Edward Adams

Born in Wakefield circa 1938, Edward Adams was apprenticed to James Walsh, who trained at Priory Stables, Nostell Estate, near Wakefield, in Yorkshire.

He rode his first winner on a four-year-old filly named Fernet Branca, trained by Walsh, in the Apprentices’ Handicap over the straight mile at Lincoln on March 19, 1956, the first race of the new Flat season. In so doing, he became leading jockey for half an hour until Ken Gethin rode the next two winners and leapfrogged to the top of the table. 

Edward went on to ride four more winners that year, two of them at Catterick on James Walsh’s two-year-old First Shoe, and two for Hambleton trainer Jack Calvert, Light Appeal in a Stockton apprentice race and Royal Star in a Redcar maiden. 

He rode two winners from 33 mounts in 1957, both of them for James Walsh: Fernet Branca at Edinburgh in July, and Knock On Wood at Ripon in August.  

His apprenticeship finished later that year but Edward stayed with Walsh’s stable and took out a professional jockey’s licence in 1957, only to relinquish it in June. He renewed it in 1958 but relinquished it again in August. 

After two years without a licence, he renewed it once more in 1962 and had a few rides as a freelance. Two of them were on the two-year-old filly Mrs Mitre, finishing last of ten and seventh of eight in five-furlong maidens at Ripon in May and Pontefract in June. He had his final ride in public on 33-1 outsider Rexumber in a Doncaster nursery on October 19, 1962, finishing unplaced.    

His seven winners were, in chronological order.

1. Fernet Branca, Lincoln, March 19, 1956

2. First Shoe, Catterick Bridge, June 13, 1956

3. First Shoe, Catterick Bridge, June 27, 1956

4. Light Appeal, Stockton, August 17, 1956

5. Royal Star, Redcar, October 13, 1956

6. Fernet Branca, Edinburgh, July 10, 1957

7. Knock On Wood, Ripon, August 5, 1957