Michael Day
Article by Chris Pitt
Article by Chris Pitt
Michael Day became apprenticed to Cyril Mitchell at Epsom at the age of 16 in 1961 and went on to ride four winners, all of them in apprentice races, all of them trained by Mitchell. His first was Lioncello in the Apprentice Selling Handicap at Kempton Park on July 16, 1963, his only success that season.
Michael Day became apprenticed to Cyril Mitchell at Epsom at the age of 16 in 1961 and went on to ride four winners, all of them in apprentice races, all of them trained by Mitchell. His first was Lioncello in the Apprentice Selling Handicap at Kempton Park on July 16, 1963, his only success that season.
He had to wait until April 23, 1965, for his second winner, aboard Peter O’Sullevan’s grey mare Friendly Again in the Long Distance Apprentices’ Handicap at Sandown. Again, that was his sole victory of the year, although he twice went close on Cyril Mitchell’s Espeekay, firstly in the £1,000 Wheeler’s Little Fish Apprentices’ Handicap at Alexandra Park and then in the Apprentices’ Handicap at Brighton.
He had to wait until April 23, 1965, for his second winner, aboard Peter O’Sullevan’s grey mare Friendly Again in the Long Distance Apprentices’ Handicap at Sandown. Again, that was his sole victory of the year, although he twice went close on Cyril Mitchell’s Espeekay, firstly in the £1,000 Wheeler’s Little Fish Apprentices’ Handicap at Alexandra Park and then in the Apprentices’ Handicap at Brighton.
He gained his third success on the three-year-old Royal Villain in the Elham Apprentices’ Selling Handicap at Folkestone on
He gained his third success on the three-year-old Royal Villain in the Elham Apprentices’ Selling Handicap at Folkestone on
September 5, 1966. Eleven days’ later, Friday, September 16, he rode his fourth – and final – winner on The Swan Checker in the Apprentice Selling Handicap at Kempton, a photo of which appeared in the next day’s Sporting Life. But that, alas, was the only occasion on which Michael Day made front page news as a jockey.
September 5, 1966. Eleven days’ later, Friday, September 16, he rode his fourth – and final – winner on The Swan Checker in the Apprentice Selling Handicap at Kempton, a photo of which appeared in the next day’s Sporting Life. But that, alas, was the only occasion on which Michael Day made front page news as a jockey.
The simplicity of the names of the races he won – the Apprentice Selling Handicap, the Long Distance Apprentices’ Handicap – tells its own story. Today such races, even though bereft of a sponsor, would be bestowed with monikers such as Ladies’ Night Next Meeting 30th July Apprentice Selling Handicap, or something similar. Back then, the race titles conveyed precisely what they were, humble contests for humble horses partnered by young, inexperienced riders. Humble they may have been but, for Michael Day at least, they represented four days he would always remember.
The simplicity of the names of the races he won – the Apprentice Selling Handicap, the Long Distance Apprentices’ Handicap – tells its own story. Today such races, even though bereft of a sponsor, would be bestowed with monikers such as Ladies’ Night Next Meeting 30th July Apprentice Selling Handicap, or something similar. Back then, the race titles conveyed precisely what they were, humble contests for humble horses partnered by young, inexperienced riders. Humble they may have been but, for Michael Day at least, they represented four days he would always remember.
