W. H. Carr

William Henry Carr was born on 30 November 1916 at Clifton, near Penrith, on the estate of Lord Lonsdale for whom his father Robert Carr was travelling head lad to R.W.Armstrong.

When Armstrong moved to Tuphill, Middleham, the Carrs went with him and it was here that young Harry served his apprenticeship.

He rode his first winner on Knight’s Folly on July 21, 1931 at Ayr. In that debut season, he rode a reasonable seven winners.

In 1933, aged 16 and weighing 7st 4 lb, he went that winter to India to ride for the Royal Calcutta Turf Club. Here he gained his first important success. Riding Filter, a horse formerly trained by Armstrong, he won the £3,000 Kashmir Cup.

His second full season in England yielded 20 winners: again, that winter, he returned to India where he was becoming firmly established as a leading jockey.

At the outbreak of the Second World War, he joined a cavalry regiment: after the war he set up home in Middleham. Rides were hard to come by; owners had no idea about his success in India and had forgotten how well he had ridden as an apprentice. Despite his limited opportunities, he gradually found favour with the right people, one of whom recommended that Carr by considered for the vacancy of King’s jockey.

On September 1, 1946, thirty-year-old W.H.Carr was appointed the King’s jockey, succeeding Doug Smith who had accepted an offer to ride as first jockey for Lord Derby in 1948. The arrangement was that Carr would only ride the King’s horses trained at Newmarket. Gordon Richard would continue to ride those trained at Beckhampton.

At the end of his first season for the King (1947), he had ridden 81 winners and shared 5^th place in the jockeys’ list.

In June, 1948, he broke a leg when coming off Monjon at Birmingham. He underwent a bone graft in the London clinic. The King paid for the operation. Edgar Britt took over until the following spring. As a result of this accident, Carr missed the winning ride on Black Tarquin in that year’s St Leger.

Harry didn’t win a classic until riding Lady Wernher's Meld in the1955 One Thousand Guineas. Then, on the same filly, he won the Oaks and the St Leger.

His first real chance to win the Derby came in 1958 aboard ante-post favourite Alcide, who had easily won the Lingfield Park Derby Trial Stakes by a dozen lengths. Shortly after that Lingfield rout, Alcide was found to be wrong. The dopers had got at him. He was taken out of the race.

Harry only had to wait twelve months for compensation. He was to ride Parthia in the 1959 Derby, but fretted over the horse being drawn in stall one. He needn’t have worried; Parthia won by an easy length and a half from Fidalgo, ridden by his son-in-law, Joe Mercer.

Carr was offered, and took, the ride on Hethersett, 9/2 favourite for the 1962 Derby. Hethersett was one of seven horse that fell when Romulus fell 6 furlongs from home. Carr broke his shoulder and, then aged 45, his riding days were numbered. In July, 1964, on the advice of his doctors, he retired.

He then threw himself into the management of the Genesis Green Stud which he had founded in Wickhambrook near Newmarket, 1958.

Harry Carr died on Saturday, October 19, 1985. He was 68.

Harry rode a total of 1,363 winners.

Classic winners:

Derby: Parthia (1959)

Oaks: Meld (1955)

One Thousand Guineas: Meld (1955)

St Leger: Meld (1955), Alcide (1958), Hethersett (1962)

Other big wins:

1947: Gimcrack Stakes – Black Tarquin

1947: Nunthorpe Stakes – Como

1947: Ayr Gold Cup – Kilbelin

1947: Royal Lodge Stakes – Black Tarquin

1948: Dee Stakes – King’s Acre

1948: Lingfield Derby Trial – Black Tarquin

1948: Lingfield Oaks Trial – Angelola

1949: Challenge Stakes – Combined Operations

1949: Midland Cesarewitch – Fidonia

1949: Manchester November Handicap – Fidonia

1950: Coventry Stakes – Big Dipper

1950: Jersey Stakes – Double Eclipse

1950: July Stakes – Big Dipper

1950: Richmond Stakes – Grey Sovereign

1950: Nassau Stakes – Flying Slipper

1950: Champagne Stakes – Big Dipper

1950: Middle Park Stakes – Big Dipper

1950: Dewhurst Stakes – Turco ll

1951: St James’s Palace Stakes – Turco II

1951: Wokingham Stakes – Donore

1952: Lancashire Oaks – Stream Of Light

1952: Park Hill Stakes – Moon Star

1953: Lingfield Derby Trial – Aureole

1953: Lingfield Oaks Trial – Nectarine

1953: Goodwood Stakes – Papillio

1953: Great Voltigeur Stakes – Premonition

1954: Craven Stakes – Ambler II

1954: John Porter Stakes – Harwin

1954: Yorkshire Cup – Premonition

1954: Lingfield Oaks Trial – Angel Bright

1954: Goodwood Stakes – Osborne

1954: Hungerford Stakes – Tip The Bottle

1954: Doncaster Cup – Osborne

1955: Zetland Gold Cup – Blue Prince II

1955: Festival Stakes – Pappa Fourway

1955: King's Stand Stakes – Pappa Fourway

1955: Gordon Stakes – Manati

1955: July Cup – Pappa Fourway

1955: Coronation Stakes – Meld

1955: Coventry Stakes – Ratification

1955: Union Stakes – Live Spirit

1955: Diadem Stakes – Pappa Fourway

1956: Greenham Stakes – Ratification

1956: Thirsk Classic Trial – High Veldt

1956: Cheshire Oaks – Fairy Grove

1956: Dee Stakes – Atlas

1956: Shakespeare Stakes – Zarathrustra

1956: Old Newton Cup – Manati

1956: Richmond Stakes – Red God

1956: Doncaster Cup – Atlas

1956: Royal Hunt Cup – Alexander

1956: Goodwood Cup – Zarathustra

1956: Cornwallis Stakes – Star Magic

1957: Cheshire Oaks – Mulberry Harbour

1957: Lingfield Derby Trial – Doutelle

1957: Norfolk Stakes – Pall Mall

1957: Ribblesdale Stakes – Almeria

1957: Goodwood Stakes – Persian Flag

1957: Yorkshire Oaks – Almeria

1957: Park Hill Stakes – Almeria

1957: Cumberland Lodge Stakes – Doutelle

1957: Cambridgeshire Handicap – Stephanotis

1957: Princess Royal Stakes – Nagaika

1957: Horris Hill Stakes – Alcide

1958: Craven Stakes – Bald Eagle

1958: John Porter Stakes – Doutelle

1958: Ormonde Stakes – Doutelle

1958: Lingfield Derby Trial – Alcide

1958: Dante Stakes – Bald Eagle

1958: Lockinge Stakes – Pall Mall

1958: Coventry Stakes – Hieroglyph

1958: King Edward VII Stakes – Restoration

1958: Princess of Wales’s Stakes – Miner’s Lamp

1958: Richmond Stakes – Hieroglyph

1958: Princess Royal Stakes – Mother Goose

1959: Chester Cup – Agreement

1959: Dee Stakes – Parthia

1959: Lingfield Derby Trial – Parthia

1959: Lingfield Oaks Trial – Mirnaya

1959: Dante Stakes – Dickens

1959: Lockinge Stakes – Pall Mall

1959: St James’s Palace Stakes – Above Suspicion

1959: Jersey Stakes – Welsh Guard

1959: King George Vl & Queen Elizabeth Stakes – Alcide

1959: Doncaster Cup – Agreement

1959: Diadem Stakes – Jack & Jill

1960: Chester Vase – Mr Higgins

1960: Yorkshire Cup – Dickens

1960: Queen Mary Stakes – Cynara

1960: Nunthorpe Stakes – Bleep Bleep

1960: Queen Elizabeth ll Stakes – Sovereign Path

1961: Cheshire Oaks = Bernie

1961: Lingfield Derby Trial – Pardao

1961: Lingfield Oaks Trial – Impudent

1961: July Stakes – Burning Thoughts

1961: July Cup – Galivanter

1981: Magnet Cup – Proud Chieftain

1961: Gordon Stakes – Pardao

1961: Great St Wilfrid Handicap – Galivanter

1962: Palace House Stakes – Crisper

1962: Musidora Stakes – Fool’s Gold

1962: Yorkshire Cup – Sagacity

1962: Goodwood Cup – Sagacity

1962: Solario Stakes – Happy Omen

1962: Lowther Stakes – Dunce Cap

1962: Park Hill Stakes – Almiranta

1962: Jockey Club Cup – Pardao

1963: Nell Gwyn Stakes – Amicable

1963: Royal Stakes – Raise You Ten

1963: Lingfield Oaks Trial – Amicable

1963: Timeform Gold Cup – Pushful

1963: Molecomb Stakes – Crimea II

1963: Cheveley Park Stakes – Crimea ll

1964: Yorkshire Cup – Raise You Ten