Frankie Carroll

Irish National Hunt jockey Frankie Carroll enjoyed a career that spanned four decades and included back-to-back Thyestes Chase victories and, in Britain, the Scottish Grand National and Cheltenham Grand Annual Chase.

He had one of his earliest wins on Tiny Tot in the Clara Handicap Hurdle at Kilbeggan on September 26, 1949. He spent the first half of the 1950s in England, riding for Wylam, Northumberland trainer Verly Bewicke. His first British winner was Shillingford Bridge in a two-mile novices’ chase at Ayr on March 16, 1951. The following month he achieved a far more prestigious success when landing the Scottish Grand National at Bogside on 20-1 shot Court Painter.

Shillingford Bridge (twice) and Court Painter comprised Frankie’s three-winner haul for the 1951/52 season. He rode Court Painter in the 1952 Grand National, only for the horse to refuse at the very first fence. Shillingford Bridge provided with him with the first of his four winners for the following season, the highlight of which was his win his victory on Miss Paddy, another 20-1 shot, in the Grand National Trial Chase at Catterick on February 28, 1953.

With only two wins to show for the 1953/54 season, Frankie returned to Ireland that summer and went on to forge a successful career in the land of his birth.

He achieved his first victory of note in Ireland on future Grand National winner Sundew in the Dunraven Perpetual Challenge Cup Handicap Chase at Limerick’s 1954 Christmas meeting. Later that season he won the Easter Handicap Chase at Fairyhouse’s Easter fixture on Limavaddy for owner-trainer James J. Ryan. He wound up the season by winning the Ulster Handicap Chase at Downpatrick on Hopeful Colleen.

Frankie won chases on Let’s Face It at Wexford, Mullingar and Navan during an otherwise low-key 1955/56 season, but achieved a big race success the following term when winning the four-mile Conyngham Cup at Punchestown on The Babe II.

The best horse he rode during the 1957/58 campaign was the three-mile chaser Dandybash, on whom he won three in a row, beginning with the Dunraven Perpetual Challenge Cup at Limerick, following up at Baldoyle on New Year’s Day, then adding the Webster Cup at Navan at the end of January. The following September he won the Arthur Blennerhasset Memorial Chase at Tralee on Prince Safari, the pair following up at Listowel later that month and then scoring over hurdles at Limerick in October. He rode 66-1 outsider Richardstown in the 1959 Grand National, the partnership pulling up at the fourteenth fence.

He began the 1959/60 season by winning the Dundalk Handicap Hurdle on Monsieur Trois Etoiles on July and then finished third on him in the following month’s Galway Plate. The start of the new decade brought a change of fortune for Frankie, winning the 1960 Thyestes Chase on Paddy Sleator’s 10-1 shot Blue Moth and Leopardstown’s Foxrock Cup on Hunter’s Breeze.

Frankie registered his first Cheltenham Festival victory in 1960 when getting Monsieur Trois Etoiles home by half a length from David Mould’s mount Moretons in the Grand Annual Challenge Cup Chase. At Fairyhouse’s Easter meeting the next month he won the Ratoath Chase on Moyrath and followed his Cheltenham triumph on Monsieur Trois Etoiles by riding him to win the Easter Chase.

Later that year he rode Hunter’s Breeze to win the Christmas Handicap Chase at Leopardstown, following up in the 1961 Thyestes Chase. He rode Hunter’s Breeze in that year’s Grand National, falling at the seventeenth fence.

Also that year, he won the Baldoyle Handicap Chase on Monsieur Trois Etoiles, then won twice more on him, over fences at Leopardstown and over hurdles at Naas. He won four races on Loyal Tan, beginning the Rank Cup at Killarney in July and the Widger Memorial Cup at Waterford & Tramore in August, then following up at Listowel in September and Naas in November. He finished 1961 with a career best score of 22 wins for the year, Ireland’s statistics at that time being decided on a calendar year basis rather than by season.

At the 1962 Fairyhouse Easter fixture, Frankie won the New Handicap Hurdle on the Jimmy Brogan-trained Anthony. He ended that year by winning Leopardstown’s Christmas Handicap Chase on Clementine, giving him a score of 15 wins.

On the Friday of Liverpool’s 1963 Grand National meeting Frankie rode the Paddy Norris-trained Running Rock to a short-head victory in the Lancashire Hurdle. The next day he rode Moyrath in the Grand National but was already in arrears when falling at the twelfth fence. He rode two winners the following month at Fairyhouse, landing a handicap hurdle on Erindale Boy and the Dunshaughlin Handicap Chase on Flamecap.

He began 1964 by winning the New Year Handicap Hurdle on Royal Road at Baldoyle’s New Year’s Day fixture. At the same course the following month he rode Running Rock to victory in the Malahide Handicap Hurdle.

He registered a four-timer at Naas on February 12, 1966, comprising three maiden hurdles and a two-mile chase on Blue Blazes. He’d won a three-mile chase at a previous Nass meeting on Flamecap and rode that horse in the 1966 Grand National. They parted company at the 23rd fence, having been prominent early.

In July of that year, Frankie won Galway’s prestigious Guinness Handicap Hurdle on the Kevin Prendergast-trained Warkey. On November 2 he won a Fairyhouse maiden hurdle on Herring Gull, then 16 days later rode him to victory in division one of the Bingley Novices’ Hurdle at Ascot. His other notable wins that season included Baldoyle’s Malahide Handicap Hurdle on Golden Idol and the Guinness Handicap Chase at Punchestown on Blue Blazes.

In November 1968 he won the Troytown Chase at Navan on the Willie Rooney-trained Battle Dust. At Baldoyle on New Year’s Day 1969, he rode 5-2 favourite Munster Tim to victory in the New Year Handicap Hurdle. He notched a Baldoyle double on February 13, 1971, and registered a second Cheltenham Festival success aboard Khan in that year's Grand Annual Chase, but by then his career was nearing its end. He rode his last winner in a Leopardstown novice chase aboard Celtingo on December 6, 1972.

He was unlucky not to bow out with a winner at Leopardstown’s Christmas meeting the following month, finishing second in both divisions of the Three-Year-Old Hurdle, beaten a head on the second occasion. He had his final ride on Anglo Argentinian the following day, December 27, 1972, in the Sweeps Hurdle, finishing seventh behind Captain Christy, Comedy Of Errors, Brendan’s Road, Bula, Inkslinger and True Luck. He was in top-class company for his farewell ride.

Frankie Carroll died in December 2011, aged 82.

Frankie Carroll’s British winners were, in chronological order:

1. Shillingford Bridge, Ayr, March 16, 1951

2. Court Painter, Bogside, April 14, 1951

3. Shillingford Bridge, Carlisle, October 15, 1951

4. Shillingford Bridge, Newcastle, December 8, 1951

5. Court Painter, Wetherby, February 16, 1952

6. Shillingford Bridge, Kelso, October `18, 1952

7. Shady Customer, Ayr, October 25, 1952

8. Miss Paddy, Catterick Bridge, February 28, 1953

9. Knockaddin, Ayr, March 21, 1953

10. Steel-Chat, Hexham, October 3, 1953

11. Monsieur Trois Etoiles, Cheltenham, March 8, 1960

12. Game Field, Haydock Park, March 6, 1954

13. Running Rock, Liverpool, March 29, 1963

14. Herring Gull, Ascot, November 18, 1966

15. Khan, Cheltenham, March 17, 1971

His major wins in Ireland included:

1954: Dunraven Perpetual Challenge Cup Handicap Chase (Limerick) on Sundew.

1955: Easter Handicap Chase (Fairyhouse) on Limavaddy; Ulster Handicap Chase (Downpatrick) on Hopeful Colleen.

1957: Conyngham Cup Handicap Chase (Punchestown) on The Babe II; Junction Handicap Hurdle (Limerick Junction) on Bar Royal; Dunraven Perpetual Challenge Cup Handicap Chase (Limerick) on Dandybash.

1958: Webster Cup Handicap Chase (Navan) on Dandybash; Arthur Blennerhasset Memorial Chase (Tralee) on Prince Safari.

1960: Thyestes Chase (Gowran Park) on Blue Moth; Foxrock Cup (Leopardstown) on Hunter’s Breeze; Easter Handicap Chase (Fairyhouse) on Monsieur Trois Etoiles; Christmas Handicap Chase (Leopardstown) on Hunter’s Breeze.

1961: Thyestes Chase (Gowran Park) on Hunter’s Breeze; Baldoyle Handicap Chase (Baldoyle) on Monsieur Trois Etoiles; Rank Cup Chase (Killarney) on Loyal Tan; Widger Memorial Cup Chase (Waterford & Tramore) on Loyal Tan.

1962: New Handicap Hurdle (Fairyhouse) on Anthony; Junction Handicap Hurdle (Limerick Junction) on Anthony; Christmas Handicap Chase (Leopardstown) on Clementine,

1963: Dunshaughlin Handicap Chase (Fairyhouse) on Flamecap.

1964: New Year Handicap Hurdle (Baldoyle) on Royal Road; Malahide Handicap Hurdle (Baldoyle) on Running Rock.

1966: Guinness Hurdle (Galway) on Warkey.

1967: Malahide Handicap Hurdle (Baldoyle) on Golden Idol; Guinness Handicap Chase (Punchestown) on Blue Blazes.

1968: Troytown Handicap Chase (Navan) on Battle Dust.

1969: New Year Handicap Hurdle (Baldoyle) on Munster Tim.