Sime. Joe

Joseph Francis Sime, the son of a painter at the local docks, was born in Liverpool on July 27th 1923.His ambition as a young boy was to be a footballer but, too small in stature to achieve this, he went instead to Newmarket where he became apprenticed to Dawson Waugh at the Somerville Lodge Stables. Joe rode his first ever winner on Firle at Newmarket May 15th, 1941. 

This was also his very first ride in public.He went on to become champion apprentice in 1943 (with just five winners, the lowest winning total ever) and again in 1944 with just nine. 

He was champion apprentice for the third time in 1946 when his forty winners included the Portland Handicap on The Shah.Waugh retired at the end of 1942 and Joe completed his apprenticeship with Waugh’s nephew, Jack, at the Heath House stables in Newmarket.

At this time he lived at 22, St Phillip's Road, Newmarket.

His first important win came on Mad Carew in a substitute Manchester November Handicap ran at Pontefract in 1943. Riding for Captain Charles Elsey, he won the 1947 Ebor Handicap on Procne, then won the same race again twelve months later on Domino.

His first Royal Ascot success came in 1948 when he took the King George V Handicap on Lake Placid. In 1949, he won the Hardwicke Stakes on the three-year-old Helioscope and the

Wokingham Stakes on Light Harvest in 1956.

One of his most important wins came on the brilliant sprinter Chris in the King’s Stand Stakes in 1959. The horse was trained by his great friend, the former jockey Willie Nevett, Joe’s predecessor as Cock o’ the North (how the leading northern rider was then known).Joe excelled at Royal Ascot where his wins included Lucky Guy (Queen Anne Stakes 1959), Smartie (Royal Hunt Cup 1962, pictured above) plus Pavot and Beddard (Queen’s Vase 1962 and 1965).

Joe rode a second Cesarewitch winner on Utrillo for Ryan Price’s Findon stable in 1963. Two years later he won a third on Mintmaster.

In a career that spanned 29 years, from 1941 to 1969, Joe rode 1,420 winners, his best season coming in 1960 when finished 4th behind Lester Piggott in the jockeys’ championship with 108 winners.Pipe smoking Joe, a friendly, modest person, retired to live at 80, Cantley Road, Doncaster from where he worked as a journalist for The People and ran a newsagents just by the course.

Joe enjoyed golf, cricket and football. His favourite racecourse was Redcar.Joe died on October 22nd 1996 and was survived by his wife Joan, whom he married on November 30, 1946, and by their two sons, Paul and David, and daughter, Maureen.

The Joe Sime Memorial Race for three-year-olds is run each summer over the full St Leger course

Joe won many big races including:

KING'S STAND STAKES

1959    Chris 3-8-10    Mr H Hartley    Billy Nevett     9/4    

DEWHURST STAKES

1947    Pride Of India 2-8-13    Mr Jim Joel       John Watts     5/2    

1960    Bounteous 2-8-13    Mrs H Leggatt      Rufus Beasley    2/1    

1963    Kings Lane 2-8-12    Mr L Chamberlain    Sam Hall  10/1    

YORKSHIRE CUP

1957    Souverlone 4-8-4    Mr R F Dennis    Harry Peacock  50/1    

HARDWICKE STAKES

1949    Helioscope 3-7-6    Lady Zia Wernher    Cecil Boyd-Rochfort   20/1    

HANDICAPS

AYR GOLD CUP

1959    Whistling Victor 3-7-8    Mr R Galloway    G Laurence  7/1    

CESAREWITCH

1958    Morecambe 5-9-1    Mr J Bullock    Sam Hall    15/2    

1963    Utrillo 6-8-0    Mr J Gerber    Ryan Price  100/8   

1965    Mintmaster 4-7-9    Mr E Collington    Sam Hall   13/2   

EBOR

1947    Procne 4-8-4    Mr Jim Joel    Charles Elsey   8/1   

1948    Donino 4-8-12    Mr W Cockerline    A Cooper  100/7  

1957    Morecambe 4-7-9    Mr J Bullock    Sam Hall  100/8   

1963    Partholon 3-7-8    Mrs A Biddle    T Shaw  100/6 

LINCOLN

1951    Barnes Park 5-8-0    Mr H Lane    George Boyd   33/1   

1962    Hill Royal 4-7-9    Mr D Murray    Eric Cousins  50/1   

1963    Monawin 8-7-9    Mr Ron Mason    Ron Mason   25/1    

MAGNET CUP

1963     Raccolto 6-8-3    Mr L Lazarus    Sam Hall    6/1    

NORTHUMBERLAND PLATE

1950    Light Cavalry 4-7-6    Mr A McLeod    M Everitt   10/1    

NOVEMBER HANDICAP

1943    Mad Carew 4-7-6    Mrs W Robottom    P Vasey    33/1   

1950    Coltbridge 4-7-6    Mr D Thomson    Sam Hall    100/6 

When Joe finally retired, he lived happily for many years in a house that backed  onto Rose Hill at Doncatser Racecourse.