Archibald Carrel

Archibald Carrel

Article by Alan Trout

Although Archibald Thomas Carrel had a few rides on the Flat before the First World War, he made little impression. He fared better over jumps in the early 1920s, riding 10 winners. 

He began his apprenticeship with former champion jockey Charlie Wood and had his first ride at Lingfield Park on an unnamed two-year-old in the West Courtenay Plate on June 1, 1912, finishing unplaced. Wood’s training career ended soon after and Archibald did not ride on the Flat again after 1912. 

Granted a National Hunt jockey’s licence in 1920, he rode his first winner on Isis in a Wye selling chase on November 10, 1920, scoring by a distance from the only other finisher, Little Slave. Three wins on the six-year-old handicap chaser Broadway were all he managed in 1921, but he doubled that score with six in 1922, including a double at the Norwich Hunt meeting at Hethersett. An unusual feature of that year was that he dead-heated twice on the same horse within the space of 14 days. At Kempton Park on December 1, Archibald on Troika shared the Barnes Three-Year-Old Selling Hurdle with former Flat champion jockey Frank Wootton on British Warm. On December 15 at Hurst Park, it was the turn of Isaac Morgan and King’s Governor to share the spoils with Troika at the end of the Surbiton Three-Year-Old Selling Hurdle.

That Hurst Park dead-heat proved to be the last win of Archibald Carrel’s career. He resumed riding on the Flat and continued to hold a licence until 1926, but without riding any winners. 

Archibald Carrel’s winners were, in chronological order:

1. Isis, Wye, November 10, 1920

2. Broadway, Lingfield Park, January 22, 1921

3. Broadway, Folkestone, March 7, 1921

4. Broadway, Sandown Park, March 30, 1921

5. Tripper, West Norfolk Hunt (Fakenham), April 17, 1922

6. Tripper, Norwich Hunt (Hethersett), April 27, 1922

7. Teddie Dear, Norwich Hunt (Hethersett), April 27, 1922

8. Troika, Kempton Park, December 1, 1922 (dead-heat)

9. Oh! Dick, Gatwick, December 6, 1922

10. Troika, Hurst Park, December 15, 1922 (dead-heat)