Born in Heywood, Preston on May 11, 1957, Jimmy Bleasdale did not come from a racing background, but harboured the ambition to become a jockey from an early age. As a 16-year-old, he became apprenticed to Sam Hall at Spigot Lodge in Middleham, North Yorkshire – on the recommendation of neighbouring trainer Tommy Fairhurst – and, after attending the Levy Board Apprentice School, duly made a winning racecourse debut on Croisette at Redcar on April 24, 1975.
After riding three winners from 24 rides in his first season and 17 from 99 in his second, Bleasdale rode 67 winners in 1977, including the Ebor Handicap at York – arguably the highest-profile victory of his career – on Move Over, trained by Jack Calvert, on his way to becoming champion apprentice. Sam Hall died that year and Bleasdale opted to remain loyal to his successor, Chris Thornton, at Spigot Lodge, rather than heading south to further his career.
However, Bleasdale never really fulfilled his earlier potential. The combination of a virus at Spigot Lodge and a series of falls, including a particularly serious one at Haydock Park in 1981, which would ultimately sound the death knell for his competitive riding career, limited his opportunities. In what he later described as a ‘horrible experience’, his mount, Bally Seal, fell fatally and, in so doing, threw head first into a concrete post, putting him out of action for four months. Bleasdale recovered sufficiently to continue riding for another decade, with no little success, including back-to-back victories in the Singapore Derby at Bukit Timah on Andermatt in 1983 and Win-Em-All in 1984.
In 1991, the onset of epilepsy, as a result of brain damage suffered in his earlier fall, meant that Bleasdale was not longer allowed to ride competitively. At the time of his retirement, he had ridden 414 winners.
