Terry Biddlecombe

Terence Walter Biddlecombe was born in Gloucester on February 2, 1941. His father, Walter, ran a farm on the banks of the River Severn.

Terry's elder brother Tony had been the amateur champion jockey in 1961-62 and Terry quickly followed in his footsteps, winning 23 races as an amateur.

His first professional win came on Burnella, a 20/1 outsider in a novice hurdle at Wolverhampton. It was a particularly good effort as Brunella had refused at an early hurdle and took all of Terry's formidable strength to recover and beat the favourite, ridden by the equally formidable champion jockey Fred Winter.

Terry's father then insisted that one of his sons give up riding to help around the farm. Tony volunteered as he considered that Terry 'was going better at the time'.

While Terry's great strength was an undoubted asset, it was also part of an enduring problem as his sturdy physique forced him to spend hours in the sauna.

Stories about Terry and his love of booze and women became legendary.

At a Ludlow meeting, having ridden the first winner of the day, and having nothing to do until the last race, he was noticed disappearing off course with a female admirer. He returned to the weighing room in the nick of time to win the last race, but not before his fellow jockeys had ribbed him mercilessly about his liaison.

Early in his career, he broke both wrists so badly that he was forced afterwards to ride with gauntlets.

The day before the 1967 Gold Cup, Terry took a crashing fall which left him with serious knee ligament damage. He took pain-killing injections before riding Woodland Venture to victory past the great Mill House.

Terry never won the Grand National but his big race wins did include the Sweeps Hurdle (Normandy), the 1970 Welsh National, two Mackeson Gold Cups (Gay Trip), the Victor Ludorum, the Grand Sefton at Aintree and the Triumph Hurdle (Coral Diver).

Terry's greatest win is considered by many to have been his victory on French Excuse in the Welsh National. The previous two hours had been spent in a sweat room shedding 9 lbs. Feeling faint and seriously weakened by the effort of wasting, Terry considered pulling the horse up when almost coming to a standstill having misjudged the water jump. But French Excuse wanted to run and Terry, stealthily passing his rivals one by one, got up on the line to beat Astbury. Terry was almost unconscious as he pulled the horse up. The course doctor prescribed a pint of Guinness.

Terry became champion National Hunt jockey three times.

One bad race he rode was on Gay Trip in the 1972 Grand National. In search of faster ground, he chose to race wide, thus losing lengths. To the chagrin of trainer Fred Rimell, Terry was beaten just two lengths. Had he pursued an inside course, he would have won easily.

 After quitting the saddle,  he formed an unlikely relationship with trainer Henrietta Knight. He met her at a bloodstock sale at Malvern 1992 after returning from Australia where alcoholism had led to the end of his second marriage.

 At the time, Knight's stable was ravaged by equine flu. Many owners, as a result, had taken their horses elsewhere and Knight had begun drinking heavily.

 Amazingly, their partnership, both personally and professionally, was one made in Heaven. Winners, once again, began to flow.

In February 1999, Terry spotted a novice at a rain-sodden point-to-point in Lismore, Co Waterford. Two months later the horse, Best Mate, came to Knight's stables at West Lockinge.

Known as the Blond Bomber, Terry rode 908 winners.

He died on January 5th, 2014.

Terry was once dragged 200 yards by a runaway horse, resulting in a severely bruised kidney.

His big wins include:

1964:  Grand Sefton - Red Thorn

1964:  National Hunt Handicap Chase: Prudent Barney

1965:  Welsh Grand National - Norther

1965:  Fred Withington Chase:  Pappageno's Cottage

1966:  Spa Hurdle:  Trelawney

1967:  Cheltenham Gold Cup - Woodland Venture

1968:  Heinz Chase - Gay Trip

1969:  Triumph Hurdle - Coral Diver

1969:  Irish Sweeps Hurdle - Normandy

1969:  Victor Ludorum Hurdle - Coral Diver

1969:  Mackeson Gold Cup - Gay Trip

1969:  Arkle Trophy - Chatham

1970:  Fighting Fifth Hurdle - Inishmaan

1970:  Welsh Grand National - French Excuse 

1971:  Mandarin Chase -  The Pantheon

1971:  Mackeson Gold Cup - Gay Trip

1972:  Benson & Hedges Handicap Hurdle - True Luck

1973:  Great Yorkshire Chase - Charlie Potheen