Article by Chris Pitt
National Hunt 7lb claimer Robin Dean Biggs served his apprenticeship on the Flat with Noel Murless at Newmarket but rode no winners in that sphere.
He then joined the mixed yard of owner-trainer John Meacock at Alresford, in Hampshire. Meacock was a somewhat eccentric character, best known for being a forerunner of Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum (thoughwithout the same financial resources as the Sheikh!) in giving all his horses Arabic names, such as Vakil-ul-Mulk, Qalibashi, Qasr-I-Zar and Mumpkin-Ast. Another of these was Qebir Kuh, who duly became Robin’s first winner when landing a Plumpton selling hurdle on December 2, 1964. Robin finished second on Vakil-ul-Mulk (whose owner-trainer had run him in the 1963 Derby) later that month at Newton Abbot.
Having failed to ride a winner during the 1965/66 campaign, he joined Derek Ancil, who trained at MiddletonStoney, near Bicester, in Oxfordshire, at the start of the 1966/67 season. He won three races on handicap hurdler on Peronto (two at Hereford and a dead-heat at Wye), owned and trained by Edward Monck on his farm at Chalgrove, Oxford. In November 1966 he won two chases on Derek Ancil’s Prince Bon Bon. However, having ridden five winners in little more than two months, he did not ride another all season.
On July 1, 1967, Robin Biggs and fellow jockey Johnny Haine were injured when their car was involved in an accident near Newbury. They were rushed to Newbury Hospital. Johnny Haine escaped with nothing worse than a broken ankle but Robin was transferred to Battle Hospital, Reading, with his jaw and both legs broken. His condition was said to be “quite serious”.
He eventually made a full recovery and was able to renew his jockey’s licence and ride again but his career had suffered an irreversible setback and he never rode another winner, eventually relinquishing his licence in 1969.
Robin Biggs’ winners were, in chronological order:
1. Qebir Kuh, Plumpton, December 2, 1964
2. Peronto, Hereford, September 17, 1966
3. Peronto, Wye, October 24, 1966 (dead-heat)
4. Peronto, Hereford, November 2, 1966
5. Prince Bon Bon, Windsor, November 16, 1966
6. Prince Bon Bon, Warwick, November 29, 1966
