Sir Gordon Documentary

"Proud as a fighting ****"!
Great to watch again.
Amazing that he rates the satisfaction of training a winner way above riding one.
Such a fluent speaker too.  His stats. are simply astonishing.
The Sun Chariot tale is a great one.
Thanks for posting.

Glad you both enjoyed it. He was a truly wonderful jockey and human being. Think they named a street after him in Newmarket. He played a cameo role in The Rainbow Jacket, the best racing movie ever made where Compo plays the crooked jockey. Willie Carson seen it at his local cinema when a young boy and left saying he wanted to become a jockey and the rest is history. Here is the official trailer but full film isn`t available online.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xbls_bPc4rc

If they didn't nobody did. ITV started in 1955 which I must admit is much earlier than I would have guessed without Google.

Thanks for you tube info enjoyed watching that.

There is a decent quality 1080p torrent of The Rainbow Jacket (1954). Quite a good film and as far as I know it is out of copyright due age (they changed the rules in the 70's making copyright longer for films).

Glad you enjoyed it folks.

He was such a modest man too was Sir Gordon.

Did Jeremy Tree not train at Beckhampton too LH? He was a great trainer too.

Thanks sageform, thouight that. Sharpo was a fantastic sprinter. Sherriff colours were the stand out Birdseye silks. Jock Whitney was a big owner with Mr Tree too. He owned Easter Hero the GN winner. And John Cherry another great horse to carry his famous silks. The legendary Sea Pigeon carried Mr Whitney`s famous pink, white with black striped sleeves, white cap in the Derby at Epsom.

Watched it now!!.  Great film. Loved it!. Julian's question "what did you do in your spare time"; Gordon, well not a lot as I had a 1000 rides a season!!!

I have a signed copy of his book My Story and it`s a wonderful read. I would think that he signed thousands and a lot are still about.

A most enjoyable documentary from the days when the Beeb had respect for the sport - how much we miss Julian Wilson. Great seeing Gordon visiting Pinza at stud( in colour!), Sun Chariot in the yard at Beckhampton, and Gordon and the Major watching Troy on the gallops, though when the group of four horses galloped past and he said " that's Troy in behind" am not sure if he meant the one following the lead horse or the one at the back of the four.

I've read and hold a copy of the Seth- Smith book 'Knight of the Turf' ( with a handwritten letter from Gordon to the originally owner of the book from the Duff House address) published 26 years after 'My Story', and coincidentally am now reading Mathieu's 'Beckhampton'.

verbotone liebe
I thoroughly enjoyed the Beckhampton book.

Late into this thread.Just watched the Julian interview with Sir Gordon. I never saw Sir Gordon ride but saw him at Doncaster 1967 St Leger (he wore that white mac), when he saddled Dart Board in the big race. As I've said here many times that Beckhampton/Tree/Whitney/Sherriff were the connections which fueled my first interest in racing. That 67 Leger meeting was when I saw a very fast Tree trained, Jock Whitney owned 2yo D'Urberville run, and win the big 2yo race. That race might not have been called the Flying Childers then.That was a very good race and stuck in my memory as I was used to seeing more moderate 2 year olds. Great memories thanks All.

Tommy - the D'Urberville race was called the Norfolk Stakes, and it was the first year it was run. It replaced a valuable seller (the Fitzwilliam Selling Stakes) for 3 and 4yos, which previously opened the St Leger card. It was renamed the Flying Childers in 1973 when the 'Norfolk' name was switched to Royal Ascot (to rename the New Stakes in honour of the Duke of Norfolk. I guess they felt it wasn't 'new' any more - it had been run as the New Stakes since 1843). D'Urberville beat Mountain Call and Photo Flash. Piggott rode a treble, including Ribocco in the Leger. Debach Girl won the last with Willie Carson at 7-10 - she got a mention on here recently, but I can't remember why, or maybe it was Debach Boy, or maybe it was just Debach.

Ged-Thanks again for jogging my memory.I was at the Leger meeting the year before also, and think I recall Sandy Barclay winning that Seller for Geoff Brooke. I think Chebs Lad beat a hotpot of Charles St George that day, Lorenzaccio maybe.I may be getting my years mixed up though. I well remember Ribocco/Piggott but not Debach Girl that day. The mention on here of Debach Girl that you're thinking of was on a thread of trainers with dodgy names, it was myself who said Fiddler Goodwill, Debach Girl's trainer.

Harvey Leader gave Arthur the nickname when he discovered he could play the violin. Fiddler's colours were pink with a black circle and sleeves.

Thanks for that blackbarn. At least I got the circle right, lol.

Can you remember Green with a circle belonging to any of his owners or is my memory getting mixed up?

Here is a great interview of Sir Henry by Matt Chapman. The sound on the video is out of sync but still worth a watch.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0exmy__iZFU

There was a green with an orange circle, worn by Panglima, amongst others. I think Tommy/Chris Fairhurst trained it. The owner may have had other horses that began with 'Pan'. Can't remember his name. Could look it up tomorrow, but I'm sure someone else will remember.

Chris Barber-Lomax

Panglima was trained by Goodwill, so mac was along the right lines there. I don't know why I thought he was trained by Fairhurst.

Ged- Sorry for late reply. I was there for two days both years 66/67 but was getting the years mixed up.
The horror of Charlottown losing in a photo with Sodium will never leave me.