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Gordon Welsh
Article by Chris Pitt
Gordon Welsh was born in Belford, Northumberland, on October 7, 1950. He served his apprenticeship in Newmarket, firstly with Jack Jarvis and then, when Jarvis retired, with former champion jockey Doug Smith.
Gordon rode his first winner on Trumpeter (above) in the Railway Apprentices’ Handicap at Sandown on May 27, 1969. Trumpeter was trained by Doug Smith and carried the famous primrose and rose hooped silks of Lord Rosebery.
It was those same colours that Gordon wore when registering by far the biggest success of his career, the 1970 Magnet Cup at York on Lord Rosebery’s Timon (above), also trained by Doug Smith. Gordon was still claiming a 7lb allowance at the time but was unable to utilise any of his claim as he put up 7lb overweight at 7st 4lb.
It was a close-run thing with Timon beating the previous year’s Lincoln winner Foggy Bell by a head in a desperate finish which saw the first four split by less than half a length.
He continued to ride until 1984 and had his share of winners but none at such an elevated level as the Magnet Cup, now known as the John Smith’s Cup.
Gordon Welsh (right) died on January 1, 2011, aged 60.
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