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In Memoriam (racing people)

jinnyj

jinnyj

Senior Jockey
Joined
Jan 8, 2004
Messages
4,916
|As the old thread got locked I thought there was a new one needed sadly.

Sir Henry Cecil's nephew Ben Cecil has died at 56 from cancer (his father, Henry's twin, too died of cancer). A good trainer in his own right in the US, I briefly knew him over there. Very sad to hear that he has passed away at such a young age.

Trainer Ben Cecil Passes Away at 56

After a years-long long battle with cancer, Southern California-based trainer Ben Cecil has passed at the age of 56. He leaves behind his wife Kirsty, and two children, Francesca and Hugo. A near 30-year training career yielded 325 victories and nearly $25 million in prize money. He conditioned...
www.thoroughbreddailynews.com
 
edgt said:
Mike Futter; gambler and owner of Monty's Pass.
Believed to have won £800,000 in bets on the horse's Grand National win, Jimmy Mangan was effusive in his praise of the man at Cork races today.
May he Rest in Peace
Click to expand...
Sad to here this, I have great memories of days at Downpatrick watching Mike prowling the ring with every bookie looking to see who he would back and as soon as he made his play each and every book collapsed the price of his pick.
Happier times....
 
I backed Monty’s Pass thanks to Eddie Fremantle. I’d ignored his main tip the year before, Bindaree, and wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice. I’ve still got that copy of that Observer somewhere. A while later we both fancied Character Building. There’s a bookies in a nearby town that I still drive past on a regular basis ( although it’s now either a vape shop or a nail bar like most high street shops). Every time I pass it I think of the day I went in to place a bet on another horse in a different race only to hear that Character Building had been withdrawn and I still get the same feeling of disappointment in the pit of my stomach.Will never know how he would have fared had he taken part that year although, in subsequent years he didn’t seem to stay the trip ( but did have far more weight).
 
I’m so sad to hear this. He used to come to our racing club ( which he was a great supporter of). I said to him once that I’d cried for a week when One Man died. M’dear, he said, I cried for two years. He loved his horses so much. A great loss to racing.
 
Met him the day Zarkava won the Arc; boy was he one happy man.
He signed my racecard and all, not a bother to him.
My late dad always maintained the Aga Khan bred the best racehorses and I could smell him ( dad) that day as the Aga signed the racecard.
It was some sporting gesture to run Alamshar and Dalahkani in Irish Derby in 2003.
Rest In Peace.
 
Cyril (Buster ) Harty died last week aged 90.
His father , Captain Cyril B Harty was a member of the famous Irish showjumping team of the 1930s, founded to put the Free State on the map internationally.
A horse dealer, Cyril told his sons that while he may not given them a formal education, what he taught them was an education money could not buy, an eye for a horse.
" If you cannot make a living from that, then you are no son of mine !"
Brother of Eddie and John, Buster , accompanying his father to Cahirmee Fair in the early 1950s spotted a horse ridden by uncle through the town. HIs father bought the horse, Creola and Buster accompanied the horse to England to Fred Rimell's yard.
A top pointer, the duo won the Lady Dudley Cup along with numerous hunter chases together.
Creola also won a Welsh Grand National.
Buster competed with the Irish Equestrian Team at the 1964 Olympics along with Tony Cameron and Jessica Fowler (Harrington).
He took over his father's training stable and had much success, selling Noel Meade his first winner Tu Va along with training Gypsando to win Munster National, Leopardstown Chase among other races.
His daughter Sabrina trained Won In The Dark to win two Grade 1 hurdles c2008.
May he Rest In Peace.
 
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Joe Saumarez-Smith BHA Chairman who stepped down very recently has died aged just 53.
www.racingpost.com

Joe Saumarez Smith, British racing's senior leader as BHA chair until last month, has died aged 53

Tributes have poured in for Joe Saumarez Smith from the worlds of racing, betting, politics and journalism after the former BHA chair died on Tuesday... Read More
www.racingpost.com www.racingpost.com

A very interesting obituary...he certainly knew how to bet Ante-post!!
www.racingpost.com

Obituary: BHA chair Joe Saumarez Smith loved racing with a fierce passion and worked tirelessly to improve the sport

The course of Joe Saumarez Smith's life, one sadly all too short but filled with remarkable achievement, was set at the age of eight. A mathematics... Read More
www.racingpost.com www.racingpost.com
 
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One of the great racing names in my youth, I always had a fancy for double -barrelled surnames as they imply self importance.
( In the vet college before my time a student surnamed O'Brien-Lynch walked into an oral exam.
" Mr Lynch , take a seat !"
" Excuse me, sir but my name is O'Brien -Lynch "
" Pardon me , in that case you had better take two seats !"
Fulke was associated with Charles Engelhard and full brothers Ribocco and Ribero in the late 1960s, Rose Bowl and Ile de Bourbon in the 1970s. The notion of full brothers winning Irish Derby and St Leger in successive years caught my young attention, years after it happened of course.
Fulke was, to me, a properly brought up public school boy whose mother Helen was one of those teak tough stiff upper lipped types ; or at least she was to my young imagination.
Training as they did for some big names they encountered their share of top class racehorses so were not worried by Grade 3 racetracks ,and a had a life style of the chosen few.
Boy they knew how to get a tune out of Ribot's stock, not an easy chore by all accounts.
Apparently, according to an interview Helen gave Pacemaker , they always unseated their rider on first acquaintance, stood over them just to show who was boss, then could not be hurried in races until they were ready to run , then were explosive.
He never seemed to have a huge stable but success at the top table was regular, mid 60s to mid 80s.
Fulke is one of the last from that Golden Age, pre Coolmore, pre Godolphin when bigger was not necessarily better; may he Rest In Peace.
 
edgt said:
One of the great racing names in my youth, I always had a fancy for double -barrelled surnames as they imply self importance.
( In the vet college before my time a student surnamed O'Brien-Lynch walked into an oral exam.
" Mr Lynch , take a seat !"
" Excuse me, sir but my name is O'Brien -Lynch "
" Pardon me , in that case you had better take two seats !"
Fulke was associated with Charles Engelhard and full brothers Ribocco and Ribero in the late 1960s, Rose Bowl and Ile de Bourbon in the 1970s. The notion of full brothers winning Irish Derby and St Leger in successive years caught my young attention, years after it happened of course.
Fulke was, to me, a properly brought up public school boy whose mother Helen was one of those teak tough stiff upper lipped types ; or at least she was to my young imagination.
Training as they did for some big names they encountered their share of top class racehorses so were not worried by Grade 3 racetracks ,and a had a life style of the chosen few.
Boy they knew how to get a tune out of Ribot's stock, not an easy chore by all accounts.
Apparently, according to an interview Helen gave Pacemaker , they always unseated their rider on first acquaintance, stood over them just to show who was boss, then could not be hurried in races until they were ready to run , then were explosive.
He never seemed to have a huge stable but success at the top table was regular, mid 60s to mid 80s.
Fulke is one of the last from that Golden Age, pre Coolmore, pre Godolphin when bigger was not necessarily better; may he Rest In Peace.
Click to expand...
Did he train Hot Grove, pipped by The Minstrel in 1974?
 
I'll be honest, I thought died around the same time as Fred Rimmell.

He must have retired pretty young.

I recall he was one to to have onside in handicaps too.

If it was a quiz question I'd have said Hot Grove was trained by Hills or Wragg.
 
His son, Gordon, was a decent amateur rider. He won on our Sam Shorrock 3 or 4 times, once at 66/1 beating the 10/11 favourite in a 6 horse field. The bookies cheers echoed around the Towcester.
 


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