Pat Beasley

1906 -1982

Born in Ireland on August 9, 1906, Patrick Thomas Beasley was the son of Harry Beasley, who rode in 13 Grand Nationals, winning it once in 1891 on Come Away, who he also trained, and finishing second three times. Harry was a remarkable man, winning a race at Punchestown when he was 71, and riding for the final time at the age of 83 in a Baldoyle bumper. 

Pat was educated at Ampleforth College, near Malton, in Yorkshire and, always known as Rufus (from the colour of his hair), had great charm beneath his soft brogue. He wore a faraway look that suggested absent-mindedness, and his slight stoop disguised the tough, intelligent rider that he was.

Though reared in an environment of steeplechasing – his Uncle Tom rode three Grand National winners, while his nephew Bobby Beasley was destined to win it on Nicolaus Silver in 1961, along with a Champion Hurdle and a Cheltenham Gold Cup – Rufus’s riding and training career was devoted exclusively to the Flat. 

He began as an amateur, having his first ride in public when finishing unplaced on Senator J. J. Parkinson’s General Slaughter, who was also making his racecourse debut, in the Juvenile Stakes at the Curragh on Tuesday, April 24, 1923. By the end of that summer he had turned professional and become apprenticed to Senator Parkinson at Maddestown Lodge, on the edge of the Curragh. He rode his first winner on Wardley Dell, owned and trained by Edward Kennedy of Straffan Stud, in the Apprentices’ Plate at the Curragh on October 25, 1923. His second winner came at the same course the following month aboard Senator Parkinson’s Flying Prince in the Apprentices’ Plate.  

When the arrangement with Senator Parkinson came to an end in June 1926, Rufus came to England and joined Chattis Hill, Stockbridge trainer Atty Persse, for whom his brother Harry Beasley was then stable jockey. He rode his first British winner on Brown Talisman, owned by Admiral of the Fleet Sir Hedworth Meux and trained by Atty Persse, in the valuable Hurst Park Two-Year-Old Stakes on Saturday, July 24, 1926.

He recorded his first notable success on Donzelon, trained by Persse, in the 1927 Salisbury Cup, a race he was to win again two years later on the legendary Brown Jack.

At Newbury on June 13, 1928, he rode his first double in England, winning the Royal Plate on O’Curry for Persse and the Kennet Stakes on Spanish for Whatcombe trainer Richard Dawson. Eight days later, O’Curry provided Rufus with his first Royal Ascot victory in the Ribblesdale Stakes. 

Further Royal Ascot success soon followed. In 1930, riding for trainer Victor Gilpin, he registered an opening day treble, winning the Ascot Stakes on Bonny Boy II, the St James’s Palace Stakes on Christopher Robin and the Queen Mary Stakes on Atbara.

His tally of 65 winners in 1933 included a four-timer at Edinburgh. He only managed 40 wins in 1934 due to being ill with jaundice, which necessitated him spending several weeks in a Dublin nursing home and rendered him unable to ride for much of the season. 

He was then retained by the Newmarket trainer Bob Colling, for whom he won the July Cup on Ballacose in 1935 and 1936.

In 1936, he succeeded Joe Childs as first jockey to Captain Cecil Boyd-Rochfort. For him, he won the 1936 St Leger and 1937 Eclipse on Boswell, the 1937 Gold Cup on Precipitation and the 1937 Champion Stakes on Flares. 

Rufus rode 71 winners in 1938. They included seven in a row on Panorama, culminating in the Champagne Stakes at Doncaster. He won Kempton’s Great Jubilee Handicap and Epsom’s Coronation Cup on Monument and rode five winners at that year’s Royal Ascot.

Soon after the declaration of war, Pat volunteered for the R.A.F., although he was not called up until 12 months later. He’d ridden two winners in 1941 before being informed that he was to be enlisted. He was subsequently invalided out, having suffered from a suspected duodenal ulcer, and spent some time recuperating in Ireland. He finished the war as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Home Guard.   

Back riding again in 1945, he rode eight winners from 88 mounts but, struggling with his weight, turned to training at the end of the season, initially renting a yard at Norton and then buying Wold House, Malton. In his first season, 1946, he trained the winners of 12 races worth a total of £5,407. 

As a trainer, he was successful in several major handicaps. His biggest wins included Sterope (1948 & 1949 Cambridgeshire and 1949 Royal Hunt Cup), Jupiter (1953 Wokingham and 1953 Cambridgeshire), Baron’s Folly (1957 Queen Anne Stakes), Fougalle (1960 Magnet Cup), Harmon (1962 Portland Handicap), Gay Casino (1963 Thirsk Hunt Cup), Sportsville (1967 Zetland Gold Cup) and Farm Walk (1967 Vaux Gold Tankard and 1968 Magnet Cup). 

Among his best horses was Bounteous, winner of the 1960 Dewhurst Stakes. Leaving nothing to chance, during the horse’s preparation for the 1961 Derby, Rufus hired a brass band. Trumpeters and trombonists lined his private Malton gallops and blasted away as the colt galloped past. The idea was that the fairground din of Epsom would not trouble Bounteous at all. Though well placed early in the straight, Bounteous faded to finish eighth in the Derby. However, later that year he finished second, beaten three-quarters of a length, in the St Leger.  

Rufus finally retired in 1974. His autobiography, ‘Pillow to Post’, was published in 1981. He died on April 6, 1982, aged 75. He left £44,724. 

Classic winners

St Leger: Boswell (1936)

Irish St Leger: Ballyvoy (1927)

Irish Oaks: Superbe (1939)

Other major winners:

1927: Salisbury Cup – Donzelon 

1927: Red Rose Stakes – Stranathro

1928: Ribblesdale Stakes – O’Curry 

1929: Salisbury Cup – Brown Jack 

1929: Queen’s Vase – Covendon 

1929: Irish Cambridgeshire – Cherrypicker 

1929: Irish Cesarewitch – Tor 

1930: Queen’s Prize – Cacao 

1930: Greenham Stakes – Christopher Robin 

1930: Ascot Stakes: Bonny Boy II 

1930: Queen Mary Stakes – Atbara 

1930: St James’s Palace Stakes – Christopher Robin 

1931: Prince of Wales’s Stakes – Sir Andrew 

1932: Windsor Castle Stakes – Generous Gift 

1935: Queen’s Plate – Omaha 

1935: Chesterfield Stakes – Bellacose 

1935: July Cup – Bellacose 

1935: Scarborough Stakes – Bellacose 

1935: Challenge Stakes – Bellacose 

1936: Craven Stakes – Monument 

1936: Cork and Orrery Stakes – Bellacose 

1936: July Stakes – Foray 

1936: July Cup – Bellacose 

1936: Richmond Stakes – Perifox 

1936: Nunthorpe Stakes – Bellacose 

1936: Champagne Stakes – Foray 

1937: Ascot Gold Cup – Precipitation 

1937: Eclipse Stakes – Boswell

1937: National Breeders’ Produce Stakes – Portmarnock 

1937: Gordon Stakes – Perifox 

1937: Richmond Stakes – Unbreakable 

1937: Champagne Stakes – Portmarnock 

1937: Champion Stakes – Flares 

1938: Great Jubilee Handicap – Monument 

1938: Coronation Cup – Monument 

1938: Coventry Stakes – Panorama 

1938: Ribblesdale Stakes – River Prince 

1938: Windsor Castle Stakes – Portobello. 

1938: King’s Stand Stakes – Foray 

1938: Gordon Stakes – Valedictory 

1938: Champagne Stakes – Panorama 

1938: Middle Park Stakes – Foxbrough II

1938: Dewhirst Stakes – Casanova 

1939: Craven Stakes – Signal Light 

1939: Victoria Cup – Unbreakable 

1939: King Edward VII Stakes – Hypnotist 

1940: Middle Park Stakes – Hyacinthus