Alan Errington

Article by Chris Pitt

Alan Errington, who gained his biggest success in the 1969 Goodwood Stakes, spent his entire working life in Epsom. He had begun his racing career on leaving school in 1965, serving a five-year apprenticeship with trainer John Benstead.

He rode his first winner on Benstead’s Royal Regent in a Folkestone selling handicap on May 25, 1967. His only other winner that year was for another Epsom trainer, Peter Ashworth, on Fast Wind at Sandown, carrying just 6st 10lb. He also rode the popular veteran Operatic Society, by then an 11-year-old, in the Steve Donoghue Apprentice Handicap at Epsom, leading into the straight before fading to finish fifth.e

Alan rode five winners in 1968, all for John Benstead, beginning with Treble J in the Young Entry Apprentice Handicap at Ascot in May. He won two more races on Treble J that year, at Leicester (right) and Chepstow. Twenty-four hours before the Chepstow victory, Alan had finished second in the Steve Donoghue Apprentice Handicap on Royal Rubicon, beaten by Michael Day on the 10-year-old Ulster Prince, who thus kept the prize in Epsom for his trainer Cyril Mitchell.Three of Alan’s four winners in 1969 came courtesy of John Benstead’s four-year-old filly Amberwood, who won at Lingfield and Warwick before giving her rider his biggest moment in the saddle when winning the Goodwood Stakes (left) despite putting up 2lb overweight at 8st in that two-mile three-furlong handicap.

Interestingly, prior to putting together those three back-to-back victories, Alan had ridden Amberwood on her seasonal debut in an apprentices’ race at Epsom’s Spring meeting, where they finished second to Alvaro, who was giving his rider Pat Eddery the first winner of his illustrious career.

Alan’s other winner that year, Dover Castle (right) at Windsor, was for yet another Epsom handler, former champion jockey Scobie Breasley.

He had just one winner in 1970, Amberwood again, this time at Lingfield in July, before quitting the saddle to concentrate on working with horses. He stayed with John Benstead for 35 years, graduating through the ranks to become head groom, a position he subsequently occupied for a brief spell with Geoff Lewis, before he, like Benstead, retired from training.

Alan joined another Epsom trainer, Simon Dow, in 2001 and became his right-hand man. A skilled horseman and an extremely capable work rider, he quickly became an integral part of Dow’s training operation. In 2007 he finished runner-up in the Stud & Stable Staff Awards.

Although he had by then finished riding out, he expressed no intention of retiring and his sudden death in October 2013, aged 64, came as a shock to his many

friends and work colleagues in and around Epsom. He left a wife, Jan, daughter Louise and two grandchildren.

Simon Dow, having praised his skill as a horseman and work rider, added: “He was very level-headed, hugely experienced, very good with young horses and with people and will be impossible to replace. Alan was one of those people the industry can’t operate without and was a very kind man as well.”

Alan Errington’s winners were, in chronological order:

1. Royal Regent, Folkestone, May 25, 1967

2. Fast Wind, Sandown Park, July 19, 1967

3. Treble J, Ascot, May 4, 1968

4. Treble J, Leicester, June 4, 1968

5. Amberwood, Lingfield Park, July 20, 1968

6. Zinnia Fair, Lingfield Park, August 10, 1968

7. Treble J, Chepstow, September 3, 1968

8. Amberwood, Lingfield Park, May 16, 1969

9. Amberwood, Warwick, June 7, 1969

10. Amberwood, Goodwood, July 30, 1969

11. Dover Castle, Windsor, September 8, 1969

12. Amberwood, Lingfield Park, July 18, 1970