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It was good to see Jimmy Quinn ride a nice winner at the July meeting. He rode his first winner in the mid 1980s.
Back in those days, the weight range in handicaps was larger and there were plenty of horses that carried less than 8 stone. I think 7st 7lbs was the minimum weight when I first started watching racing.
Jockeys like Quinn who could ride light were often in demand for the handicaps, even from large stables that had sneaked one in at the foot of the weights.
Now weights have gone up. I realise it is for the best. The wasting some jockeys had to do was not good and the impact on their health was sometimes terrible.
But even allowing for that, have handicaps become a bit less interesting now? Lightweight jockeys in the mould of Quinn, Lowe, Carlisle and Charnock have almost disappeared from the game and (as someone pointed out yesterday on the John Smith’s Cup thread) lightly raced three year olds have got no chance of getting into the big handicaps.
In 1977 when I first went racing at Beverley I think the minimum was 7st so you had 7lb claimers doing 6st7lb.
I used to keep the race cards but they got lost in house moves etc.
It’s a shame about 3yos not getting in but it could be argued it’s because the standard is higher than ever with so many 100+ horses entered.
Tbh, a few 3yos used to make a mockery of big handicaps back in the day.
Originally potential Group horses who’d had problems and had been subsequently campaigned to get these races with with absurdly-low marks.
I’m happy enough with how things are now tbh.
You missed out the “angry ant” Cork.
You’re right though, Quinn would have got many more big rides in handicaps in the past.
Were there still kids riding in the 70s with such low weights Ian? Obviously Lester started at 12 but when did minimum ages come in?
It’s only from hazy memory, but I have this image in my head of a Beverley race card circa 1977 with “7st” next to a horse with the 7lb claimer booked further reducing the weight carried to 6st7lb.
I think it was increased to 7st7lb a few years later.
How could I forget him? I was at Doncaster last September when he rode the winner of the veterans race, in the Godolphin blue no less.
I recall him winning the John Smiths Cup (unless it was still the Magnet) on a Henry Cecil horse this same weekend 20 odd years ago.
Willie Carson, I recall, sometimes rode at 7st something and it wasn’t just handicaps.
I can’t remember the horse’s name but, back in the 80s, he rode a filly for Michael Stoute in the Jersey Stakes at Royal Ascot and with her allowances back then she only carried 7st something and Willie was the jockey.What a knocking bet that was.
Anyone remember this?
It’s unlikely that Willie Carson, or any other jockey, rode in the Jersey Stakes off 7st something unless the race conditions have changed drastically since the 1980s. I’d be interested to know whether that’s the case.
Current weights are 9st 1lb plus a 5lb penalty for a G1/G2 winner and 3lb for a G3 winner. There’s a 3lb allowance for fillies.
Tecorno was trained by Dick Hern.
As old age encroaches you may be right Seasider but I was so sure Carson rode a winner for Stoute and the Aga Khan off 7st 13 I couldn’t resist using my best friend Google.
I have been redirected to the 1985 Cork and Orrery where the winner Dafayna had all the aforementioned connections so could this be the one? Can’t find race allowances for that period though.
No Ian but thanks for the prompt.
It knew it was a Stoute horse,Carson rarely rode for him hence I remember the light weight , I remembered the horse was a filly and I then remembered the Aga Khan’s colours so I googled and came up with Dafayna.I can’t find the racecard for Dafayna’s Cork & Orrery but in 1989 the 3-y-o filly Bay Bay ran in the race carrying 7st 12lb (including 1lb overweight).
Dafayna would likely have carried 7st 11lb in 1985.
Michael ‘Mouse’ Roberts could comfortably ride at less than 8st. He rode at 7-08 to win the Nunthorpe on 2yo Lyric Fantasy, though that was 1lb overweight
Just accessed the race card for my first ever day at the races – April, 1977, Beverley – and there was no bottom weight below 7st7lb, so maybe my memory was playing tricks on me!
Ian , your memory is still working well.
In early 1977 LC (Cliff) Parkes rode a winner at Thirk carrying 7.0 and he certainly wasn’t an apprentice then.
Also Compton Rodrigues was a 5lb claimer and he won at Beverley carrying a hefty 6.9 – so the minimum weight was 7.0 back then.
Cheers
I.
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