Lionel Brown 

Lionel Gerald Brown

The son of a hotelier, Lionel Gerald Brown was born in Gloucestershire on 25 March 1933. His diminutive stature – just 4ft 7in – made him ideally suited to a career as a jockey, despite never having ridden a horse before beginning his apprenticeship with George Colling at Newmarket.

He rode his first winner on Hervine, trained by Colling, in a nursery at Newmarket on 10 October 1950. He later completed his apprenticeship with Ernie Davey at Norton, North Yorkshire.

Brown’s first major success came in 1952 when, still a 7lb claimer, he won Alexandra Park’s feature race, the London Cup, on course specialist Cider Apple. It was the horse’s third victory in the race, having previously won in 1949 and 1950 under fellow apprentice Tommy Witts. During the 1952 season, Brown partnered Cider Apple to four additional wins – two at Windsor and two at Birmingham – over distances ranging from a mile and a half to two and a half miles.

Based in the north for most of his career and living in Malton, Lionel enjoyed his most successful season in 1965, riding 58 winners. Among his notable big-race victories were the Usher Brewery Gold Tankard at Ayr in 1961 on Three Wishes; Haydock’s Old Newton Cup in 1962 on Cloudy Wyn; the Magnet Cup at York in 1967 on Copsale; and Redcar’s Vaux Gold Tankard, also in 1967, on Farm Walk.

He rode several top-class horses during his career, including the sprinters Goldhill and Fleece, and the versatile Three Wishes. He also partnered Lochnager in each of his four starts as a two-year-old, and won the Spring Handicap at Lincoln in 1964 on Magic Court – just eleven days after the same horse had won the Champion Hurdle under Pat McCarron.

Brown, whose hobbies included golf and snooker, was related by marriage to two fellow northern-based jockeys – Jimmy Etherington and Jackie Willett. All three had married sisters from the Cook family and were thus brothers-in-law.

Throughout the 1960s, Lionel was consistently among the leading jockeys in the north, regularly riding between 30 and 40 winners per season. His peak came in 1965 when his 58 victories placed him 12th in the jockeys’ championship. However, his opportunities began to dwindle with the arrival of the 1970s, and his annual tally fell to between 10 and 20 winners. He later acknowledged that this decline may have been due in part to his refusal to telephone owners or trainers in search of rides.

He retired at the end of the 1976 season, having ridden a total of 532 winners in Britain. His final winner came aboard Fear Naught, trained by his brother-in-law Jimmy Etherington, at Wolverhampton on 21 October 1976. His last ride was eight days later, on 29 October, when he finished unplaced on Etherington’s Golden Lane at Newmarket.

Following his retirement from the saddle, Lionel assisted Etherington in running a horse-transport business in Malton.

He and his wife Pauline had two sons – Gerald, who also became a jockey, and Richard Arthur – and a daughter, Susan Rose. The family later emigrated to Australia, where Lionel died on 20 February 2025, aged 91.

Biggest Wins
1952: London Cup – Cider Apple
1961: Usher Brewery Gold Tankard – Three Wishes
1962: Old Newton Cup – Cloudy Wyn
1967: Magnet Cup – Copsale
1967: Vaux Gold Tankard – Farm Walk