Morrissey, Pat

PAT MORRISSEY

Article by Chris Pitt

(All photos courtesy of Chris Pitt)

Pat Morrissey was born on January 29, 1921, the second son of Joseph Morrissey of Grove Lodge, Fethard, Co Tipperary. He was one of three jockey brothers, Mick Morrissey, two years older, and their younger brother Jimmy, born in 1935. Jimmy would become easily the most successful of the trio before his career was ended by a fall at Bangor on April 12, 1969.Pat Morrissey was in the saddle by the age of four and a successful show jumper by the time he was six. He came to England in 1944 but had to wait until October 11, 1947, to ride his first winner, aboard the Alec Kilpatrick-trained Silver Gap in a two-runner Taunton novices’ hurdle.

He rode Fleur De Lys to victory at Bangor on April 2, 1949, but then had to endure a wait of over four years before his next winner, Bushranger, in the Suckley Selling Handicap Hurdle at Worcester on November 28, 1953. By that time he was based in Tewkesbury and working as head lad cum assistant trainer to Ossie Williams, who trained at Mitton Farm. He was to spend the remainder of his career with Williams and won on Nanjula for him at Ludlow on October 20, 1954.

Pat failed to ride a winner the following season, while the next campaign (1956/57) got off to a bad start when he was badly concussed in a fall from Night Sky at Buckfastleigh on the second day of the season. He returned to Ireland to convalesce but was back in action and reunited with Night Sky at Stratford seven weeks later, only to fall again.

Ironically, that bad start preceded what was to be the most successful season of his career, during which he rode three winners from 39 rides. Nanjula was responsible for two of those wins, scoring at Haydock on November 28, and at Taunton on February 9, his third winner of the campaign being Royal Troubadour at Stratford on April 11. He also rode Nanjula in that year’s (1957) Champion Hurdle and belied their 100-1 SP by finishing sixth. He rode Nanjula again in the 1958 Champion Hurdle but finished unplaced.

The photo (right,) shows Pat on Bushranger at Worcester, November 28, 1953, his first winner for more than four years.

Pat drew a blank for the 1957/58 season but rode two winners from 49 rides in the 1958/59 campaign. Having been beaten a short-head on Barmaid’s Prayer at Warwick in November 1958, he went on to win twice on Stoneless, both at Taunton, firstly on February 14, then on March 14. The second of those was the tenth winner of his career, reducing his claim to 5lb.

The next season got off to another bad start when he was concussed in a fall from Merriment at Devon and Exeter on September 1, 1959. He was knocked out again at Cheltenham on November 13 when Barmaid’s Prayer fell at the first flight in the Pittville Selling Hurdle and was still lying unattended in torrential rain after the winner had passed the post. He was detained overnight in Cheltenham General Hospital.

He rode just one winner that season, Brookland Girl at

Wolverhampton (right) on February 29, 1960. There was a funny sequel when some of his fellow jockeys, including Josh Gifford and Stan Mellor, found a red carpet from somewhere and laid it from the scales to the weighing room. Gifford recalls “Pat was a great actor and couldn’t believe it when this carpet was laid out, but played the part very well and marched in with his cap, took a bow, got up on to the table and gave us a lecture on how easy it was, saying he couldn’t understand why he didn’t do it more often.”Having provided Pat with the eleventh – and what turned out to be the final – winner of his career, Brookland Girl subsequently put him back in hospital with concussion when falling at the third flight at Stratford on April 7. And his season ended the way it had begun, with more injury, sustaining further concussion plus a lacerated tongue when Two Vees fell at Woore on 14 May.

It wasn’t just race falls either. What was to be Pat’s last season in the saddle, 1960/61, got off to yet another bad start when a lorry collided with his mount while being walked along Tewkesbury High Street. The horse, Prego, suffered nothing more than a shaking, while Pat escaped with just a badly swollen leg. Then, in February 1961, he was cannoned into on the way to the start on Gold Blade at Stratford, resulting in the horse having to be withdrawn.

On Easter Tuesday, April 4, 1961, Pat journeyed to Uttoxeter for two rides. The first of them, Bynea, fell in the novices’ chase. Undaunted, he picked himself up and prepared for his ride in the last race of the day, on Golden Assistant in division two of the Cannock Maiden Hurdle. His mount fell and Pat sustained severe head and chest injuries and was rushed to Staffordshire General Hospital. There he received medical care for several months and in January 1962 was transferred to Smethwick Hospital in Birmingham for specialist treatment. That was the end of his career as a jockey.

Warwick, November 11, 1958. Pat Morrissey on Barmaid's Prayer (nearside) jumps the last alongside Nelombo (David Patick)

He eventually made a full recovery and, on October 28, 1962, he married Miss Joan McKeon Sexty at Mythe Roman Catholic Church, Tewkesbury. Josh Gifford was his best man, deputising for Johnny Lehane who had broken his thigh in a fall a fortnight earlier, and Stan Mellor was one of the ushers.

The second part of his racing career was with the Jockey Club, being employed firstly on the camera patrol and then becoming part of its Veterinary Field Force as a dope testing officer and being responsible for checking the identities of horses racing on the day.

He did that until reaching retirement age but continued to help out on an occasional basis until suffering a heart attack on the way home from Stratford races on September 8, 1990. He died in June 1991, aged 70.

Never without a smile on his face and a joke on his lips, Pat Morrissey was a great practical joker and was regarded as one of the great characters of the weighing room. He also did much to raise money for various charities, arranging and taking part in donkey derbies and gymkhanas.

There are so many stories about him, including a day at Birmingham when, after the last race, he and his brother Mick accepted a bet to go down to just beyond the last hurdle, each with a bottle of champagne, run back, jump the last, while at the same time drinking from the bottle and have it finished by the time they reached the winning post. They both fell at the hurdle, picked themselves up with the champagne bottles in their hands and every few yards stopped to have a drink. Everyone came out of the bar to cheer them on. They finished the race and returned “well and truly knackered”. They said they found it easier to ride a horse round than doing it that way.

But the one I like best is of the day Pat walked into the weighing room shortly before a conditional jockeys’ race (in those days they were called ‘Opportunity’ races) and said to fellow jockey Bernard Wells, who, like Pat, was still claiming 7lb at the time: “Bernard, have you got a ride in that race for jockeys who haven’t ridden ten winners and aren’t bloody likely to?”

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