Newson, Patrick

By Chris Pitt

Paddy Newson was born on March 31, 1918 and, on leaving school, became apprenticed to the Hon. Henry Gerald ‘Ginger’ Wellesley, who trained at Dunsineau Manor, Castleknock, Dublin.

Having moved to England, he lived at 51, Windsor Road, Newmarket. He was married on November 25, 1936, to Kathleen Kenley. She gave him a daughter, Maureen.

He held a Flat jockey’s licence from 1937 until 1939 before doing war service for six years in the RAF. After being demobbed he resumed riding in 1946 and rode his first winner on Elton Pine in the Dunstall Two-Year-Old Selling Plate at Wolverhampton for Newmarket trainer Percy Allden on June 10, 1946.

By 1949, Paddy was riding in Denmark where, that year, he rode 16 winners (his highest seasonal total). His biggest win was achieved in the Danish Grand Prix.

Back in England in 1951, he rode one winner from 37 rides, then one from 32 in 1952 and one from 22 in 1953. As second jockey to Joe Lawson, he rode Never Say Die at all his work for the Derby and St Leger. Paddy later reflected that Never Say Die’s 1954 Derby victory, when ridden by Lester Piggott, had given him “the biggest thrill of my life.”

He was Lawson’s right-hand man for ten years. On Lawson’s retirement he was retained by Geoffrey Brooke of Clarehaven Lodge, Newmarket. At that time, Brooke – a leading trainer – had several apprentices working for him including G. McMahon, R. Spruce, K. Cross, R. Galloway and M. Nash, none of whom seem to have gone on to better things.

The majority of Paddy’s successes were gained between 1961 and 1965. His two best seasons were in 1962, when he rode seven winners from 149 rides, and 1963, in which he rode eight winners from 155 rides.

He rated Gelert, on whom he won three times, as the best he rode. Those wins included Paddy’s two highest profile successes, in Kempton’s valuable Duke of York Handicap in 1962 and the Midlands Cambridgeshire at Birmingham in 1963.

He rode his final winner on Tamersea at Wolverhampton on April 12, 1966. His career came to a crashing end the following year when his mount, the Geoffrey Brooke-trained Date, was brought down in a three-horse pile-up at Sandown on June 17, 1967. Paddy broke both his wrists in the fall. Although still able to ride work, he was told by a bone specialist that his career as a jockey was over.

In retirement he was assistant trainer to Barry Hills at Lambourn and also rode work for Peter Walwyn.

Paddy Newson died at Newmarket on March 19, 1978, aged 59.

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