Lord Patrick Beresford rode the winners of the Past and Present Hunters’ Chase and the Past and Present Handicap Chase at Sandown’s Grand Military meeting. He took part in four Grand Military Gold Cups, achieving his best placing when third in 1963.
Patrick Tristram de la Poer Beresford was born on June 16, 1934, the second son of John Charles de la Poer Beresford, 7th Marquess of Waterford, the Beresfords being descendants of a family established in Ireland in 1179.
He joined the Royal Horse Guards in 1952 and attained the rank of captain. He served with the RHG for eleven years, including deployments to Cyprus where he was awarded the GSM in 1957 as part of the British Army of the Rhine (BAOR).
A keen polo player and socialite, he was secretary of the Brigade Polo Club of the Royal Horse Guards, of which the Duke of Edinburgh was president. At the Duke’s suggestion, Lord Patrick was a guest of the Royal Family at Windsor Castle in 1957 for Royal Ascot, where he was photographed accompanying Princess Margaret.
He was a keen amateur rider and achieved his first success under National Hunt rules when winning Sandown’s Past and Present Hunters’ Chase on Major Robert Collie's good horse Topper on March 21, 1958. Topper had won the race the previous year when ridden by his owner.
Lord Patrick had seven rides under NH rules the following season which yielded one winner, a horse named Syrup in a Market Rasen hunters’ chase on March 7, 1959. That year also marked his first attempt at winning the Grand Military Gold Cup, only to fall on Young Pretender.
He won Sandown’s Past and Present Handicap Chase on the Frank Cundell-trained Super Flash on March 24, 1962. He finished fourth in that year’s Grand Military Gold Cup on Lord Fermoy’s Blunt’s Cross. He twice rode Blunt’s Cross to victory over fences in Ireland that season, winning the Thomond Chase at Limerick’s Christmas fixture and the Dunboyne Plate at Fairyhouse on Easter Monday.
Lord Patrick finished third on Shavings in the 1963 Grand Military Gold Cup and sixth on Baxier in 1965, his final ride in the race.
He transferred from the Royal Horse Guards to No. 1 (Guards) Independent Parachute Company in 1963 and took part in the deployment to Cyprus and Borneo. From there, he went on to join R Squadron of 22 Special Air Service (SAS) Regiment, rising to the rank of Major. He was part of the overseas deployment to the Mid and Far East during a career from 1966 to 1974.
Having left the service, he remained active in the veterans’ community and became president of the Guards Parachute Association.
His elder brother, the 8th Marquess of Waterford, died on February 11, 2015. Unfortunately, Lord Patrick was unable to attend the funeral due to ill health.
