Bob Davies

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In recent years, until his retirement, at the age of 72, in May, 2018, Robert Bertram ‘Bob’ Davies was best known for his work at Ludlow Racecourse, Shropshire, where he fulfilled a variety of roles, including clerk of the course, general manager and company secretary, for a period of 35 years. Davies is probably best remembered as the jockey of Lucius, winner of the Grand National in 1978 and, arguably, one of the best ‘spare’ rides in history.

 

In the absence of his stable jockey, David Goulding, who had injured his back in a fall at Wetherby five days before the National, Greystoke trainer Gordon W. Richards offered the ride on Lucius to Ron Barry; Barry declined, in the grounds that he had already agreed to ride Forest King, trained by Ken Hogg, but put in a good word for Davies and the rest, as they say, in history. In a rough-and-tumble race, Davies and Lucius tackled the leader, Sebastien, passing the Elbow and, in a pulsating finish, held on to win by half a length and a neck.

 

Davies rode the first of his 912 winners under National Hunt Rules, Ellen’s Pleasure, at Newton Abbott in April, 1966 and enjoyed a stellar career, during which he became Champion Jockey three times. On the first occasion, in 1968/69 – the season in which he won the Mildmay of Flete Challenge Cup at the Cheltenham Festival on Specify, trained by Denis Rayson – he shared the jockeys’ title with Terry Biddlecombe, on 77 winners apiece. The following season, in which he won the Imperial Cup on Solomon II, trained by David Barons, Davies won the jockeys’ title outright, with 91 winners, and did so again in 1971/72, with 89 winners.

 

In the latter years of his career, aside from the Grand National, Davies also won the Grand Annual Chase on Dulwich, trained by Colin Davies, in 1976, and the Gainsborough Chase and the Great Yorkshire Chase on Tragus, trained by David Morley, in 1981.

Dick Hern

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The late William Richard ‘Dick’ Hern CVO CBE, also widely known as ‘The Major’, was one of the outstanding racehorse trainers in the second half of the twentieth century. He first became directly involved in horse racing, as assistant trainer to his friend, Major Michael Pope, in 1952 but, five years later, successfully applied for the job as private trainer to leading, and notoriously difficult, owner Major Lionel Brook Holliday at Lagrange Stables in Newmarket.

 

In 1962, Hern saddled the first of his seventeen British Classic winners, Hethersett – who had started favourite for the Derby, but was one of seven horses that fell, or were brought down, in a melee at Tattenham Corner – in the St. Leger Stakes and became Champion Trainer for the first time. At the end of the 1962 season, Hern succeeded R.J. ‘Jack’ Colling as the trainer at West Isley Stables, near Newbury, Berkshire and, in 1967, started training for Queen Elizabeth II, with whom he would enjoy a fruitful association over the next 22 years.

 

In 1972, Hern was Champion Trainer again, thanks, in large part, to the exploits of British Horse of Year, Brigadier Gerard. With a Timeform Annual Rating of 144, Brigadier Gerard remains the joint third highest-rated horse of the Timeform era, behind only Frankel and Sea-Bird and, that year, won the Lockinge Stakes, the Prince of Wales’s Stakes, the Eclipse Stakes, the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes and the Champion Stakes. Just for good measure, Hern also saddled Sun Prince to win the St. James’s Palace Stakes and Sallust to win the Sussex Stakes.

 

In 1980, Hern was conferred the honour of Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (CVO) by his royal patron and, fittingly, won the trainers’ title for the third time. His six domestic Group One victories that year came courtesy of Bireme in the Oaks, Henbit in the Derby, Ela-Mana-Mou in the Eclipse Stakes, the Prince of Wales’s Stakes and the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes and Shoot A Line in the Yorkshire Oaks.

 

Three years later, Hern won the Oaks and the Yorkshire Oaks again, this time with the same filly, Sun Princess, who later won the St. Leger Stakes before finishing second to All Along in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. Her Oaks victory was notable for two reasons; she was the first maiden to win the Epsom Classic since Asmena in 1950 and her winning margin, 12 lengths, was, and still is, the largest recorded in the history of the race. Her St. Leger victory, though, secured Hern his fourth, and final, trainers’ title.

Scobie Breasley

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The late Arthur Edward ‘Scobie’ Breasley, who died in 2006 at the age of 92 after suffering a stroke, was arguably the best jockey Australia has ever produced. Born in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, shortly before the outbreak of World War I, Breasley earned his nickname at an early age, when described by a family friend as ‘a right little Scobie’, in reference to pre-eminent Australian trainer James Scobie.

 

Breasley was Champion Jockey of Victoria three years running, in 1944, 1945 and 1946, before, in 1950, accepting a contract to ride for Noel Cannon, private trainer to James Voase ‘Jimmy’ Rank, chairman of what became Rank Hovis McDougall, at Druid Lodge Stables, near Salisbury. The following season Breasley won his first British Classic, the 2,000 Guineas, on King Mi, trained by Michael Beary but, dissatisfied with his treatment by Pat Rank, the wife of his employer – and an inveterate, but hardly equanimous, gambler – he returned to Australia in 1952.

 

He stayed long enough to win a record fifth Caulfield Cup on Peshawar, trained by Pat Quinlan, but was soon lured back to England by John Arthur ‘Lucky’ Dewar, the new senior patron at Druid Lodge Stables. In 1954, Breasley won the 1,000 Guineas on Festoon, owned by Dewar and trained by Cannon. However, at the end of the 1955 season, having turned down an offer to succeed Sir Gordon Richards as stable jockey to Sir Noel Murless, Breasley joined Richards himself, now a trainer, at Ogbourne Maizey Stables, near Marlborough Wiltshire.

 

In 1957, Breasley won the jockeys’ title for the first time with 173 winners, in so doing becoming the first Australian since Frank Wootton, in 1912, to be crowned Champion Jockey. He did, nevertheless, suffer the irritation of finishing behind Crepello, trained by Murless and ridden by his now stable jockey, Lester Piggott, in the 2,000 Guineas and the Derby.

 

Breasley finished runner-up to Doug Smith in the jockeys’ championship in 1958 and 1959, and to Piggott in 1960, before becoming Champion Jockey again in 1961, 1962 and 1963, with 171, 179 and 176 winners, respectively. His final jockeys’ title, which he won at the age of 49, was achieved at the expense of Piggott, who he beat by a score of 176-175 on the final day of the season. In 1958, Breasley won the Eclipse Stakes, the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes – and Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe – on Ballymoss and, in 1964 and 1966, the Derby, on Santa Claus and Charlottown, but was never Champion Jockey again.

Paul Cole

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Paul Frederick Irvine Cole has been based at Whatcombe Racing Stables, in Wantage, Oxfordhire since 1987. Whatcombe is, in fact, one of the largest, and oldest, training facilities in the country, having previous been occupied by Richard Cecil ‘Dick’ Dawson and Arthur Budgett, who won the trainers’ championship four times between them. In 1984, late Prince Fahd bin Salman – the son-in-law of Prince Khalid bin Abdullah who died, prematurely, aged 47, from a suspected heart attack in Riyadh in 2001 – bought Whatcombe and, under his patronage, Cole enjoyed the ‘golden age’ of his training career.

 

Cole won the trainers’ title just once, in 1991, but enjoyed an unforgettable summer courtesy of Generous, whom he’d bought as a two-year-old on behalf of Prince Fahd. Having sprung a surprise when winning the Dewhurst Stakes at Newmarket at 50/1, under Richard Quinn, on his final start as juvenile, Generous reappeared in the 2,000 Guineas, in which he finished a respectable fourth of 14, beaten 8¾ lengths, behind Mystiko.

 

However, as a son of Caerleon, and a grandson of Nijinksy, it was over middle-distances that Generous came into his own. On his next three starts, ridden by new jockey Alan Munro, he carried the dark green racing silks of Prince Fahd to victory in the Derby, by 5 lengths, the Irish Derby, by 3 lengths, and the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, by 7 lengths.

 

He couldn’t provide a fairytale ending to his career, finishing unplaced behind Suave Dancer – whom he’d beaten in the Irish Derby – in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, but nevertheless finished his three-year-old campaign with a Timeform Annual Rating of 139, making him one of the truly great horses of the Timeform era. Cole later said that he was ‘very lucky’ to have had Generous and there is no doubt that the horse propelled him to the top of his profession.

 

The same season, Cole also saddled Culture Vulture, who was awarded the Fillies’ Mile at Ascot on the disqualification of Midnight Air, trained by Henry Cecil and Ruby Tiger, winner of the Nassau Stakes at Glorious Goodwood. All told, he saddled 72 winners on British soil in 1991 and took the trainers’ title with £1.52 million in prize money.