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Basil Richmond
Basil Richmond
Article by Chris Pitt
Photo courtesy John GriffithsBasil Armstrong Richmond was born in Lincoln on November 18, 1936, and rode his first winner, Fire-Float, at Cartmel on June 5, 1954 for Hainton, Lincolnshire trainer David Machin, whose chief claim to fame was having trained a Cheltenham Festival winner, Mighty Apollo in the 1957 Kim Muir.
Fire-Float was also responsible for both Basil’s winners the following season, scoring at Market Rasen on October 30 and at Nottingham on December 6, 1954. He rode six winners during the following campaign, 1955/56, including Game Gambler and Le Madeal, both of whom would provide him with further success over the coming seasons.
He was leading jockey for the first half hour of the 1956/57 season, having won the very first race on Robin Adair at Buckfastleigh on August 4, 1956. That was also the tenth winner of his career, meaning his claim was reduced from 7lb to 5lb. He notched a double on Game Gambler and PX at Southwell on October 15, 1956. Robin Adair later provided Basil with the first leg of another double, completed by Battling Jack at Cartmel on June 10, 1957, giving him a total of five winners.
He made a good start to the following season, 1957/58, winning at Buckfastleigh and Newton Abbot on Portfolio. The first of those victories was Basil’s 15th, thus cutting his claim to 3lb. Novice chaser Star Legend provided him with both his other winners that season, scoring at Doncaster in January and Southwell in April.
Despite making another good start with a Buckfastleigh victory on Sanscrit on August 30, the 1958/59 campaign was disappointing, bringing just three winners, the others both being achieved at Southwell, Star Legend on December 22 and Le Madeal on April 28.
That total was doubled to six in 1959/60, with half of those victories coming courtesy of handicap hurdler Starlit II, trained by W Saunders at Diss, Norfolk. Those victories were gained within a seven week period at Lingfield on February 19, Doncaster on March 15 and Stratford on April 7. Eleven days after the last of those, Basil rode the Albert Bacon-trained Mr McTaffy to win a handicap chase on Market Rasen’s Easter Monday card, the 25th winner of his career, meaning he had lost the right to claim an allowance.
There were just three winners in 1960/61, all of them trained by Saunders, namely a double at Wye on October 24 on La Madeal and Ingleborough, and Notout at Leicester on February 21. Having made a bright start to the 1961/62 campaign by winning on four-year-old hurdler Chawton at Fontwell on August 22, he didn’t ride another winner all season.
Despite the severe winter of 1962/63, in which just one race meeting took place between December 22 and the start of March, things began to look up for Basil, having joined forces with first season trainer Tim Finch, who trained at Hapton Hall, Norwich. Working as head lad-cum-stable jockey to Finch, Basil won twice on Conkers Score, at Wye on October 22 and Worcester nine days later; on Ingleborough at Southwell on April 29; and on Algeciras at West Norfolk Hunt (as Fakenham was then known) on June 3, the latter forming part of a double with the Luther Bridge-trained Ardlui.
Six winners were achieved during the 1963/64 season: two on Ingleborough, at Southwell on December 16 and Market Rasen on March 7; two on selling hurdler Farmers Boy, at Wetherby on February 29 and Uttoxeter on March 31; on Rotton Row at Warwick on January 25; and King Riff at Wye on March 23.The 1964/65 season brought five more, all trained by Finch: selling hurdler Tomwin at Market Rasen on October 10, Easter Bell at Worcester on November 28; with the other three coming on Wye specialist Kalikrug who won three handicap hurdles there during the spring of 1965. That season also brought a ride in the 1965 Grand National, in which he completed the course last of 14 finishers on Moyrath. Three weeks later, Basil and Moyrath were second, beaten a length, in Fakenham’s Easter Monday feature, the Bullard’s Beer Handicap Chase.
He rode four winners in 1965/66, including Kempton View at Market Rasen on November 13 and Easter Bell at Stratford on February 5. There were just three in 1966/67, beginning with 14-year-old veteran Fox King at Fakenham on August 27, then Kempton View at Market Rasen on January 31, and finally the David Barons-trained Capstar at Plumpton on May 11.
Basil took out a trainer’s licence at the start of the 1967/68 season. Ironically, what was to be his last season in the saddle proved his most successful with a total of eight winners. Having opened his score on Kempton View, trained by permit holder E G Benton at Hevingham, Norfolk, the other seven were all achieved on horses he trained, four of them within the space of a fortnight. Juvenile hurdler Jamaica Four set the ball rolling when winning at Fakenham on October 14. Seven days later, Dollwyn landed a Catterick selling hurdle. Four days after that, Tungsten won at Fontwell, and then Dollwyn followed up at Huntingdon on October 28.
Selling hurdler Markus came good in the spring of 1968, winning twice at Wye, and Jamaica Four put the seal on a good first season training and last season riding, becoming what would be Basil’s final winner as jockey when landing a Huntingdon handicap hurdle on June 3, 1968.
He held a licence for a further five years but rode only occasionally, always on horses he trained himself, and failed to add to his total of 62 winners. Dollwyn went on to be a stable stalwart, winning half a dozen more races, all when partnered by other jockeys, including three as a 14-year-old in the 1971/72 season and one as a 15-year-old at Hexham on October 12, 1972 when ridden by Mick O’Shea. Basil finished second three times on Dollwyn, at Market Rasen and Fakenham in 1969 and at Uttoxeter in December 1970, but couldn’t quite gain that elusive victory. One of his final rides was on Dollwyn’s penultimate appearance, as a 16-year-old, at Kelso on 21 March 1973.
Basil enjoyed a long spell in the training ranks spanning three decades from 1967 until 1997, based for all but the first year at Hall Stables, Wellingore, near Lincoln. His best horse was Supreme Vista, who, as juvenile hurdler in the 1976/77 season won Nottingham’s Merit Hurdle and Leicester’s Golden Miller Pattern Hurdle. He was runner-up to Flying Diplomat in Sandown’s Imperial Cup in 1979 and followed that by notching three wins in a row in lesser company.
Basil Richmond died peacefully in Lincoln Country Hospital in June 2015, aged 78. His funeral took place on Tuesday, June 23 at All Saints Church, Wellingore. He left a wife Joy, son Clive, daughter Nicola, and four grandchildren, Matthew, Sophie, Connor and Ben.
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