Peter Victor Duller was the nephew of the great hurdle race specialist George Duller, champion National Hunt jockey in 1918. In contrast to his uncle, Peter’s British record stood at just three wins over jumps, although on at least three other occasions he was beaten by less than a length.
Granted a licence for the 1939/40 season, he opened his account at Cheltenham on November 6, 1940, when his mount, Sayago, landed th4e Rosehill Three-Year-Old Hurdle. Like most of the 19 runners, Sayago was tackling hurdles for the first time, and had just a neck to spare over Rest Assured, ridden by Bill Hollick.
Twelve days later, Sayago ran at Southwell in the Mansfield Juvenile Hurdle, but was ridden this time by William Crump, for Peter was on board Pride of Lochiel, owned by Dorothy Paget. Peter finished second that day and occupied the same position on Wyn in the Three-Year-Old Hurdle at Nottingham on November 25. Both defeats had been by three-quarters of a length.
However, in the very next race on that Nottingham card, Peter rode the second winner of his career when Law Court, owned and trained by Walter Nightingall at Epsom, won the Clifton Selling Hurdle by half a length. Sadly, that was the margin by which he lost when Law Court ran again, at Cheltenham on December 11, when defeated by George Burry on Say Nowt in the Tetbury Selling Hurdle.
Peter had to wait more than five years for his third and final victory on British soil – although, of course, there was no National Hunt racing in Britain from March 1942 to January 1945. Jump racing had resumed for little more than a year when Peter rode Fete de Neuilly, trained by his uncle, George Duller, to win the Blacknest Novices’ Hurdle (Division III) at Windsor on February 13, 1946. Prior to winning that Windsor race, Peter had ridden the six-year-old in all three of his unplaced efforts since coming over from Ireland.
Peter did not renew his licence for the 1946/47 season. Instead, he headed to Australia to continue his career there. He did well initially but there was to be a tragic ending, for Peter Duller died, aged 26, of a fractured skull, suffered when his mount, Lucky Rae, fell in a hurdle race at Morphettville, South Australia, on February 3, 1951.