Just another days Racing - April 21st 1980

Three meetings at Brighton, Edinburgh, and Warwick

April 21st 1980 - Brighton

April 21st 1980 - Edinburgh

April 21st 1980 - Warwick

April 21st 1980 - Results

A Blast From The Past - David Coates and Richard Dicey

1968 - A terrific battle for the Apprentice Jockeys Championship took place between David Coates and Richard Dicey and with nothing to separate them when the seasons racing had ended the title was shared between the two lads with them both finishing the season on 40 winners apiece.

David Coates

A late-season injury to David Coates, forcing him to miss a number of good mounts, probably cost him the honour of being outright leading apprentice, instead of having to share the position with Richard Dicey. However, this didn't  hide the fact that Coates was the most improved young rider of 1968. Apprenticed first to the late Harry Maw at Doncaster and then to Taffy Williams at Ferryhill, David had to find success the hard way, for his own stable couldn't provide all the opportunities necessary to catch the eye of regular racegoers. Yet the talented eighteen-year-old, who had his first ride in April 1967 and his first winner the following month, did exceptionally well in securing outside rides, and with no weight worries it was hoped he would continue his success in 1969 season.

David's first winner - Border Cruise at Teeside

Sadly David died very young aged about 50 years of age as I found in the following article dated April the 16th 2001 by John Randall that appeared in The Racing Post...

For the record: Apprentice title no guarantee of fortune.
Byline: John Randall

John Lowe came from the same vintage crop of apprentices as David Coates, whose career followed a very different path, and who died recently. Coates's story emphasises the fact that an apprentice championship is no guarantee of lasting success as a jockey. He was only 18 when sharing the title in 1968, when his victories included the Great St Wilfrid, Northern Goldsmiths' and Great Yorkshire Handicaps. In the closest apprentice title race ever, Coates and Richard Dicey dead-heated with 40 wins, just ahead of George Duffield (39) and Ray Still (38). Other prominent apprentices in 1968 included Tony Murray, Graham Sexton, David Maitland, John Higgins and Clive Eccleston as well as Lowe, so they did not win the championship by default. Yet Coates and Dicey soon dropped by the wayside, whereas the others went on to various degrees of fame and fortune. Duffield, now 54, is still riding. Within two years of his championship, Coates had ridden his last winner in Britain. He moved to Scandinavia but, despite winning the Danish Derby, never repeated his success as a teenager. Most champion apprentices do become successful senior jockeys, but the careers of Coates, Dicey, Robert Edmondson, Alan Bond, David Dineley and others show they cannot all be like Pat Eddery and Frankie Dettori. By the way, where is Richard Dicey now? Perhaps a reader can provide the answer.

Well that question was answered for sure as you'll see below...

 Richard Dicey

Richard Dicey was a year older than David Coates, and rode his first winner a year earlier, having joined Epsom trainer Herbert Smyth in 1965. But it was in 1968 that Dicey really came into his own, developing his style and emerging as a good prospect for the future. He was expected, however, to have a tough time on his hands early in the 1969 season, for he was very near to losing the right to claim any allowance at the end of his fantastic 1968 season. Many a promising apprentice has faded from the headlines into obscurity for lack of support at this critical time, and his own stable, while very successful, was perhaps not big enough for it alone to supply him with all the winning mounts he needed. Outside rides in the south will have been even more vital if he was to make further progress.

Richard's first winner - Blue Iris at Windsor

Again another John Randall article goes some way to explaining what became of Richard Dicey in an article from the Racing Post dated the 17th of December 2001...


For the record: Dicey proves title no guarantee of success.
Byline: John Randall

There is no guarantee that Chris Catlin will have lasting success as a jockey merely because he has won the apprentice championship-just ask Richard Dicey. Dicey, joint-champion apprentice with David Coates in 1968, was one of the title-holders who had to give up the sport because of increasing weight, but his story has a happier ending than seemed likely at one stage. Earlier this year, just after Coates's death, “For The Record” asked for information about Dicey's current whereabouts, and the man himself replied from Australia, where he has lived for many years. Now 51, he is busy and fulfilled with his family (a Canadian wife and their two children) and his freeze-branding, antiques and property businesses in Queensland. He used to run a pre-training centre in Perth with 50 horses, and says: "I still dream about races and my heart is in horses." Dicey did not come from a racing family, but had a good grounding in the sport, being indentured to Ted Smyth, the Epsom trainer whose other apprentices included Duncan Keith, Brian Rouse, Michael Kettle and Alan Bond. His rise and fall were spectacular, as he rode his first winner (Blue Iris at Windsor) in July 1966, was joint-champion apprentice in 1968, and rode his last winner in Britain in 1969. His second winner, Polymint in the 1966 Chesterfield Cup, was his most important, but he also won the Ladbroke Cup at Windsor on Spaniards Inn (the pair were beaten a short head in the Stewards' Cup) in 1968 and the Great Metropolitan Handicap at Epsom on Clever Scot in 1969. In 1968, in the closest apprentice title race ever, Dicey and Coates dead-heated with 40 wins, just ahead of George Duffield (39) and Ray Still (38), with Tony Murray, Graham Sexton, David Maitland, John Higgins, John Lowe and Clive Eccleston also prominent. The following year, Dicey rode for Ryan Jarvis in Newmarket, but he was already having trouble with his weight and his seasonal tally was halved to 20. That was the end of his domestic career, as diuretics proved only a temporary solution to his battle with the scales. He later rode in Holland and India, and he says: "I was living on one meal a week. I would eat and then blow up like a balloon."

The Senior Jockeys Didn't Stand a Chance

The 1969 Wokingham Stakes Handicap at Royal Ascot turned into a cakewalk for the apprentice jockeys... The best position the senior jockeys could manage was sixth place for Brian Jago on Harry Hannon's Trindle Down as the first five places were filled by horses ridden by apprentices claiming allowances.

First home was 17 year old Pat Eddery claiming 7lb on Sky Rocket trained at Streatley Berkshire by Michael Pope who made every yard of the the running. In second place was the six year old Spaniards Inn trained by John Winter at Newmarket and ridden by Chris Dwyer another apprentice claiming the full 7lbs allowance. In third was Bunto trained by Doug Marks at Lambourn and off a weight of 7stone 2lbs ridden by Doug's promising 7lb claiming apprentice Peter Madden. In fourth place came the most experienced of the quintet of apprentice jockeys, Hopping Hill trained by Atty Corbett at Newmarket was ridden by George Duffield claiming the 3lbs allowance. And finally in Fifth place came Solar Topic riden by Pat Reavey claiminng 5lbs and trained by Gavin Hunter at his East Ilsley stables.


Pat Eddery on Sky Rocket (13) wins the Wokingham from Chris Dwyer and Spaniards Inn (5), Bunto and Peter Madden (15), Hopping Hill and George Duffield (16), with Solar Topic ridden by Pat Reavey in fifth place.

Rewind to 1966

Dites (Brian Taylor) trained by Harvey Leader wins at Chester from Firefly (Russ Maddock) and Kentra (Kipper Lynch).

A tenacious final furlong battle in the Ebor Handicap with Lomond (Eric Eldin) on the right just edging out Valoroso (Lester Piggott) by a wafer thin short head.

 John Winter's Double-U-Jay seen here ridden by Lester Piggott. 

The 20/1 shot Audrey Joan (Sandy Barclay) trained by Eric Cousins pulls clear of the chasing pack in the Portland Handicap at Doncaster to win by one and half lengths. It was a blanket finish for the minor placings with just a head, neck, and another neck separating the next four horses in a line… from left to right Forlorn River (Denis Letherby) third, Go Shell (Doug Smith) fifth, Close Call (Bill Williamson) second, and the blinkered Eze (Lester Piggott) finishing fourth.

The 2000 Guineas and the French trained Kashmir 11 ridden by Jimmy Lindley just holds off the very strong challenge of 66/1 shot Great Nephew (Bill Rickaby) by a short head.

Paddy Prendergast's Bold Lad with Des Lake in the saddle.

Bill O'Gorman's Tudor Melody colt Golden Horus ridden by Joe Mercer returns to the winner's enclosure after winning the Gimcrack Stakes.

Vincent O’Brien’s Valoris ridden by Lester Piggott winner of the Epsom Oaks returns to the winners enclosure.

An interesting meeting at Warwick - A good day at the office for Lester Piggott, no less than five of the six winners on the card were ridden by him. When you look down the runners and riders it's apparent that this must have been a golden era for Apprentice Jockey's… riding at this meeting were Cadwaladr and Letherby claiming 3lbs allowance. Johnson, Williams, and McKeown claiming 5lbs… and last but certainly not least Dicey, Eccleston, and Murray who were all claiming the full 7lbs allowance!

Patient Constable (Ray Reader) on the right winning the Stewards Cup at Goodwood by half a length from French Parade (Fred Messer) left, with third and fourth placed Top of the Pops (Russ Maddock) and Dunme (Scobie Breasley) close behind.

York Aug 16th 1966 - Another 5 timer for Lester Piggott

May 25th 1965 – Results from the Evening Meeting at Ally Pally

A short priced double for Lester Piggott and Sam Armstrong in the first and fifth races. Bill Jesse, a George Todd apprentice claiming 5lbs allowance wins the seller on Ightham. In the third race, an Apprentice H’cap, the sprinter Lucasland trained by Jack Watts won... Lucasland went on to win the July Cup and Diadem Stakes and was second in the Nunthorpe in 1966. There was a two-pronged attack on the fourth race by John Meacock, he ran both Zardarkuh and Kavar-Ul-Mulk in the one mile 5 furlong maiden H’cap... The heavily bandaged Kavar-Ul-Mulk started slowly and finished unplaced but his other runner Zardarkuh came with a storming late run under David East to win by ¾ of a length. The last race was won by an old favourite, Atty Corbett’s Colour Blind who made all under Bobby Elliott. I can well remember Larry Wargen winning a few races on that old horse.

Jimmy Mullane - From Delight to Despair

When posting the Vakil-Ul-Mulk article I realised that the Birmingham race referred to in that post had been won by a jockey named Jimmy Mullane. I knew Jimmy Mullane but only very casually, I remember him coming to ride work a few times and some of the lads in the yard saying “he used to be” a good jockey. He didn’t seem to get many rides, I suppose some might say at that time he was a “chalk jockey” so called because rides were few and far between and consequently when the number board men on the racecourse filled the board for the race there wasn’t a proper permanent one for a jockey like that so they needed to make up a temporary one with the name written in chalk hence the name “chalk jockey”. Then one day, it was a Bank Holiday with plenty of meetings, I had a ride at Warwick… in fact being a Bank Holiday everybody and his dog had a ride that day including me and Jimmy! Jimmy was riding in the same race as me, I think it was his only ride of the day and we were sat together in the weighing room most of the time. We chatted quite a bit and he came across as being a very nice softly spoken chap, a real salt of the earth kinda guy. He never mentioned his past, how many winners he’d rode, if he’d ever won any big races, where he’d been apprenticed or anything like that, it was all just general chat about racing and horses.

So seeing his name as the winning Jockey in that Birmingham race triggered me into running some Google searches to see if I could find out something about his career and I was totally blown away by the successes he had achieved in the 1950’s in Ireland as you can see below he was obviously a top jockey at that time.

Jimmy’s achievements include…

1950 - Irish Champion Apprentice Jockey.

1951 - Irish Champion Jockey.

1951 - The Group 3 Anglesey Stakes on Stackallen Bridge, the Group 1 National Stakes on Blue Butterfly, and the Group 1 Phoenix Park Stakes on Windy City all trained by Paddy Prendergast.

1952 - Irish Champion Jockey.

1952 – The Irish derby on Thirteen of Diamonds, the Irish Oaks on Five Spots, Group 1 Phoenix Park Stakes on Royal Duchy, and the Group 2 Blandford Stakes on Thirteen of Diamonds, again all trained by Paddy Prendergast.

1954 – The Irish 2000 Guineas on Arctic Wind for Paddy Prendergast, and the Group 3 Greenland Stakes on Standing Holly for M. Collins.

1956 – The Group 1 Phoenix Park Stakes on Refined for Paddy Prendergast.

1958 – The Group 3 Gallinule Stakes on Clear Round for John Oxx.

1959 – The Irish Lincoln on Anthony for J M Rogers.

However a few more searches and my delight upon finding how eminent a jockey Jimmy was turned to despair when I came across an article concerning Jimmy – The article dated June the 29th 2003 appeared in The Sunday Mirror and is reproduced below…

Jockey living in tent says he's being taken for a ride; IRISH DERBY WINNER SLEEPING IN FOREST AFTER COUNCIL ROW.

A FORMER champion Irish jockey has been discovered living in a tent in a wood in Britain. In his heyday, Jimmy Mullane, now 68, was one of Ireland's most famous jockeys. He won the Irish Derby three times - including Arctic Wind's triumph in the late 50s - but now he receives £20 a week from the InjuredJockey Fund.

He has been living in the woods near Farnham in Winchester for the past 18 years. Jimmy and his late wife, Anne, had been living in a caravan in the grounds of a convent until 1985, but were towed away by police after nuns got a summons for their removal.

Jimmy said: "We were happy living in our caravan near the convent, “We were doing no harm to anyone. It wasn't until there was a new order of nuns in the convent that we had to move. "The police towed us away - but they had nowhere to put us so we ended up being left in a lay-by beside a road. We didn't have any transport to move the van ourselves so we were stuck."

Jimmy and Ann decided to build themselves a home in the woods, and then the local authority removed their caravan and impounded it as an abandoned vehicle. Jimmy claims all his personal belongs were in the caravan when it was destroyed and he has been locked in a bitter war-of-words with the council ever since. Jimmy said: "They took away my home. They destroyed everything I owned in the world. "All my trophies and my prized possessions were in that van. I won't rest until I am compensated."

Winchester Council spokesman Ian Hogg said: "We don't take away and destroy private property.”There was nothing by way of personal belongings in the caravan when we took it away. We notified Jimmy on several occasions that it would have to be removed but unfortunately he didn't and we had to tow it away."

Jimmy was stuck a further blow in February this year when his wife died after suffering a stroke. They were married for 45 years and were each other's only family. Jimmy said: "I miss her. It's very lonely without her. I still can't believe she's gone." Prior to Ann dying, Winchester Council offered Jimmy several council houses. He has refused to take up their offers. He said: "I won't live in one of their houses until the day they compensate me for my belongings. I have nothing left - not even my wife." Mr Hogg said: "We don't want him to be stuck out there in his tent - but we can't force him into a house."

A tongue in cheek look at... The Greatest Racehorse Ever

It doesn't matter if it's a selling plater or a Derby winner, nostalgia is a great leveller, people love to see photos of lesser known horses and jockeys just as much as they do classic winners...

Rare Photos and film footage of
"The Greatest Racehorse Ever"

Revered and idolised by many

The one and only...

VAKIL-UL-MULK

Trained by the irrepressible cult figure and racing icon of the sixties John Meacock.

VAKIL-UL-MULK opened his 3 year old career with a nice little pipe opener in the one mile Warwickshire Handicap at Birmingham. With only 7stone 4lbs to carry lightweight jockey David East took the mount.

David East

Onwards and Upwards to Epsom

VAKIL-UL-MULK proudly shows off in the paddock at Epsom

The Jockeys enter the paddock and first in is Harrison VAKIL-UL-MULK'S jockey... but will he be first back?

A very relaxed VAKIL-UL MULK (third in line) makes his way to the start

Milling round at the start

Lining up for the start

And They're off

Tucked in behind... A late run maybe

Hmmmmmm...

Some Footage of the race