Greville Starkey R.I.P

A

Ardross

Senior Jockey
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Aug 8, 2007
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He has died of cancer at the age of 70 as is reported on the Departures thread. A top jockey for many years and rider of a classic winner or two for Stoute and Harwood .

Perhaps however most remembered for the 1986 Derby cock up on Dancing Brave and for his ill-fated time as HRA Cecil's stable jockey in the early 70s when lots of the owners wanted Lester to ride their horses .

Sad news .
 
Sad that after all is said and done he will always be remembered for his mistake. He was in racing for a long time, must have had a lot of stories to tell.

Maybe now the idiot who impersonates him on facebook will give up!
 
Ardross said:
his ill-fated time as HRA Cecil's stable jockey in the early 70s when lots of the owners wanted Lester to ride their horses
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When I started watching racing, I remember him riding Cacoethes who was Harwood's big Derby hope. I liked back him and sometimes you just follow a jock rather than the formbook. I'm interested in what happened with Cecil. I didn't realise he was stable jock. Can you fill the younger folk in on what happened. Who was Starkey with before Cecil and was it during his tenure at Cecil's that Lester got some rides or was there a battle to become stable jock. I'd be interested in anyone's stories.
 
Cantoris said:
When I started watching racing, I remember him riding Cacoethes who was Harwood's big Derby hope. I liked back him and sometimes you just follow a jock rather than the formbook. I'm interested in what happened with Cecil. I didn't realise he was stable jock. Can you fill the younger folk in on what happened. Who was Starkey with before Cecil and was it during his tenure at Cecil's that Lester got some rides or was there a battle to become stable jock. I'd be interested in anyone's stories.
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As I was five at the time I can't tell you what happened from personal memory :lol:

I understand from one of the bios of Lester I think it was that Lester did ride for Cecil in his very early days - most notably Wolver Hollow to win the 1969 Eclipse . Lester was a freelance linked most closely with MVOB and with lots of trainers battling for his services ( he rode Stoute's first ever winner in 1972) and Cecil decided to employ Starkey as his stable jockey - I think from 1972-74 but it did not work out and a number of the owners hankered after Lester riding their horses in particular I believe Charles St George and Cecil and Starkey split .

Cecil after promoting a stable apprentice Alan Bond and having G Dettori ride the horses owned by Carlo d'Alessio like Wollow eventually employed Joe Mercer as his stable jockey from 1976-1980 , Lester took over in 1981 after Pat Eddery was approached to replace Mercer but had already accepted the Sangster job - Mercer jumped before he was pushed to join Peter Walwyn .
 
Isinglass said:
Ask Songsheet - she can tell you a few!
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:p Nah, mustn't speak ill of thedead - just hope DANCING BRAVE gives him a kick up there wjen Greville arrives !

Seriously, he was a good, rather than brilliant, jockey and usually very reliable but with sometimes one or two spectacularly off days. He was Guy Harwood's stable jocket during the early eighties. My views of his DB ride in the Derby are well known, as he was just so over-confident before the race it gave all of us watching at Adstock the heebies, as there of course was then a question mark over DB's stamina. Which quite patently there shouldn't have been and it was sheer over confidence by Starkey that lost that race as he gave him far too much to do and the horse was held up and fought that tactic too. It wasn't how he was told to ride the race and quite honestly, top jocks shouldn't really need to be told how to ride the Dery anyway if they know their horse and he did.

To bore those who already know on here, my old boss bought DB and worked closely with Guy Harwood during the eighties but especially early, as he was setting up Juddmonte.
 
I think Ile de Chypre was just a quirky sort.If it was a stun gun surely it would have been used since.
Shame that Greville's death has generated so much negativity.
 
I agree... hes very unlucky to be remembered for two rather unlucky moments

Db was the greatest flat horse ive seen (although STS is very close) and it should always be remembered that there were severe concerns about his stamina before the race. Wrong ultimately, but that could have happened to any jock at the time
 
clivex said:
I agree... hes very unlucky to be remembered for two rather unlucky moments

Db was the greatest flat horse ive seen (although STS is very close) and it should always be remembered that there were severe concerns about his stamina before the race. Wrong ultimately, but that could have happened to any jock at the time
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The funny thing was that Starkey was so confident about Dancing Brave's stamina in interviews leading up to the race. He was very bullish, even describing the horse as "bomb-proof", but on the day he rode him as if he wasn't so confident and he paid the price when Dancing Brave failed to pick up initially for pressure as a result of which he had far too much to do when he did finally get going. He showed the same characteristic next time out in the Eclipse, needing to be pushed along vigorously before asserting.

I always thought that his ride on Cacoethes in the 1989 Juddmonte was much worse than the Dancing Brave one. He got a very lively reception when he rode into the unsaddling enclosure that day.

Overall, Starkey was a good jockey. He rode a lot of smart horses for Harwood, of course, and they were a formidable combination for a good few years.
 
Good post, gus except I remember Starkey nursing the horse too much going down the hill when DB wanted to get on with the job !

Bearing in mind the frequent baying for jockey's blood on herewhen they mess up in races everyone has had money on, I wonder whether the tone of some of these posts concerning the cirticism of Starkey would be the same if they were actively betting back then... :whistle:
 
I was actively betting at the time. I was on Shahrastani at 10s for the Derby and, funnily enough, I didn't have too many problems with Starkey's ride.

I was actually at Epsom on the day and I distinctly recall pompously announcing to all and sundry early in the straight as a result of what I'd seen through my binoculars - this was before big screens - that the favourite had "no chance." It was a close run thing in the end.
 
LUKE said:
I think Ile de Chypre was just a quirky sort.If it was a stun gun surely it would have been used since.
Shame that Greville's death has generated so much negativity.
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Ile de Chyrpe was for sure a quirky ride I will never forget till I die scrambling around the local Billy Hills floor for my betting slip I had and thrown away at Royal Ascot the day he decanted Greville on the turf when home and hosed allowing my selection Thethingaboutitis to land the 1988 King George Handicap.
 
gus said:
I was actively betting at the time. I was on Shahrastani at 10s for the Derby and, funnily enough, I didn't have too many problems with Starkey's ride.

I was actually at Epsom on the day and I distinctly recall pompously announcing to all and sundry early in the straight as a result of what I'd seen through my binoculars - this was before big screens - that the favourite had "no chance." It was a close run thing in the end.
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I backed Shahrastani too and won what seemed a lot of money then as a student but missed the race as I was in an exam. Wrongly, I was confident that DB would not stay.

As I recall there was speculation at the time that Greville did not want to cock up like Eddery had done in 1984 on El Gran Senor and get there way too soon and he overdid it the other way.

It is unfortunate that he is remembered more for that than anything - he gave Shirley Heights a terrific ride to win the 1978 Derby and Fair Salinia to win the Oaks when Freddie Head was all over the place on Dancing Maid who was the better filly.
 
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