Jockey

Born in Shottesbrook, near Maidenhead, Berkshire on November 21, 1917, Douglas ‘Doug’ Smith was one of the finest jockeys of the twentieth century, although his achievements were overshadowed, to some extent, by his illustrious contemporaries Sir Gordon Richards and Lester Piggott. Nevertheless, having finished runner-up behind Richards in the Flat Jockeys’ Championship seven times, he won his first jockeys’ title in 1954, following Richards’ retirement, and proceeded to win four more in the next five years, a sequence interrupted only by Arthur ‘Scobie’ Breasley in 1957.

Smith retired at the end of the 1967 Flat season, with a total of 3,112 winners to his name. His career tally included four British Classic winners, namely Hypericum, owned by King George VI, in the 1,000 Guineas, in 1946, Our Babu and Pall Mall, owned by Queen Elizabeth II, in the 2,000 Guineas in 1955 and 1958, respectively, and Petite Etoile in the 1,000 Guineas, again, in 1959. In 1949, he also had the distinction of winning the Stayers’ Triple Crown – that is, the Gold Cup at Ascot, Goodwood Cup and Doncaster Cup – on Alciydon, owned by the Earl of Derby. Smith also remains the most successful jockey in the history the Cesarewitch Handicap at Newmarket, having won what is now the second leg of the traditional ‘Autumn Double’ half a dozen times between 1939 and 1966.

Following his retirement from the saddle, Smith turned to training, famously saddling the 1969 Oaks winner, Sleeping Partner, owned by Lord Derby. However, his life subsequently descended into chronic alcoholism, which led to him giving up training a decade later. On April 11, 1989, having been unable to cure the disease, despite repeated hospital stays, Smith committed suicide by drowning himself in the swimming pool at his home in Newmarket. He was 71 years old.

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.

At the time of writing, Callum Rodriguez currently lies tenth in the 2024 Flat Jockeys’ Championship, having ridden 39 winners from 199 rides at a strike rate of 20%. It would be fair to say that the 27-year-old, who rode a a career-best 76 winners in 2021, following by 49 in 2022 and 52 in 2023, has successfully rebuilt his career after testing positive for cocaine at Southwell in February 2019. He was suspended pending an investigation by the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) and subsequently banned for six months, such that his season tally for 2019 was limited to just 27 winners.

Born in Newcastle, but raised in Heysham, near Lancaster, Lancashire, Rodriguez fought at national schoolboy level as a boxer, but, at the age of 16, opted to hang up his gloves and focus on a career in horse racing. A graduate of the Northern Racing College (now the National Horseracing College) in Doncaster, he joined Richard Ford, at Lancashire Racing Stables near Garstang, for whom he rode his first winner, Insolenceofsilence, in an apprentice handicap at Hamilton on June 4, 2015. After riding just five and eight winners in his first two seasons, in March 2017, Rodriquez joined Michael Dods in Denton, near Darlington, County Durham. That season he upped his seasonal tally to 39 winners, including Nakeeta, trained by Iain Jardine, in the Ebor Handicap at York.

In 2018, Rodriguez rode 68 winners, reaching the milestone of 95 career wins – and thereby riding out his claim – on Mustaqbal, trained by Dods, in a handicap at Carlisle on September 12, 2018. However, the lack of a weight allowance proved no obstacle to his career; his very next winner, Intense Romance, also trained by Dods, in the Listed Arran Scottish Fillies’ Sprint Stakes at Ayr nine days later, was the first ‘black type’ success of his career. He has since added 10 more, notably including the Group 1 Sprint Cup at Haydock on Regional, trained by Edward Bethell, on Sptember 9, 2023.

Bill Smith came, literally, within inches of a fairytale end to his riding career when, on April 28, 1984, he was involved in what was later described in the ‘Sunday Times’ as ‘the race of a lifetime’. The race in question was, of course, the Whitbread Gold Cup (now the Bet365 Gold Cup), which the history books record was won by Special Cargo, owned by Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother and trained by Fulke Walwyn. Since 1974, Smith had ridden 65 winners for the Queen Mother – whom he described as ‘ one of the nicest owners you could ever wish to ride for’ – and was, in fact, the regular jockey of Special Cargo.

However, for his farewell ride, Smith chose to remain loyal to the 13-year-old Diamond Edge, a stable companion of the eventual winner, on whom he had won the Whitbread Gold Cup twice, in 1979 and 1981, and the Hennessy Gold Cup (now the Coral Gold Cup) at Newbury, again in 1981. In a pulsating finish, Diamond Edge narrowly missed out on becoming the first horse to win the Hennessy Gold Cup three times, going down to Special Cargo and Lettoch, trained by Michael Dickinson, in a three-way photograph, with the first three separated by just two short heads.

Born on October 30, 1948, Smith rode his first winner, Silver Meade, trained by John Blake, as an amateur, on November 28, 1969. Two years later, on his first ride for Edward Courage, he won the SGB Chase (now the Ascot Silver Cup) on Spanish Steps and would twice finish placed in the Grand National – fourth, under 11st 9lb, in 1974 and third, under 10st 3lb, in 1975 – on the same horse. Away from Aintree, other notable winners included Royal Relief, trained by Fred Rimmell, in the Two-Mile Champion Chase (now the Queen Mother Champion Chase) twice, in 1972 and 1974, and Comedy Of Errors, also trained by Rimmell, in the Champion Hurdle in 1973.