Colin Brunt was a south-west based amateur rider who rode a total of 20 winners under National Hunt rules over four seasons in the mid-1950s, half of those courtesy of a mare named Misty Evening.
The son of a Taunton permit trainer, Colin rode his first winner on his father’s horse Lyng Gold in the Marley Handicap Hurdle at Buckfastleigh on August 8, 1953, but didn’t ride another until winning the very same race on the same horse twelve months later.
After that there was no stopping him, as he rattled off nine more winners that season, six of them on the prolific juvenile hurdler Misty Evening. He rode seven the following season, including a double at Wincanton, while Misty Evening took him to a rarefied level when winning handicap hurdles at Cheltenham and Newbury.
Colin won a novice chase and a handicap chase on Misty Evening in February 1957, the latter contest under 12st 7lb, conceding weight all round. However, she failed to win again that season.
Nor did Colin ride another winner. It is possible that rising weight limited his opportunities to ride in National Hunt races. He had the occasional mount during the 1960s, however he had to put up 8lb overweight to ride at 12 stone when partnering Nicky Pinch’s novice chaser Sun Orchid at Newton Abbot on Easter Monday 1965.
Three of his final rides under National Hunt rules were on a hunter chaser named Prepotent in 1968, falling when lying in third place in the Cheltenham Foxhunters, then finishing third at Uttoxeter, then pulling up in the Essandem Hunters’ Perpetual Challenge Trophy at Fakenham on Whit Monday.
Colin Brunt’s winners were, in chronological order:
1. Lyng Gold, Buckfastleigh, August 8, 1953
2. Lyng Gold, Buckfastleigh, August 7, 1954
3. Misty Evening, Wincanton, October 7, 1954
4. Misty Evening, Taunton, October 9, 1954
5. Misty Evening, Wincanton, December 9, 1954
6. Misty Evening, Newton Abbot, December 27, 1954
7. Misty Evening, Taunton, February 5, 1955
8. Dunaran, Wincanton, March 17, 1955
9. Misty Evening, Taunton, May 5, 1955
10. Lyng Gold, Buckfastleigh, May 28, 1955
11. Lyng Gold, Newton Abbot, September 2, 1955
12. Misty Evening, Cheltenham, October 13, 1955
13. Misty Evening, Newbury, December 31, 1955
14. Glimmering, Wincanton, January 26, 1956
15. Criterion, Chepstow, March 10, 1956
16. Ballinascorney II, Wincanton, March 15, 1956
17. Missionary, Wincanton, March 15, 1956
18. South Bank, Taunton, October 13, 1956
19. Misty Evening, Taunton, February 9, 1957
20. Misty Evening, Wincanton, February 21, 1957
