Sid Francis

Sid Francis

1918-1993

Article by Alan Trout

The career of National Hunt jockey Sidney Alfred Francis, known as Sid, began soon after the end of the Second World War. Over the next decade he rode 33 winners, all but four of them trained, and often owned, by William Hide, father of top-class Flat jockey Edward,

Born in 1918, Sid’s first ride in public did not go well, for his mount, Spey Royal, was one of three brought down at the second flight in the Lincoln Juvenile Hurdle at Southwell on December 8, 1945. 

He had to wait until October 18, 1946 for his first success, which came when Free Etching was a comfortable winner of the Hawling Hurdle at Cheltenham, beating Miss Spud by 12 lengths. Free Etching had been second on each of his two previous starts that season, with Sid aboard and the combination went on to win eight races together over the next four and a half years.  

He finished that 1946/47 campaign with six wins, then did even better in 1947/48 with seven, but that was the most he ever achieved in a single season. He registered a double at Hereford on Easter Monday 1949, ending that campaign with a score of five.

The eight-year-old Bere Hill, winning his second race in nine days, gave Sid his final success when taking the Knolton Selling Handicap Hurdle at Bangor-on-Dee on October 29, 1955. 

He bowed out with an unfortunate ride at Uttoxeter on March 22, 1958, when unseated from Tilth before the first flight in the Belper Hurdle.

Sid Francis died in 1993.

His winners were, in chronological order:

1. Free Etching, Cheltenham, October 18, 1946

2. Free Etching, Wolverhampton, November 18, 1946

3. Wending Way, Wolverhampton, December 26, 1946

4. Alonzo, Southwell, April 5, 1947

5. Sir Lancelot, Bangor-on-Dee, May 3, 1947

6. New Pipers, Newport, May 26, 1947

7. Hazel Weave, Newton Abbot, August 23, 1947

8. Hazel Weave, Devon & Exeter, August 28, 1947

9. Free Etching, Newport, September 20, 1947

10. Auld Reekie, Ludlow, October 2, 1947

11. Auld Reekie, Newport, October 11, 1947

12. Free Etching, Haydock Park, November 29, 1947

13. Free Etching, Birmingham, December 13, 1947

14. Life Story, Newton Abbot, September 11, 1948 (walkover)

15. Stow Hill, Taunton, November 6, 1948

16. Stow Hill, Hereford, April 18, 1949

17. Impeller, Hereford, April 18, 1949

18. Free Etching, Woore, April 21, 1949

19. Free Etching, Woore, October 13, 1949

20. Highland Robber, Carlisle, April 8, 1950

21. Cillas Cottage, Market Rasen, May 13, 1950

22. Royal Shoot II, Bangor-on-Dee, October 3, 1950

23. Stow Hill, Leicester, February 13, 1951

24. Maddocks, Chepstow, April 14, 1951

25. Free Etching, Woore, May 3, 1951

26. Hunting Cap, Worcester, October 1, 1952 

27. Hunting Cap, Bangor-on-Dee, October 25, 1952

28. Violin, Ludlow, October 31, 1952

29. Hunting Cap, Hereford, May 25, 1953

30. Violin, Bangor-on-Dee, October 17, 1953

31. Bright Bird, Uttoxeter, March 20, 1954

32. Bere Hill, Woore, October 20, 1955

33. Bere Hill, Bangor-on-Dee, October 29, 1955