Paul McGurk - Peter Walwyn

I remember backing a horse of Peter Walwyns on the Friday of the Derby meeting at Epsom in 1984,it was a Maktoum horse ridden by an apprentice called Nicky Howe, Iirc it was about 14/1, that may have been the tote price,but it won.

I don't remember hearing much about Nicky afterwards.

I can find him riding from 1986 to 1990. The RP shows his stats from 1988 to 1990 - 12 rides (none for Walwyn), no winners, though it may not be accurate for those early years (though I can find nothing to contradict their stats).

In May 1986, he had a ride in an apprentice hcap at Goodwood, for James Bethell, and he was the only rider claiming 7, so I guess he hadn't ridden any winners at the stage.

He rode a winner (Pamela Heaney) at Brighton on April 9, 1987 for HR (Bobby) Beasley (who won a Grand National on Nicolaus Silver, and Gold Cups on Roddy Owen and Captain Christy in a riding career blighted by drink). She won the Hurstpierpoint Selling Handicap at 16/1. Paul Cook and Pat Eddery followed him home on the 2 favs in a 17-runner field.

According to the RP, his last mount was in Dec 1990, for John Czerpak, and he was still claiming 7.

Try  Jockeypedia

Nothing on jockeypedia.

Thanks for the info Ged.

Get, are you aware of how many rudes and winners he had in total?

Ged, rides obviously.

Hello. I think this might be the same Nicky Howe that won the Magnet Cup (now the John Smiths Cup) in 1980 for Sally Hall. Assuming the same Nicky Howe, he was defo an apprentice for Peter Walwyn back in the day.

SS - no I don't have form books or any stats sources (if there are any before 1988) to work that out.

I'm not sure why Nicky Howe (who WAS apprenticed to Walwyn and rode plenty of winners) has come into this thread, but coincidentally, the only 2 horses that McGurk rode in his final season (1990), both for Czerpak, were also ridden by Howe that year.

SS - can I ask why you're asking about him?

Ged, He was mentioned to me by a relative who used to work beside him after he left racing.

Ok, thanks for that. Looking through newspaper archives, I can't find him having any rides for Walwyn, although in Feb 1990, he proved himself something of a hero when a fire destroyed a hostel at Walwyn's yard. McGurk ('aged 22') got out, but went back in to get another lad out who was trapped inside. So he was definitely there, but whether or not he had any rides for the stable (RP says none between '88 and '90), I couldn't say. He had a few for Beasley, who trained at Marlborough, not far from Lambourn, and also for Mark Usher, who also trained in the Lambourn area.