The late Brian Taylor was born in Southend-on-Sea, Essex on July 6, 1939, less than two months before Hitler invaded Poland, precipitating World War II. He died, under tragic circumstances, in a Hong Kong hospital on December 10, 1984, aged 45, after suffering fatal head and neck injuries when his mount, Silver Star, stumbled and threw him to the ground crossing the finish line in a race at Sha Tin Racecourse two days earlier.
Taylor began his riding career as apprentice to Harvey Leader in Newmarket and rode his first winner, Creole, at Great Yarmouth on September 18, 1956. However, his first five years with Leader yielded just two more winners and, in 1962, after a total of eight years, he was appointed stable jockey, despite still having not ridden out his claim. By that stage, Taylor was too old to claim a weight allowance in any case, but Leader received just reward for his belief, with his stable jockey winning back-to-back renewals of the Yorkshire Oaks in 1967 and 1968, on Palatch and Exchange, respectively and the Free Handicap (subsequently the European Free Handicap) on No Mercy in 1971.
Leader retired in 1971 and Taylor subsequently rode regularly for the likes of John Winter, under the auspices of German-Jewish émigré Daniel Prenn, the former tennis player, Ryan Price, Jeremy Hindley and Gavin Pritchard-Gordon. He will always be best remembered for winning the Derby on 50/1 outsider Snow Knight, trained by Major Peter Nelson, in 1974, but rode a total of 1,254 winners on British soil, including 108 in 1976, which proved to be his best-ever season. That year he won the Royal Lodge Stakes on Gairloch and the November Handicap on Gale Bridge, having completed a notable Chester Vase – Cesarwitch double on Shantallah in 1975.
