The jockey whose name spelt Death, that was Reginald De’Ath, who was active under National Hunt in the immediate post-war years, riding on the northern circuit and posting a career score of 31 winners.
He rode initially for owner-trainer Major Ian Straker and struck up a good partnership with Straker’s veteran chaser Barricade, winning for the first time on him at Catterick on November 30, 1945, then following up at Wetherby on December 14. He won on Straker’s novice chaser Family Gathering at Wetherby in March and rounded off the season with three winners over Hexham’s two-day Whitsun fixture, landing a double on Saturday’s card aboard Straker’s novice hurdler Sand Castle and 14-year-old Barricade, then scoring on Barricade again on Bank Holiday Monday.
Reg rode Barricade to another victory at Hexham on October 12, 1946 and won three more races that season on Family Gathering, including Wetherby’s Christmas Handicap Chase on Boxing Day, along with winners for other trainers. He won on Major Straker’s chasers Nancy’s Choice at Catterick on November 8, 1947 and Sand Castle at Nottingham on October 26, 1948, but by then opportunities were becoming more limited, as Major Straker’s two amateur rider sons, Clive and John, were beginning to boot home winners and were coming in for the lion’s share of the rides.
Handicap chaser Silken Thomas, trained by George Dickinson at Cark-in-Cartmel, gave Reg a pair of winning rides at Sedgefield in February and Kelso in March 1950, two of only three he had all season.
However, the 1950/51 campaign yielded seven winners, including a double Carlisle on Saturday, October 14 on hurdler Bristol Fashion and chaser Devilstone. He then rode a winner on both days of Catterick’s two-day midweek fixture to give him four wins in the space of five days. He won again on Devilstone at Sedgefield in March 1951 and then scored on Lamento at Carlisle on Easter Monday.
Shortly after that Easter Monday success, he came in for his one and only ride in the Grand National, on 40/1 shot Sergeant Kelly. They avoided the first fence carnage which saw 12 of the 36 runners come crashing down, but were one of four to make their exit at the seventh, unluckily being brought down.
Reg’s last season with a licence was 1951/52, during which he rode five winners, the last three coming courtesy of handicap chaser Cock Feathers in the spring of 1952, at Sedgefield on March 8, Ayr on March 24 and, finally, at Bogside on April 25.