Jockey

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.

The late Stanley ‘Stan’ Mellor MBE, who died at the age on July 31, 2020 after a long illness, was one of the outstanding jockeys of his generation. He won the National Hunt Jockeys’ Championship three years running, in 1959/60, 1960/61 and 1961/62, and may well have done so again in 1962/63, but for suffering serious facial injuries in a fall from Eastern Harvest in the inaugural running of the Schweppes Gold Trophy (now the Betfair Hurdle) at Aintree. Mellor had led the championship by 20 winners beforehand, but that mishap allowed his nearest rival, Josh Gifford, to make up lost ground and win his first jockeys’ title by six winners.

On December 18, 1971, Mellor rode Ouzo to victory in a novice chase at Nottingham, thereby becoming the first National Hunt jockey to ride 1,000 winners. The following year, in which he was also awarded an MBE for services to racing, he retired on a winning note, courtesy of Arne Folly at Stratford on June 2, with a then record 1,035 winners to his name. For all his success elsewhere, Mellor will probably always be best remembered for his canny, half-length defeat of the legendary Arkle on Stalybridge Colonist in the 1966 Hennessy Gold Cup at Newbury.

As a jockey, Mellor did return to the saddle for one last hurrah in the aptly-titled ‘Old and Bold Stakes’, a ‘celebrity’ race run over a mile and a half at Uttoexeter on September 9, 1991, in aid of the Injured Jockeys’ Fund. He justified odds-on favouritism on Rock Face, trained by Sir Mark Prescott and in so doing defeated the likes of Brough Scott and Lord Oaksey. Aside from his 1,035 winners over jumps in Britain, Mellor rode nine more in Ireland, five further abroad and five on the Flat.