Sharp, Roy

Roy Sharp

Article by Chris Pitt

Roy Sharp held a National Hunt jockey’s licence between 1958/59 and 1963/64, amassing 16 winners during that period.

He rode his first winner on a horse named Boggy in a Wincanton selling hurdle on Easter Monday 1959. His second came on Whit Monday at Hereford for Collingbourne Ducis trainer Alec Kilpatrick, on novice chaser Certain Justice, who, when acquired by Faversham owner-trainer Albert Neaves, went on to become a Fontwell specialist, his dozen victories round that figure-of-eight circuit – the last at the age of 13 in 1966 – resulting in a race being named in his honour at the Sussex track.

Roy’s association with Kilpatrick’s handicap chaser Sir Edmund was responsible for his only three winners of the 1959/60 campaign. The first two of those came within 48 hours in September at Fontwell and Wincanton; the third, at Sandown in December, was the Robinson Challenge Cup, worth a princely £204.

In 1961 Roy joined forces with John St. Aubyn Trevisick, a butcher by trade, who trained a small string of about eight at Barnstaple, North Devon. Trevisick had ridden some 50 point-to-point winners prior to taking out a trainer’s licence in 1959.

Their first success together was achieved with Cansale at Taunton in May 1961. Thereafter their standard bearers were long distance hurdler Original Sin, selling hurdler Mr Wiggs, and handicap hurdler Highland Myth.

Original Sin (twice), Mr Wiggs (twice) and Highland Myth gave Roy five winners for the 1961/62 season, the latter also giving him a good start to 1962/63 with two August victories at Devon & Exeter, the second of those being in £176 Weldon Memorial Cup.

Despite having three winners in the opening month, Roy rode only one more all season, Trevisick’s selling hurdler Your Lead at Taunton, May 4, 1963. He rode none at all during 1963/64 and relinquished his licence at the end of that season.

Roy Sharp’s 16 winners in chronological order were:

1. Boggy, Wincanton, March 30, 1959

2. Certain Justice, Hereford, May 18, 1959

3. Sir Edmund, Fontwell, September 15, 1959

4. Sir Edmund, Wincanton, September 17, 1959

5. Sir Edmund (above), Sandown, December 9, 1959

6. Vol De Nuit, Wincanton, September 15, 1960

7. Cansale, Taunton, May 4, 1961

8. Original Sin, Worcester, December 1, 1961

9. Original Sin, Newton Abbot, December 26, 1961

10. Mr Wiggs (above), Warwick, March 3, 1962

11. Mr Wiggs, Newton Abbot, April 23, 1962

12. Highland Myth, Devon & Exeter, June 9, 1962

13. Highland Myth, Devon & Exeter, August 9, 1962

14. Highland Myth, Devon & Exeter, August 23, 1962

15. Devon Orchid, Newton Abbot, August 29, 1962

16. Your Lead, Taunton, May 4, 1963