/72 season, finishing runner up to Clever Scot in the equivalent of the Sun Alliance, and then three weeks later successfully conceding 20lbs to Red Rum.

WA held the record for most NH winners in the UK until his total was passed by Martin Pipe.

Anyone remember Credit Call? or Titus Oats?

Didn't One Man begin his career at the stables of W A S?

Ronnie, wasnt Timmies Battle disqualified?

He only trained Titus Oates for a handful of races before it was sold on to be trained by Gordon Richards.

A feature on Credit Call

https://www.pointtopoint.co.uk/news_articles/credit-call-the-horse-who-collected-big-races

As he did with One Man and many others, but it was WA that sent those horses on their way in their careers. He was always an underrated trainer as he was never champion trainer 'prize money wise' only 'most winners wise' !

Tiger Tiger

you are indeed correact Timmies Battle failed a dope test.
one of the owners Joe lisle who owned the Newcastle nighclub 69 also owned a couple of good horses  that were top class captain cuttler andsixty nine .
just wish wee eck mixploater or sex shop sid was still with us as he would have many stories to tell as he was well conected with Joe and Arthur.

hope you are well

regards

Roonie.

Thank you Ronnie, appreciated.

T. Oates was a cracking horse. Jimnast ,had a huge bet for me on Dessie in Fairyhouse and can still feel the ground shudder as he crashed into the last....

Tiger

Wee eck was more unlucky than even me he bought a horse of joe its first run for sid was at Ayr sad to say it collapsed with a heart attack, Joe did a nice touch and give Sid half his money back.
regards
Ronnie.

Ronnie I only spoke to Wee Eck on here the odd time , I'd say he could tell some stories like your good self..

Ronnie Rails
how did that bet go? 33/1 poke?

On One man, he was a W.A Stephenson horse and from what I was told was always going to W.A's pal Gorden Richards,W.A had already waxed lyrical about the horse before he won his second race.Ran under P cheeseburgh after W. A passed away and then sold, as most of the stable was, but not straight away I think, was cheeseburgh his son in law?

Looks like Gordon sent John Hailes to the sales with firm orders.

One Man was best horse Richards trained, W.A knew his onions.

Remember vividly The thinker winning the GC, the mistake, fck me the fences well of sterner stuff back then, prob the horses two, in this days a bad mistake and it cost you,The Thinker hit one, second or third last, but came back and got up, good jock up in A. Lamb who died with another jock  A merrigan after the car went into harbour, that was about 5 years later.

But yea the fences were a diff thing back then, The thinker was a tough nut,loved a bet on a W. A staying chaser. Used to go to Newcastle if he had a few on the card, first track I travelled to was Sedgefield. W. A was a canny trainer.

Workrider

had some great days going racing in the 80s and 90s went racing 5 days a week went to Hamilton one Thursday to watch a horse i had a leg in win. flew down to Ascot the next day had a good bet on one of J Dunlops hose up .those were the days my freind we thoght they would never end, first 5 bets i will take in the morning at Corals will be 5 2p yankees so they did end .but i will still have the memories.

sleep tight

Ronnie.

Penzance

like all my 33/1 shots that go off odds on

DOWN THE BLOODY PAN.

hope you are well

Ronnie.

breadnbutter.....WAS was Peter Cheesbrough's uncle, Cheseborough took over the licence at Crawleas stable in Bishop Auckland after the death of WAS, he was also a farmer but continued to train until he handed his licence in around 2011 after a lot of the horses were lost when owners decided to move them elsewhere.

when the Thinker won the Gold Cup,I'm sure Cybrandian
was 2nd/3rd with Chris Grant up?
If so why were'nt he on the Thinker?
   cheers.

The thing i most remember about the thinkers gold cup was Graham Bradley telling the starter the snow is balling up in the horses hooves we should not be racing.

Ronnie.

Great stories Ronnie, hoping to start off in Chester on I st Aug then onto Newcastle on the Mon and Catt on Tues  Ponte Weds Redcar Thurs Thirsk on the Fri and Haydock on Sun . Taking the Sat off and might visit Bishop Auckland and hopefully see his old yard..Redcar and Newcastle are two courses I have never been to before .I will get the 2.10 am boat home from Holyhead all been well. Going to base myself in Stockton..

Workrider, nothing to see in Bishop Auckland, other than boarded up shops and the village where he trained (Leasingthorn) is almost all demolished and non existent.

Place has lacked investment for decades and during the day some local pubs actually undercut Wetherspoons just to get business.

Workrider

no offence but Stockton is not the best place to be based i would advise Yarm Durham or even Darlo but there was a stabbing in Darlo only to days

Ronnie.

Tiger
you are correct about Bish worked for Corals on the high stret  everything around the shop closed .
went through  on Monday to see my bookie its got  even worse.

Ronnie

rarely go through the place Ronnie these days, but when I do it looks more and more desolate each time - cheapest petrol in the country though, apparently, at 116.7.

1.33 for derv at local shell the noo ere,seemed like just yesterday I was crying blood when I filled up for 1.02 only to see 99p following day at supermarket in village up the road.

They knew b4 anyone when 1st  lockdown was ending and lumped it to 1.09.

Day before I needed a fill

Being a farmer, we have plenty of 'red' at cheap prices!! daren't use it for road purposes though, fines are huge!!

good morning tiger

on the one man question 626 asked it at 1831 which i replied to at 1837,however my 1903 was wrong one man won his first race at newcastle ,nottingham was his 2nd win.

anybody name the 6 jockeys who rode him and who rode him the most ?

good morning workrider


holiday inn express scotch corner is a good base for that trip.

Re WAS, proper trainer and terrific judge of an animal , a stockman of the old school. One I remember well was Sea Merchant who won at Aintree and was very consistent, and an old Handicap sprinter called Collingwood which popped up from time to time.

Thanks lads for the heads up re Bishops , I suppose I was a little nostalgic in thinking it would be just like the old days, a sure sign of age I shall give it a miss or maybe I wont..I watch a lot of the series Heartbeat and they also spoke about Northallerton got to visit it 2 years ago while staying in Thirsk and liked the place...Thanks Jimnast I'll look into that before booking Stockton I might even stop in Darlington . I seem to remember them in the second or third division in the 60s am I correct...

Chris Grant
Dunwoody
Doughty
Dobbin
????


Workrider, Darlo were in the old Division 3 in the sixties, not for long though they were soon back in Division four and applying for re-election.

4 correct two to get tiger

I watched him win a Novices race at Newcastle in 92 with Chris Grant on board, racked my brains and cant think of the missing two jockeys though.

thought Harding rode him when Killed in action?

That was One Man

Mark Dwyer
Brian Harding

Who rode him in his ptp?

"little fish are sweet"

both correct different gravy

Different Gravy -

Costello?

Lorcan Wyer ?

Lol......I don't know


Need someone with a ptp annual for that year imo.

ya daft bugger....it was A G Costello, race was at Friarstown.

This Thread all about gis Jumpers and National Hunt successes - But ....

from an Obituary ...

A cousin of the famous Flat race jockey and trainer Willie Stephenson, Arthur was born in 1920, farmed the family land at Bishop Auckland and rode as an amateur with considerable success. He did not take out a training licence until 1959, but success came very quickly and before long he had built up a large mixed stable at Leasingthorne, near Bishop Auckland, in County Durham.
He obtained his first important successes on the Flat with Forlorn River in the Nunthorpe Stakes, the July Cup and the Challenge Stakes in 1967.

Five years later, he was responsible for Forlorn River's son Rapid River, who won the Gimcrack Stakes, the Harry Rosebery Challenge Trophy at Ayr, the Seaton Delaval Stakes and another race at Newcastle from six appearances as a two-year-old. The same year, he won the Middle Park Stakes at Newmarket with Tudenham.
------------------

*  The Seaton Delaval was run at Newcastle yesterdat - coincidentally the same day as this Thread was started - But - as a Handicap - Not a well-recognised 2-y-old Pattern race

I started a Thread = 'Annual - Seaton Delaval - used to be a significant race'

Nobody replied

It's decades since I read Ken Payne's autobiography, but I seem to remember a passage where Payne mentions which other trainers on the Flat he respected for being shrewdies too. One was definitely Geoff Toft, and I have a feeling that the other might have been WA Stephenson.

Onlooker I didn't know he was such a successful flat trainer . I do seem to remember Forlorn River locked away deep in my mind . I also remember the Seaton as a very good race from yesteryear...

loved One Man
would have got 5 but not Chris Grant
Brian Harding was from Castletownroche in Cork

Great day when they won the Queen Mother but i thought his best day was King George at Sandown under
(was it Dunwoody or Dobbin?)

Mark Dwyer gave him a lovely ride in the Tommy Whittle and was a good fit for One Man
i wasn't always convinced Dunwoody suited him and thought he was going through a bad patch when he got the ride

oh for the ryanair back then

Aintree his nemesis and ultimately his downfall
I got married abroad the day he was pulled up in the Bowl
Fly home on the Sunday and the rescheduled National was on the Monday
Had taped the BBC coverage, was bizarre watching it

I think it was Howard Johnson who said he would always try to target small pots.

Screaming, Geoff Toft was indeed a shrewd trainer, mostly with mod stuff but had good success with Gunner B before being transferring to HC and becoming a star.

WA didn't train Tudenham though, that was Denys Smith.

Sexton Blake beat Shirley Heights in the Seaton Delaval, I think, reversing form when they first met, at Newmarket on July Cup day.

Not to be confused with W. Stephenson who trained at Royston Herts as I recall.

Willie Stephenson the Royston trainer was also a shrewd trainer who landed several touches in the 60s with Denis Ryan his jockey.

Gallops are still there beside the A505. No idea who uses them.

Sparrow

long time since you have been on here
hope you are well

regards

Ronnie.

like ronnie hope your well sparrow.

In the 1950s, Willie Stephenson won the Derby, the Eclipse, the Grand National, and 3 Champion Hurdles.

Good to see you back posting sparrow.

Thanks lads, just wanted to take a break.

we all need one from time to time sparrow

sparrow
thought you'd had a run-in with next doors
cat.

Nothing as disastrous as that might be, penzance.