Born in Spennymoor, County Durham on August 11, 1994, Connor Beasley is, frankly, lucky to be alive, never mind riding 53 winners in 2024, so far, after a horrific incident at Wolverhampton on July 7, 2015. On that occasion, his mount, Cumbrianna, clipped heels and fell, fatally, two furlongs from home in a six-furlong handicap at Dunstall Park, catapulting him into the ground. Knocked unconscious, Beasley was airlifted to Royal Stoke University Hospital, where he was found to have suffered a fractured skull, fractured vertebrae and a brain haemorrhage. Following a 10-hour operation and an extended period of rehabilitation, he made a remarkable recovery resumed his riding career on March 26, 2016, less than nine months later.
Beasley is the grandson of Bobby Beasley, who, as assistant trainer to Arthur Stephenson, ran a satellite yard at Leasingthorne, near Bishop Auckland, and whom the jockey cited as ‘one of the main reasons I got into racing’. After a spell with local trainer Tracy Waggott, in early 2012, Beasley joined Michael Dods in Denton, near Darlington, and rode his first winner for the yard, the prophetically-named Osteopathic Remedy, in a handicap at Ayr on September 21, 2012.
All told, Beasely rode two, 34 and 61 winners in his first three seasons, riding out his claim on Major Rowan, trained by Brian Smart, in a low-grade handicap at Southwell on December 13, 2014, before disaster struck in his first season as a fully-fledged professional. Nevertheless, on his return to action, he rode as series of ‘black type’ winners, courtesy of Alpha Delphini, Alicante Dawn and Nameitwhatyoulike, all trained by Smart, in August and September 2016. In 2019 and 2020, Beasley recorded five high-profile victories on Dakota Gold, trained by Dods, and more recently, in 2021 and 2022, won back-to-back renewals of the Stewards’ Cup at Goodwood on stabel companion Commanche Falls.
