Alastair Branford was born on March 18, 1946, and at one time lived at Flat B, 26, High Street, Lambourn.
He served a 5-year apprenticeship with Fulke Walwyn, and the occasion of their first meeting bears the telling: when Branford introduced himself as Alastair, Walwyn replied "I'll never remember that! We'll have to think of something else...'
Just then, Walwyn's sausage dog, Aly, walked into the office. "That's it!" said the trainer. "We'll call you Aly."
Later that week, Aly was in the paddock awaiting instructions. Walwyn bellowed "What the hell are you doing here? Get out!"
A surprised Aly, head bowed, muttered an apology.
"Not you," roared Walwyn. "The bloody dog."
Aly's first winner, Exhibit A, came on only his second ride, at Stratford on October 9, 1965.
His big race wins included the 1968 Massey-Ferguson Gold Cup at Cheltenham on Tassilo and the 1969 County Hurdle at the same track on Gay Knight.
Keen golfer Aly rode The Dikler in the 1975 Hennessy and again in the Cheltenham Gold Cup the following March.
When he won at Newbury on Game Spirit, it was not only his, but also Walwyn's first for the Queen Mother. Aly recalled "I was so nervous about getting all the etiquette right that I bowed so low I nearly fell over."
His career came to a sudden end in one of the most calamitous novice chasers ever run at Ascot. Six of the 10 jockeys finished up in hospital, including Aly, whose wrist needed to be reconstructed with bones from other parts of his body. He never rode again.
Amazingly, at the age of 66, Aly discovered that he had another talent: he was asked by Lady Oaksey to buy a carved walking stick for her husband John. On seeing those on offer, and their various prices, Aly thought he could do a lot better.
Returning home, he carved one out and gave it to Lady Oaksey, who was delighted.
From this humble start, Aly switched to casting a selection of his carvings in bronze. So successful were they that Aly began exhibiting them in Chelsea.
