Article by Chris Pitt
Brian George Beetles was born on February 12, 1939. He held a jump jockey's licence from 1954/55 to 1968/69 but never rode a winner.
He served a four-year apprenticeship with Jack Nichols, who had won the 1947 Cheltenham Foxhunters’ Chase on Sidney Banks’ Lucky Purchase and trained at Buckworth, near Huntingdon.
Brian made his riding debut at Nichols’ local track, Huntingdon, aboard Sweet Ruth in a handicap hurdle on October 16, 1954, finishing unplaced. On Easter Monday 1955 he finished third on Sweet Ruth, beaten 1½ lengths and 3 lengths, in a Huntingdon two-mile handicap chase. The following month the combination returned to Huntingdon, only to fall in the selling chase. In those days Huntingdon only staged three days’ racing a year and Brian had ridden Sweet Ruth at all three of those fixtures.
Brian did his national service with the Kings Troop Royal Horse Artillery. He returned for the 1959/60 season but the following campaign he suffered head injuries in a bad fall from Jack’s Corner at Towcester on October 29, 1960. The front page of the Sporting Life on November 1 reported his condition as being “satisfactory”.
He was back in action by the start of 1962, riding Guerancy for Vernon Cross in a handicap hurdle at Newbury on January 20. Then on March 3 he finished second on Guerancy in a Taunton selling hurdle, beaten 8 lengths. Sadly, second was the closest he would come to riding a winner.
In January 1967 Brian came in for the mount on the Russian horse Kalibre II, a five-year-old chestnut gelding from the Soviet Steppes. He was trained at Hunstanton, Norfolk, by Chris Jones who believed Kalibre II to be the first of its breed – a Budyonovski – to race in Britain under National Hunt Rules.
Kalibre II was by Kodex out of Bomba and was shipped from Russia to be auctioned in England in 1965. He was bought originally for showjumping and dressage but was switched to racing because “he just loved to gallop and gallop,” said his trainer.
Kalibre II was exercised each day on Hunstanton’s celebrated golden sands. Said Jones: “He loves a daily dip. The seawater strengthens his legs and muscles them up very well indeed.”
The horse was entered in a two-mile Lingfield Park novices’ hurdle on January 20, 1967. His trainer said: “I am very hopeful of his chances. The only problem is that I think he might need three miles. He is a horse of great endurance and stamina.”
Partnered by Brian Beetles, Kalibre II was soon in rear and trailed home last of the 19 finishers. Undaunted, Jones ran Kalibre II at Ascot the following month, again with Brian riding, but they again finished well beaten. Following those two disappointing performances, Kalibre II did not race again.
Coincidentally, just seven days after Kalibre II had made his inauspicious Lingfield debut, a horse named Sirius III became the first Russian-bred jumper to score in Britain, at least in living memory, when winning the Combermere Novices’ Hurdle (Div II) at Windsor, trained by Peter Cazalet and ridden by David Mould.
Sirius III, a bay horse by Rangier out of Situzja, was owned by London solicitor Isador Kerman, who said: “I leased two yearlings, Sirius III and a filly, from the Russian government. The filly was returned, but I kept the colt and sent him to Walter Nightingall to be trained for the flat. Walter suggested sending him jumping, and he was transferred to Peter Cazalet. I bought him outright from the Russians at Christmas.” It proved to be a sound investment as Sirius III went on to win several more races over hurdles and fences for Cazalet and Mould.
The previous season, 1965/66, a horse foaled in Bulgaria, Zmei III, a six-year-old gelding by Cihangir out of Etika, owned and trained by Richard Price at Clyro, Herefordshire, had run in five novice hurdles but failed to make the frame in any of them.
As for Brian Beetles, he continued to struggle for rides and what few he did get were no-hopers. Between April 1964 and April 1967 he struck up an association with a veteran selling chaser named Bakhtayar, a horse who didn’t win his first race until he was 12 years old. By 1964 he was a 14-year-old but he continued to run for three more years. Brian rode Bakhtayar on eight occasions without ever making the frame, including when finishing unplaced on his final start, aged 17, in a Leicester selling chase on April 24, 1967.
Asked to nominate the best horse he rode during his career, Brian chose Guerancy, who had given him that second-place finish at Taunton. When asked for the highlight of his career, he replied: “The first time I was placed – Sweet Ruth at Huntingdon.” That’s fair enough, for finishing within 4½ lengths of the winner was as close as he ever got.
He suffered a head injury when he fell out of his bed at Kettering Hospital (on October 26 and died two weeks later on November 9, 2014.
From Desborough, Brian had been involved in a number of falls before being admitted to hospital.
The inquest was told that his cause of death was pneumonia and a large subdural haemorrhage.
Speaking at the inquest, nurse Genevieve Lowe said she had raised the side rail on Mr Beetles' bed before he had fallen.
Family members, however, said that whenever they had visited Mr Beetles the rails had been lowered.
Coroner Hassan Shah returned a verdict of accidental death. He said: 'There was an underlying and unresolved pneumonia - however, I am satisfied that this underlying condition was hastened and exacerbated by the very serious head injury.'
He accepted nurse Lowe's evidence that the rails on the bed had been raised.
The inquest heard that Mr Beetles was a fit and active man who was a professional jockey until the age of 38.
