Jockey

Born in Chadderton, near Oldham, Greater Manchester on September 6, 1949, Mark Birch left school at 15 to become apprenticed to Geoffrey Brooke in Newmarket and rode his first winner, Bollin Charlotte, at Chester on July 26, 1968. He subsequently joined Miles Henry ‘Peter’ Easterby

at Habton Grange Stables, near Malton, North Yorkshire, with whom he would enjoy a 30-year association until his retirement from race-riding in 1998.

Of course, Birch won many big races in the North, including the Lincoln Handicap on Bronze Hill in 1973, the Great St. Wilfrid Handicap twice, on Day Two in 1973 and Golden Ancona in 1978, the Northumberland Plate on Dawn Johnny in 1981, the Ayr Gold Cup on Able Albert in 1984 and the November Handicap twice on Swingit Gunner in 1987 and Young Benz in 1988.

However, he is best remembered for his association with the prolific, and versatile, Sea Pigeon, on whom he won back-to-back renewals of the Chester Cup in 1977 and 1978. Of course, the following year, Sea Pigeon would carry a record 10st 0lb to victory in the Ebor Handicap at York, but under his regular hurdles jockey, Jonjo O’Neill, rather than Birch. Nevertheless, in 1981, deputising for Brian Taylor, who could not make the required weight of 8st 1lb, Birch, too, would win the Ebor Handicap on Protection Racket, trained by Jeremy Hindley.

Affectionately nicknamed ‘Archie’, Birch was one of one of the most successful and popular Flat jockeys of his generation in the North of England, with 1,339 winners and seven the traditional ‘Cock O’ The North’ titles to his name. He enjoyed his most successful season, numerically, in 1979, when he rode 77 winners. Six of those victories, including the Gimcrack Stakes at York, were contributed by the champion Northern two-year-old, Sonnen Gold, trained by Easterby. After hanging up his boots, he became assistant trainer to Kevin Ryan at Hambleton Lodge, near Thirsk. He died of lung cancer, aged 67, on October 19, 2016.

A controversial, but nonethless popular, figure during his riding career, Graham Bradley retired from the saddle on a high when, on November 13, 1999, he steered Ontheboil, trained by Don Eddy, to a five-length victory in a novices’ handicap chase at Haydock Park. However, the racing authorities were by no means finished with him and, in December 2002, he was found guilty of passing what he described in court as ‘very privileged’ information to subsequently convicted drug smuggler Brian Wright. Following a three-day inquiry, Bradley was ‘warned off’ for eight years, reduced to five on appeal, by the Jockey Club.

Born in Wetherby, Yorkshire on September 8, 1960, Bradley had his first, unsuccessful, ride in public, as a 16-year-old schoolboy, in an amateur riders’ race on the Flat at Redcar on June 18, 1977. However, he would not ride his first winner, Talon, trained by Tony Dickinson, in a novices’ hurdle at Sedgefield until nearly three years later, on March 3, 1980. Prior to joining the Dickinsons, Bradley spent two years with Arthur Stephenson, but was limited to a handful of moderate rides and it wasn’t until he arrived at Poplar House in Harewood, West Yorkshire that his career began to blossom.

Notable horses during his career included Bregawn, on whom he won the Hennessy Gold Cup (now the Coral Gold Cup) in 1982 and the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 1983, Righthand Man, on whom he won the Charlie Hall Chase in 1982 and the Welsh Grand National in 1984 and Wayward Lad, on whom he won both the Charlie Hall Chase and the King George VI Chase in 1985. Later in his career, Bradley became stable to jockey to Charlie Brooks at the historic Upland Stables in Upper Lambourn, Berkshire. He won the 1996 Champion Hurdle on Collier Bay, trained by Jim Old, and the 1997 Hennessy Gold Cup on Suny Bay, trained by Brooks. In 1993/94 and 1995/96 he rode a total of 52 winners, just one shy of his best-ever seasonl total, 53, which he achievd in 1986/87.

The late Greville Starkey, who died of cancer, aged 70, on April 14, 2010, was described in his obituary as ‘possibly the most talented jockey in the past 50 years never to become champion jockey.’ It is also unfairly prejudicial that man who rode 1,989 winners, including five British Classic winners, on the Flat in a 33-year career should be best remembered for one losing ride, on Dancing Brave, in the 1986 Derby. Of course, Starkey was not entirely blameless, but the idiosyncrasies of Epsom also contributed to the 2/1 favourite lying too far out of his ground in a steadily-run race and he was still an ever-decreasing half a length behind the eventual winner, Shahrastani, ridden by Walter Swinburn.

Born in Lichfield, Staffordshire on December 21, 1939, Starkey became apprenticed to Harry Thompson Jones in Newmarket straight from school. He rode his first winner, Russian Gold, at Pontefract on 8 June, 1956 and the following season won the apprentices’ title. He subsequently became stable jockey to John Oxley, for whom he won the 1964 Oaks on Homeward Bound, and Henry Cecil, both in Newmarket, and finally to Guy Harwood, in Pulborough, West Sussex.

In 1978, having already won the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe on Star Appeal, trained in Germany by Theo Grieper, three years earlier, Starkey enjoyed an annus mirabilis, during which he rode four Classic winners, on either side of the Irish Sea, and nine Group 1 winners in all. He won the Derby and the Irish Derby on Shirley Heights, trained by John Dunlop, and the Oaks and Irish Oaks on Fair Salinia, trained by Michael Stoute. Later in his career, Starkey also won the 2,000 Guineas twice, on To-Agori-Mou in 1981 and Dancing Brave in 1986, both for Guy Harwood. Another notable horse during his time at Coombelands was Kalaglow, on whom he won both the Eclipse Stakes and the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes in 1982.

Nowadays, Daniel Tudhope is stable jockey to David O’Meara, who, since 2016, has been based at Willow Farm, on the outskirts of York, near Upper Helmsley. Born in Irvine, North Ayrshire, Scotland on December 1, 1985, Tudhope enrolled at the National Horseracing College (or the Northern Racing College, as it was known at the time) in Doncaster as a 16-year-old, despite having never previously sat on a horse and, by his own admission, having ‘no interest at all’ in horse racing. He graduated, nevertheless, and went on to become apprenticed to Declan Carroll in Malton, North Yorkshire.

Tudhope rode his first winner on British soil, Rust En Vrede, trained by Carroll, in a lowly Class 7 banded stakes race at Southwell, on the original Fibresand surface, on February 29, 2004. He rode 28 winners in 2004, 33 in 2005 and 53 in 2006, such that by halfway through the latter season he had exceeded the 95 winners required to ride out his claim. His riding career reached its nadir in 2010, when he partnered just six winners, but, in 2012, Silvestre de Sousa, who had effectively been riding as first jockey to O’Meara, was offered a retainer by Godolphin, presenting Tudhope with new opportunities.

As stable jockey at Willow Farm, Tudhope enjoyed is most successful season, numerically and fiscally, in 2019, when he rode 159 winners from 792 rides, at a strike rate of 20%, and amassed nearly £2.9 million in total prize money. In the most recently completed season, 2023, he rode 85 winners, including 65 during the ‘window’ on which the Flat Jockeys’ Championship is decided, to finish in ninth place.

Tudhope reached the landmark of 1,000 career winners on Ingleby Hollow, trained by O’Meara, at Thirsk on June 3, 2019. Thus far, he has a total of nine Group 1 wins to his name, the most recent of which came aboard Fallen Angel, trained by Karl Burke, in the Irish 1,000 Guineas at the Curragh on May 26, 2024.