A name that most with a keen interest in horse racing will surely recognise is Peter Scudamore. With tremendously successful careers as both a jockey and trainer, Scudamore is well versed in all aspects of racing, and there’s little he hasn’t achieved in the sport over the years.
It all started way back in June1958 when Scudamore was born to Father Michael and his wife Mary. Many will of course know Michael Scudamore as a very successful jockey in his own right. It’s often the case of ‘like Father, like Son’ in horse racing, and by fact that his Father had previously rode the winner in the Grand National (in 1959 on Oxo) the future looked bright from day one, and young Peter had a ready made role model to aspire to emulate.
And a success he certainly did make of himself. You name it he achieved it in his decade and a half career as a jockey. Eight time Champion Jockey, 1,678 career wins (221 in just one season – a record), and an MBE honour to top it all off. Wins too at the Cheltenham Festival (Champions Hurdle x 2, Queen Mother Champion Chase and others), the list of accolades goes on and on. Working alongside the likes of trainer Martin Pipe for an extended period of time certainly did him no harm either, as it provided yet another master of the sport to look up to and learn from.
Scudamore is still involved in racing to this date, in the capacity of a pundit, a horse racing columnist for the Daily Mail and with his own son’s promising career in the sport. He’ll no doubt be hoping to provide the same kind of inspirational spark to his son, that his Father passed on to him decades earlier.
