Anthony Collins

Article by Alan Trout

Anthony Charles Collins was granted a licence for the 1944/45 National Hunt season and had his first ride on the day that jump racing resumed after its mid-war hiatus. 

At Cheltenham on January 6, 1945, he partnered the six-year-old Rudolph, trained by Hector Smith, in the Shurdington Novices’ Hurdle. They finished unplaced, but on November 23 of that year, they won the Croft Selling Hurdle at Worcester, giving Anthony the only victory of his career.

Trained by former jockey Arthur Yates, Rudolph was having his seventh race, and the main interest afterwards was in the performance of the runner-up, Eastern Silver, with the stewards considering that the four-year-old should have been better schooled before being sent to the racecourse.

Although Anthony kept the ride on Rudolph for a while, he was eventually replaced by the good amateur rider Joe Spencer, and did not renew his licence after the 1946/47 season.