| Frankie Durr | |
|---|---|
| Occupation | Jockey and trainer |
| Born | 10 November 1925 Liverpool, England |
| Died | 18 January 2000 (aged 74) Cambridge, England |
| Major racing wins | |
| British Classic Races: 2000 Guineas Stakes (1973, 1978) St Leger Stakes (1966, 1973) Other major races: Sprint Cup (1969) Nunthorpe Stakes (1968) Dewhurst Stakes (1967) Irish Derby (1966) July Cup (1968, 1969) Middle Park Stakes (1975) | |
| Racing awards | |
| British flat racing Champion Apprentice (1945 - tied) | |
| Significant horses | |
| Hametus, Hittite Glory, Mon Fils, Peleid, Roland Gardens, So Blessed, Sodium, Tudor Music | |
Frankie Durr (10 November 1925 - 18 January 2000) was a four-time Classic-winning jockey in the 1960s and 1970s and later a moderately successful racehorse trainer.
Francis Durr was born in Liverpool on 10 November 1925.
He was apprenticed at first to Jack Payne at Bedford Cottage stables in Newmarket and then Willie Pratt and had his first ride in 1942. [1]
He rode his first winner, Merle, at Pontefract in 1944 and the following year was joint Champion Apprentice, tied with Tommy Gosling on 10 wins. [2] It took him some time after this to build a reputation [1] but eventually, he became the retained jockey of the Duke of Norfolk at Arundel Stable, where he would stay for six years. During this time he won the Free Handicap on Caerlaverock in 1952. [2] He also rode for Major Holliday, Geoffrey Barling, Lady Beaverbrook and David Robinson. For Barling, he won the 1970 City and Suburban Handicap on Granados, and for Lady Beaverbook the 1967 Dewhurst Stakes on Hametus. For Robinson, he won the 1968 Nunthorpe on So Blessed and the 1971 Ebor Handicap on Knotty Pine. Knotty Pine was trainer Michael Jarvis's first winner when Durr rode him in March 1968. [3]
His first Classic win was the 1966 St Leger which he won for George Todd on Sodium, a horse he had also won the Irish Derby on. He won the Leger again in 1973 on Peleid. He won the 2,000 Guineas twice - first in 1973 on the 50/1 shot Mon Fils for Richard Hannon, then on Roland Gardens. Hannon credited that 2,000 Guineas victory with keeping him in business: "If it wasn't for Frank, I wouldn't be training now... We were going through a pretty bad spell and he helped me big time. We got the Guineas winner Mon Fils, and things started to happen." [4]
Late in his career, he began riding for Henry Cecil and shipping magnate Ravi Tikkoo. [5] His best season numerically was 1969, when he won 87 races including the Haydock Sprint Cup and July Cup on Tudor Music.
After his retirement as a jockey at the end of 1978, he began training from Fitzroy Stables in Newmarket, which he had bought in 1958. [1] In 1982, he nearly had to close his stable, after it was hit by a virus, but things had recovered back to normal by the next season. [4] In that year, the stable had 59 horses, with Greville Starkey as first jockey and two apprentices, Aaron Weiss and Robert Lea. For three years, Jeff Pearce was his assistant.
His biggest wins as a trainer were the 1980 Portland Handicap with Swelter, the 1983 Cambridgeshire Handicap with Sagamore, ridden by Taffy Thomas and the 1985 Ayr Gold Cup with Camps Heath. He counted both Sheikh Mohammed and Khalid Abdullah among his owners.
His best season as a trainer was 1983, when he sent out 57 winners. [5]
Durr married Odette in 1954 and had one daughter, Elizabeth, who later married jockey Geoff Baxter. Durr refused to ride at evening meetings so he could spend time with his family at his farm in Kirtling outside Newmarket, which cost him in terms of winners and being able to challenge for the Jockeys' Championship, although he was 4th in both 1968 and 1969. [2] He retired from training in 1991 and spent more time playing golf. [5]
He died aged 74 in Addenbrookes Hospital, Cambridge, on 18 January 2000. His son-in-law Baxter explained that he had spent the Christmas period with family, but then had a nosebleed, went into hospital and didn't come out. [5]
Described as a "tough and wiry little Liverpudlian", [2] former boss Hannon recalled him as "a great gentleman, a good man for the game, and a really true professional," [4] while jockey Taffy Thomas noted him as "a great race-rider" who "wouldn't give an inch in a finish". [4] Paul Cook rode for him and against him and called him a "tremendous" jockey and "very fair" trainer. [3] Another fellow jockey, Eric Eldin referred to him as a "hard little jockey and, at the same time, very brainy. He used to work everything out - the wind conditions and when he should tuck in, how the grass had been mown and how that would affect the running of a race - the real finer points that no other jockey would think about". [4]
Great Britain
Ireland
Sir Gordon Richards was an English jockey who was the British flat racing Champion Jockey 26 times, and is often considered the world's greatest jockey. He remains the only flat jockey to have been knighted.
Lanfranco "Frankie" Dettori, is an Italian jockey based in England. In a career spanning over 35 years, he has been British flat racing Champion Jockey three times and has ridden the winners of 287 Group 1 races including 23 winners of the British Classic Races. His most celebrated achievement was riding all seven winners on British Festival of Racing Day at Ascot Racecourse on 28 September 1996.
George Duffield MBE is an English retired flat racing jockey.
Ryan Lee Moore is an English flat racing jockey, who was Champion Jockey in 2006, 2008 and 2009. He is currently the first choice jockey for Aidan O'Brien's Ballydoyle operation, a role in which he mainly rides horses owned by Coolmore Stud. He also sometimes rides horses for Juddmonte and The Queen. As of 2023, Moore has ridden over 170 Group or Grade 1 winners internationally. He has the most British Group & Listed wins of any active jockey.
John Harry Martin Gosden is a British racehorse trainer. He has trained over 3,000 winners worldwide, including winners of the Breeders' Cup Classic, the Derby, the Arc, the King George, the Eclipse. He has over 600 winners in the United States.
Richard Michael Hannon, known as Richard Hannon Sr. to distinguish him from his son, is a former British horse trainer. He was British flat racing Champion Trainer four times, achieved more than a century of victories in a season 20 times, a double century five times, and turned out 32 Royal Ascot winners. He operated out of Herridge Racing Stables, near Marlborough, Wiltshire, with a smaller yard at Everleigh on the edge of Salisbury Plain. He retired after winning a final trainers' championship at the end of 2013, when the training operation was taken over by his son, Richard Hannon Jr.
Ian Balding is a retired British horse trainer. He is the son of the polo player and racehorse trainer Gerald Matthews Balding and the younger brother of trainer Toby Balding. Ian Balding was born in the US, but his family returned to the UK in 1945. He was educated at Marlborough College and Millfield school in Somerset. He went up to Christ's College, Cambridge, in 1959 to read Rural Estate Management, where he played Rugby for the university team, gaining his Blue in 1961 at full back. He started training in 1964. Kingsclere became his home at the age of 26 and it is here that earned his reputation as an internationally respected trainer.
Joseph Mercer, OBE was an English thoroughbred race horse jockey. He was active from 1947 to 1985, riding 2,810 winners in Britain. Mercer's nickname was "Smokin' Joe.”
Sir John Layton Jarvis was a British trainer of racehorses. Born into a racing family, Jarvis had a brief but successful career as a jockey before taking up training. He was one of the most prominent British trainers of the mid 20th century, winning nine British Classic Races and being the British flat racing Champion Trainer on three occasions. In 1967 he became the first trainer to be knighted for services to horse racing.
William Buick is a Norwegian-British flat jockey. He shared the champion apprentice jockey title in 2008 with David Probert and won the Lester Award for Apprentice Jockey of the Year in 2007 and 2008. From 2010 to 2014 he was stable jockey to John Gosden. In 2015 he signed with Godolphin. Buick won his first Group1 race in Canada in 2010 and since then has won Group 1 races in England, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the United Arab Emirates and the United States. He has won four British Classic Races: the St Leger in 2010, 2011 and 2021 and the Derby in 2018.
Peleid was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and sire best known for winning the classic St Leger Stakes in 1973. After showing little promise in his early career he ran well in several important handicap races in 1973 before stepping up in class to record a 28/1 upset victory in the St Leger on 15 September. He was later sold and exported to stand as a breeding stallion in Hungary.
Mon Fils (1970–1979) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and sire, best known for winning the classic 2000 Guineas in 1973. As a two-year-old, Mon Fils won two of his seven races including the Mill Reef Stakes. In 1973 he won the 2000 Guineas on soft ground, but ran poorly when strongly fancied for The Derby. His racing career was ended by injury in the autumn of 1973 and he was retired to stud, where he made no impact as a sire of winners. He was the first classic winner to be trained by Richard Hannon Sr.
Edward William George Hide was a British multiple classic winning jockey. He was, at his peak, the sixth most successful jockey in British racing history and remained the ninth most successful jockey over 30 years after his retirement.
Sean Levey is a jockey who competes in flat racing and is based in Britain. He won the 2018 1000 Guineas on Billesdon Brook.
Tom Marquand is a British jockey who competes in flat racing.
Eric Ephraim Smith was an English flat racing jockey, who rode over 2,000 winners, including the winners of three Classics, in a career spanning over 30 years. He was three times the British flat racing Champion Apprentice and was ranked 23rd in the Racing Post's top 50 jockeys of the 20th century.
William Henry Carr (1916–1985) was a multiple British Classic-winning jockey, who rode for both Queen Elizabeth II and her father King George VI, and became one of the most successful jockeys in England in the 1950s and early 60s.
Ron Hutchinson is a retired Australian jockey, who won over 1000 races in Europe. In a 37-year racing career, he was successful across three continents.
Tony Murray was a Classic-winning jockey, who rode over 1,000 winners in an 18-year career during which he was based in England, Ireland and France.
Henri Jelliss was a Belgian jockey and trainer, who won three British Classics as a jockey in the 1920s and 30s and a further one as a trainer in the 1940s.