Maddock, Russ

On Friday, October 25, 1969, riding in the Radley Maiden Stakes at Newbury, Russ was involved in a pile-up. In a field of 29, the filly Replique, ridden by Richard Dicey, was squeezed for room after the field had covered two furlongs. Replique fell and in doing so she brought down Viable, ridden by Russ, and Ragusalina.

Dicey escaped with a shaking. Bill Williamson & Russ were less fortunate. Bill was concussed and had injured a shoulder. Russ had broken his right leg.

It was the beginning of the end.

A plate was inserted at the break point, but the bone did not knit and he returned to hospital for a bone graft.

Sixteen months later he was ready to return to the saddle. But fate had other ideas.

On Wednesday 24 March, 1971, while riding work on the training gallops at Basingstoke, Hampshire, the filly he was on suddenly veered sharply to the left after a standing start, throwing Russ ahead. He was then kicked above the right knee as he held on to the reins for five or six yards.

He was taken to the London Clinic and was in tears as his wife, Brenda, came to his bedside.

Mrs Maddock recalled 'He looked at me with tears in his eyes and said; 'What on earth am I doing to you?''

She continued: 'He was back to his best physically, and now this. It is unbelievable. I was just numb for 24 hours. You see this kind of fall dozens of times a year on the track and in the enclosure but 99 times out of 100 the jockey lands on his feet.'

In February, 1972, Russ admitted he may have ridden for the last time. In a press interview he said: 'I will be examined at the Camden Rehabilitation Centre at the end of this month and a decision will be made then on my future. My doctor, Sir Reginald Watson-Jones, told me that the break in my right leg had knitted perfectly and was fully consolidated. What is required now is further knee bend and also strengthening of the hamstring. This is what I am waiting for, but if there are any doubts about the full capabilities of the leg, I am afraid that I will have to hang up my riding boots and contemplate taking up training.'

This proved to be the case -  after having 1,803 winners worldwide, Russ never rode again.

Photo, right, courtesy Chris Pitt

He had been a trailblazer for Australian jockeys in the United Kingdom and France and had ridden alongside the greats of Australian racing including Neville Sellwood, George Moore, Scobie Breasley and Ron Hutchinson.

In the 1980's, Russ returned with his family to Australia and settled on the Gold Coast.

For many years he worked as a trackwork reporter for The Courier Mail in Brisbane.

Former turf editor and Brisbane Race Club racing manager Bart Sinclair said Russ had maintained strong interest in racing until ill health weakened him in the year before his death. 

'He rated with the very best jockeys from Queensland,' added Sinclair, 'which is saying something when you mention Moore, Sellwood, McGrowdie, and Ditttman.'

Russ, aged 96, died at the Gold Coast on 10.50 am on June 8, 2014.

His wife, Brenda Pitt Maddock (1921-2008) was an artist and her love of animals and horseracing reflected in her paintings.

Racing in Australia differs from that in Britain............

Each state capital has its own premiership title and that would be like London having the main premiership and then all the other country towns in Australia being equivalent to all the other towns in the UK with racecourses being lumped together for a provincial premiership.

The Queensland Premiership were for the main city of Brisbane and there were provincial premierships which covered winners for races over the whole of Queensland. 

Russ won many of these.

His exploits in Australia are worth the recalling.

His second premiership which he won in 1946 was an outstanding feat considering he only rode from August (the start of the season) to mid December. He broke his leg badly in a race fall and was out for the rest of the season. He was so far ahead of the opposition that he still had a one win lead at the end of the season the following July. That included The Queensland Guineas, The Hopeful Stakes, Ascot H'cap and the Queensland Cup. When you think that those 32 winners were over only 17 meetings with a possible 52 meetings in a full year, a hundred winners in a full year was not an impossibility with that strike rate. Up until this time jockeys were not awarded trophies in Queensland for winning the premiership, however because this feat was so outstanding the Queensland Turf Club awarded a magnificent trophy which was the first ever presented to the winning Queensland Premiership Jockey. Even to this day a comparative achievement in Australian racing is unknown.

During the thirties through to the early sixties Queensland was blessed with some the best Jockeys in Australia. Some of these ended up riding in Britain after trying their luck in the south.  As early as the late thirties Russ was tempted by major offers to ride in the south. A very large financial reward was offered from a well known Victorian. He refused the offer so that he could stay in Queensland.  While he did accept rides in certain events in the south he always based himself in Queensland. In the early fifties he refused offers to ride in Ireland and Britain as at the time it would have meant leaving his family behind. The family always came first and consequently he was not a party type which probably cut back on some opportunities to pick up rides on good horses. He earned his rides on his ability rather than a "hail fellow well met" attitude.

In August 1955 he won the Exhibition treble (Ascot Handicap 13 August, Exhibition Handicap 17 August and Metropolitan Handicap 20 August) on Proletaire. Each race was won in record time. No other jockey/horse combination has ever been successful in this group of races.