Archie Conkie
1882-1975
Archibald Conkie was born in Scotland in 1882. He served his apprenticeship with trainer John McCall at Dunbar. He has a small place in horse racing history, having ridden the last two winners at the final meeting under Jockey Club rules at Paisley.
Paisley was one of Scotland’s earliest racing venues. Paisley Town Council records allude to an Act of the Ballies in 1608 when it was “concluded that ane silver bell be made of 4 oz weight, with all diligence for ane horse race yearly to be appointed within this burgh and the bounds, and a day for running thereof to be set down by advice of my lord Earl of Abercorn, Lord Paisley and Kilpatrick.”
Racing at Paisley was one of the main attractions of the annual St James’ Fair in August. The original course was located near Underwood but a new one was built in 1827 within St James’ Park, at the northern boundary of the town. Its feature race was the Silver Bells Handicap.
Creature comforts and safety measures were few and far between at Paisley, which led to its licence being withdrawn by the Jockey Club Stewards in 1900. Paisley Town Council took over the course and made several much-needed improvements so that its licence was restored in 1901. The ten-furlong Renfrewshire Handicap was introduced to beef up the first day’s card, with the Silver Bells Handicap being the second day’s highlight.
Following its resumption, Paisley’s annual two-day fixture in August proved a lucky one for apprentice jockey Archie Conkie, who had ridden his first winner on Miss Flite in the Birdforth Apprentice Plate at Thirsk on April 28, 1904. At Paisley that same year he won the Ferguslie Selling Plate on Sandy Land. He finished third there on Hepburn in the 1905 Renfrewshire Handicap; and in 1906 he won the Ferguslie Selling Plate for a second time on an unnamed two-year-old filly by Tilton out of Honeys.
Also in 1906, Archie won Redcar’s Zetland Handicap in August on Queen Of Sheba, and Carlisle’s Autumn Handicap in September on Wedderburn, on whom he followed up at Lanark later that month. He ended the season with victory on Sir William in a Thirsk selling race. All of those winners were trained by John McCall.
Archie finished his apprenticeship at the end of that year and took out a professional jockey’s licence the following season. He rode three winners at what would prove to be Paisley’s last meeting under Jockey Club rules on Thursday 8th and Friday 9th August 1907. On the first day he won the Craigends Selling Plate for two-year-olds on Billie Burke, then rode a second-day double in the last two races, the Blythswood Selling Handicap on Sketchy Bits and the St James’ Park Plate on Drudge, beating the 5-4 favourite Aherlow by a length and a half.
Later that month, he won again on Sketchy Bits, landing s seller at Hamilton. While Archie would go on to forge a decent career, the writing was already on the wall for the future of Paisley’s racecourse – and the graffiti made grim reading.
The Town Council tried hard and Paisley’s two-day meeting had proved popular with Glaswegian racing folk, but at the end of 1907 the Jockey Club withdrew the course’s licence again, partly because it did not have a straight five-furlong course and thus failed to comply with Jockey Club requirements then in force, but mainly because they considered it unsafe. This time there was to be no reprieve.
Paisley’s two-day fixture was transferred to Ayr. The Town Council’s minutes of a meeting on June 26, 1908 reveal that when racing under Jockey Club rules ended, Pony and Galloway races were to be allowed for the August meeting. Thus, it was Colonel Hopwood’s Loch Sween who had the honour of winning the final running of the Silver Bells.
By then the bells had long since tolled for racing at Paisley. The stands were soon dismantled and today St James’ Park is made up of playing fields, just a couple of furlongs away from Glasgow Airport.
As for Archie Conkie, his last win on the Flat came at Lanark on September 29, 1908 when Ursula Shipton won the Wishaw Handicap by a length. His final appearance on the Flat was when Sunny Girl finished unplaced in the Park Hill Maiden Two-Year-old Plate at Pontefract on July 8, 1920.
Although he had concentrated on the Flat before the First World War, Archie had one winner over jumps to his name, that being when riding Chieftain to a 10-length victory in the Annandale Steeplechase at the Dumfriesshire Hunt meeting on April 9, 1907. All four of his rivals fell but Bourtreehill was remounted to finish second.
Once his Flat career was over, Archie returned to the National Hunt scene. He rode as stable jockey for Malton trainer Percy Botterill and enjoyed some initial success. At Southwell on May 12, 1921, he won the first three races on the card, starting with a short head victory on Glorette in the Aslockton Hurdle, beating Ranter, ridden by future Grand National-winning jockey Bob Lyall, who was then just starting his career. Later that same afternoon, after Archie had registered his treble, Bob had his first success when Udan won the Rainsworth Hunters’ (Amateur Riders) Handicap Chase.
The second leg of Archie’s treble was also a close-run thing, as The Settler took the Moderate Handicap Hurdle by half a length from Littlewanted, ridden by Sidney Jones, with Jack Anthony a length further back in third on London Pride. The final leg of the treble was an easier success, with Petrusen winning the Southwell Selling Handicap Hurdle by four lengths.
Despite this excellent start, Archie did not make much progress as a jump jockey, with just six more wins spread over seven years, all of them at Wetherby. His final victory came on Whit Monday, May 28, 1928 when Choker was an easy winner of Wetherby’s Collingham Hurdle, beating the favourite Grey Squirrel by six lengths.
His brother, Alfred, also rode over jumps in the 1920s.
In later life, Archie was employed as a stable lad to Captain Charles Elsey and later to Pat Beasley. He lived to a ripe old age, dying in 1975, aged 93, in his home town of Malton.
Archie Conkie’s winners under National Hunt rules were, in chronological order:
1. Chieftain, Dumfriesshire Hunt, April 9, 1907
2. Glorette, Southwell, May 12, 1921
3. The Setter, Southwell, May 12, 1921
4. Petrusen, Southwell, May 12, 1921
5. Rayon, Wetherby, October 31, 1924
6. Adventure, Wetherby, November 4, 1925
7. Sir Picton, Wetherby, November 5, 1925
8. Red Ruin, Wetherby, May 22, 1926
9. Choker, Wetherby, October 27, 1927
10. Choker, Wetherby, May 28, 1928
