Herbert Feltham

Herbert Feltham

Article by Alan Trout

Herbert Stanley Gordon Feltham made a promising start to his career with nine wins in the 1925/26 season but only added two more. 

He had a comfortable first success when Kitty Mount won the Springfield Maiden Three-Year-Old Optional Selling Hurdle by 15 lengths at Chelmsford on October 22, 1925. She was trained by Lewes-based George Poole, who had won the 1921 Grand National with Shaun Spadah. Kitty Mount, who was making her hurdling debut when winning at Chelmsford, won again at Nottingham five days later, partnered this time by Poole’s stable jockey Fred ‘Dick’ Rees.

It was not until the opening week of 1926 that Herbert had his second success, but after that, the winners came steadily throughout the rest of the season. He also had a ride in the 1926 Imperial Cup on Kinnaird, which had won his last three races when ridden by Dick Rees, but this time the six-year-old only managed to finish eighth of the 13-runner field.  

There was only one winner the following season, and even that one, More Pride in the Slough Handicap Hurdle at Hawthorn Hill on November 12, had to survive an objection by the rider of the runner-up on grounds of foul riding. 

Herbert’s final win came on Howe Hill in the Pembroke Handicap Hurdle at Bournemouth on March 28, 1928. Howe Hill was the outsider of three but beat Janira, ridden by leading amateur Lawrence ‘Ginger’ Whitfield, by half a length, with the 11-4 on favourite Gold Willow, the mount of former champion jockey Ted Leader, a length away in third. Despite that success, Herbert did not ride another winner and relinquished his licence after the 1929/30 season.

He is not to be confused with Stanley Hubert (sometimes listed as Herbert) Joseph Feltham (1904-1950) who was active on the Flat around the same time, holding a licence between 1924 and 1928. 

Herbert Feltham’s winners were, in chronological order:

1. Kitty Mount, Chelmsford, October 22, 1925

2. Declare’s Hope, Gatwick, January 6, 1926

3. Morning Guide, Chelmsford, February 10, 1926

4. Greenhorn, Lingfield Park, February 12, 1926

5. Morning Guide, February 23, 1926

6. Stop Flirting, Hurst Park, March 12, 1926

7. Red Conrad, Sandown Park, March 18, 1926

8. Esperos, Folkestone, April 7, 1926

9. Red Conrad, Uttoxeter, April 12, 1926

10. More Pride, Hawthorn Hill, November 12, 1926

11. Howe Hill, Bournemouth, March 28, 1928