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.
