Harriman Ford

Harriman Ford

Article by Alan Trout

Born in 1881, Harriman St John Ford rode nine winners over jumps in a career that was either disrupted by the First World War or curtailed by injury. 

He had his first victory on Dilwyn in the Novices’ Hurdle at Ludlow on February 26, 1913, scoring by two lengths. It was his sole success of the year, but he rode three winners in 1914 and five in the early months of 1915. They included another on Dilwyn, three on the hurdler Kenwave, and wins on consecutive days of Wetherby’s 1915 Easter meeting. 

He also survived an objection for ‘boring and crossing at the last flight of hurdles but one’ by leading jockey Ernie Driscoll, rider of runner-up Lady Katrine, after the finish of the Earlstown Handicap Hurdle at Haydock Park on January 9, 1915. However, he was not so fortunate at Shirley Park two months later when his mount, Vieux Marcheur, was disqualified after winning the Hall Green Selling Handicap Hurdle for crossing after the last flight.

Harriman’s last win was on Maglona in the Charlton Park Selling Handicap Hurdle at Cheltenham on April 15, 1915. Maglona was also his final ride when falling in the Powick Selling Handicap Hurdle at Worcester later that month, on April 28. Whether that fall led to his retirement just as his career was starting to blossom, or whether he signed up and went to war, is unknown. 

Harriman Ford’s winners were, in chronological order:

1. Dilwyn, Ludlow, February 26, 1913 

2. Kenwave, Hooton Park, March 13, 1914

3. Kenwave, Ludlow, April 24, 1914

4. Dilwyn, Uttoxeter, November 2, 1914

5. Sting, Haydock Park, January 9, 1915

6. Kenwave, Derby, January 28, 1915

7. Royal Visit, Wetherby, April 5, 1915

8. Corbally, Wetherby, April 6, 1915

8. Maglona, Cheltenham, April 15, 1915