Colin Casey 

Colin Casey

Colin Casey was born in Birmingham in 1931. He held a jockey’s licence between 1947 and 1965 and rode both on the Flat and over jumps.

Aged 14, he started a seven-year apprenticeship with Sam Armstrong at Middleham, earning two shillings a week. He stayed with Armstrong for 18 years, moving to Newmarket when the trainer relocated there in 1946.

He rode his first winner on Armstrong’s Fol Ami, in the Apprentice Handicap at Hurst Park on July 23, 1948, scoring by three lengths. His second win was on Reve De Gloire in the Apprentice Plate at Newmarket’s Craven Meeting on April 6, 1949. They were his only wins as an apprentice. 

He took out a National Hunt jockey’s licence for the 1950/51 season and continued to hold one until 1957/58. He also held a Flat jockey’s licence between 1950 and 1959. During that time he rode just three winners, all for Sam Armstrong. The first two were gained on Epaulette in 1956, over hurdles at Hurst Park and on the Flat at Ayr.

Appropriately, what was to prove Colin’s final winner came at his home course, Birmingham, aboard selling hurdler Bill Brewer in February 1957.

After a lapse of six year, Colin took out a Flat jockey’s licence in 1965. He failed to ride a winner that year, coming closest when finishing second on Come On Grey in a two-year-old maiden plate at Ayr on June 11. That was his last season with a licence.

On leaving Sam Armstrong, Colin went to work for Marcus Marsh for a couple of seasons, then spent 14 years with Ian Walker, where he was head-lad.

After a spell training horses for Geoff Hubbard, he managed the White House Stud, near Newmarket, for Bruce Hobbs. Then, after a few years working for Hugh Collingridge, Colin finally gave in to years of accumulated injuries and retired from racing in 1993.

In 2002 a race was named after him at Market Rasen to celebrate a near 50-year career spent in racing.

Colin Casey’s winners were, in chronological order:

1. Fol Ami, Hurst Park, July 23, 1948

2. Reve De Gloire, Newmarket, April 6, 1949

3. Epaulette, Hurst Park, January 11, 1956

4. Epaulette, Ayr, May 12, 1956

5. Bill Brewer, Birmingham, January 26, 1957