Jockey

Born in Manchester on June 14, 1977, Darryll Holland rode his first winner on British soil, Sinclair Boy, trained by the late Barry Hills, to whom he was apprenticed, at Warwick on May 7, 1990. In that season, as whole, he rode 31 winners and in 1991 rode 83 winners to claim the apprentices’ title.

Holland rode on the Flat every season until 2013, riding over a hundred winners in six occasions, including four seasons running between 2001 and 2004. His most successful season on home soil came in 2003, when he rode 157 winners from 989 rides, at a strike rate of 16%, and amassed over £3.2 million in total prize money. He subsequently spent three years riding in South Korea, becoming the first European jockey to do so, before returning to Britain for a brief, abortive stint as stable jockey to Charlie Hills, son of Barry, in Lambourn in 2016.

The 2016 season yielded just 22 winners on British soil, including what proved to be the last of them, Dolphin Village, trained by Jane Chapple-Hyam, at Newmarket on July 30, 2016. Holland subsequently moved, briefly, back to South Korea, where he won the KRA Cup Mile, the first leg of the Korean Triple Crown, at Busan on Indian King, trained by Mun Je Bok, on April 2, 2017. Thereafter, he plied his trade, with mixed fortunes, in the United States and Canada, before taking his final ride at Woodbine, Toronto on November 21, 2020.

Holland retired from the saddle with 17 Group 1 winners to his name at home and abroad. Domestically, his career highlights included winning the Coral-Eclipse Stakes, Juddmonte International Stakes and Queen Elizabeth II Stakes on Falbrav, trained by Luca Cumani, in 2003. He never won a British Classic, but went closer than most when the unheralded Dragon Dancer, trained by Geoff Wragg, who was sent off at 66/1, was just touched off by Sir Percy in the Derby in 2006.

Born in Pembrokeshire, South West Wales on July 29, 1965, Carl Llewellyn is nowadays best known as assistant trainer to Nigel Twiston-Davies at Grange Hill Farm in Naunton, Gloucestershire. In fact, he rejoined Twiston-Davies, to whom he had previously been stable jockey for 18 years, in 2009, after being sacked as salaried trainer to owner Malcolm Denmark at Weathercock House Stables in Lambourn.

A graduate from the point-to-point field, Llewellyn rode his first winner under National Hunt Rules, Starjestic, trained by Roy Robinson, in a steeplechase at Wolverhampton on March 14, 1986. He spent his early riding career as amateur jockey to Stan Mellor and Jim Old, before joining Tim Forster, with whom he would win the conditional jockeys’ title in 1987/88. Indeed, on March 16, 1988, Llewellyn rode his first Cheltenham Festival winner, Smart Tar, trained by Mark ‘Jumbo’ Wilkinson, in the Mildmay of Flete Challenge Cup.

As a jockey, Llewellyn is probably best remembered for winning the Grand National twice, on Party Politics, trained by Nick Gaselee, in 1992 and Earth Summit, trained by Nigel Twiston-Davies, in 1998. In fact, both horses were fortuitous ‘spare’ rides, after their respective regular jockeys, Andy Adams and Tom Jenks, were ruled out through injury. However, he also won the Welsh Grand National on Bindaree, trained by Twiston-Davies, in 2003 and the Scottish Grand National on Run For Paddy, whom he also trained, in 2006.

Llewellyn enjoyed his most successful season, numerically and fiscally, in 1997/98, when he rode 82 winners from 562 rides and amassed £914,962 in total prize money. That season he recorded five Grade 1 winners, Kerawi in the Christmas Hurdle at Kempton, Mistinguett in the Cleeve Hurdle at Cheltenham, Jack Doyle in the Scilly Isles Novices’ Chase at Sandown, Upgrade in the Triumph Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival and Mahler in the Heineken Gold Cup at Punchestown, all of whom were saddled by Twiston-Davies.

For readers unfamiliar with the name, Brian Toomey is a former National Hunt jockey, who finally retired from the saddle on June 14, 2016, but has recently made headlines by passing the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) required to be granted a training licence. Toomey rode 49 winners under National Hunt Rules in Britain, but his story is all the more remarkable for the fact that, on July 4, 2013, he was pronounced clinically dead for six seconds and, at one point, was given just a 3% chance of survival. On that day, his mount, Solway Dandy, fell heavily at the third-last flight in a conditional jockeys’ handicap at Perth and Toomey suffered a horrific head injury, which caused him to lose consciousness.

Thankfully, the promising young jockey was resuscitated by paramedics, but his injuries were so severe that he could not be airlifted from the racecourse. All told, Toomey spent 157 days in hospital, the first two weeks in an induced coma, and required surgery to remove part of his skull to reduce the swelling on his brain. Miraculously, against all odds, he regained his licence 704 days later and briefly resumed his riding career, although he later reflected that ‘ trainers and owners were just a bit too worried to give me an opportunity’.

Fast forward a decade or so from that fateful day in the Scottish Lowlands and Toomey, 34, is preparing to train, under a dual-purpose licence, in Chalfont St. Giles, Buckinghamshire. He told the ‘Racing Post’, ‘I got in touch with [recently retired trainer] Martin [Bosley], who invited me to look at the yard. When I did, I was blown away. It’s something special.’ He added, ‘I know it’s going to be very tough, but I’m also very determined. I just hope I haven’t used up all my luck.’

In recent years, Jack Berry, 86, is probably best known for his indefatigable fundraising work in aid of the Injured Jockeys’ Fund, of which he is Vice President. Indeed, Berry was co-founder of the specialist independent charity, which provides financial and medical support to jockeys, past and present, way back in 1964. At that stage, he was, himself, an oft-injured journeyman National Hunt jockey but, following his retirement from the saddle in 1969, later established Moss Side Stables in Cockerham, near Morecambe, Lancashire, where he would make his name as a trainer.

Instantly recognisable on the racecourse in his customary red shirt, Berry regularly saddled 100 winners a season in the nineties, including five years in a row between 1990 and 1994 and, according to the ‘Racing Post’, achieved his highest seasonal tally, 140, in 1991. Nevertheless, after achieving his fifth consecutive century, Berry told the ‘Independent’, ‘I’m not particularly bothered about beating my best. If I can keep knocking in 100 every year, I’ll be happy. It takes a bit of doing and there are always a few heartaches and traumas along the way.’

Berry developed a reputation as a trainer of speedy two-year-olds and older sprinters. Among his stable stars down the years were So Careful, who won the Ayr Gold Cup in 1988, Paris House, who won the Flying Childers Stakes in 1991 and the Temple Stakes in 1993 and Mind Games, who won back-to-back renewals of the Temple Stakes in 1995 and 1996. He was awarded an MBE in the Birthday Honours List and, since his retirement from the training ranks at the end of the 1999 Flat season, has continued to pioneer for the Injured Jockeys’ Fund. In fact, the construction of two of the three rehabilitation and fitness centres currently run by the Fund, namely Oaksey House in Lambourn an Jack Berry House in Malton, was largely due to his foresight.