No I had to back track it all. I was all over the place, Cecil Boyd-Rochfort, pics of famous riders etc. Then when the Aussie rider came up, I tried cross referencing...nothing. So I looked for riders about that time, then started calling up pics of them. Up came a picture of Charlottown with Breasley in the plate. I had no idea who he was on, so I then pasted it to another empty page and bingo. I deserve a bloody holiday for the effort.
I’ll put an end to this. Yes it’s the 1966 Derby Winner Charlottown (last winner from a non-stalls start). Owned by Lady Zia Wernher who also owned the Oaks winner Meld (Charlottown’s dam). Trained by Gordon Smyth who described the fabulously rich Wernhers as just about the most miserable owners you could have: his quote was something like they acted as if they were down to their last fiver. For Breasley it was a bit of a late present as Jimmy Lindley was replaced as jockey fairly late in the day. The Gosden connection is that John’s father Towser Gosden trained the colt as a 2yo. Gosden was a popular trainer with both racing people and the public. Sadly he had to give up the training of his unbeaten 2yo colt due to terminal cancer. When Benny the Dip won the race for his son John there seemed some justice in the world.
That was what I was worried about................. I would have been quicker but I backspaced and lost the lot. Does that happen to anyone else?
Ah well Ron, the video of the week has just been posted on the Off Topic thread. It'll bring a smile yo your face.
Here's a little snippet that you may or may not of heard before - apologies if you have Ripley's Believe it or not - A truly Bizarre story : On June 4, 1923, jockey Frank Hayes took off through the gates at Belmont Park on Long Island. He and his horse, Sweet Kiss, made it to the finish line first. But all was not well. During the race, Hayes had a heart attack and died. Nonetheless, he was declared the winner: It was later determined that Hayes had died of heart failure shortly after Sweet Kiss took the lead, and the New York Times speculated that the jockey’s heart had given out as a result of severe training in order to make weight, coupled with the excitement of winning his first race. Hayes, dressed in his colorful racing silks, was buried three days later. In light of the incident, Belmont’s Jockey Club waived all of the rules and thus made Hayes’ win official. This ruling makes Frank Hayes the only jockey to win a race while deceased. In fact, it is the only time in sports history when a competition was won by a dead man. Can we get all the dead jokes out in bulk please: Dead cert, Dead heat, dead last and dead weight to name but four
That's what happens when you don't take a pull. Apparently the horse received a hike in the handicap after such an easy win (the jockey didn't even move a muscle)
Having seen the positive effect of not interfering with the horse, another jockey subsequently faked his death soon after the start of a race, but fell off at the first fence
The thirty-five-year-old Hayes had never won a race before and in fact by profession was not actually a jockey but a horse trainer and longtime stableman. please log in to view this image
