Charles Cooper

It must be some sort of record to ride out your claim on just one horse, but that’s what National Hunt jockey Charles Cooper did in the late 1940s/early 50s. The horse was called Paricutin, on whom Charles won 15 times – and 15 winners were all you needed in order to lose your allowance in those days.

Charles Cooper was born on April 2, 1911, the younger brother of Malton trainer Albert Cooper. His father, Darkie Cooper, had been a jockey and trainer whose career spanned 50 years.  

Charles served his apprenticeship with H. H. Golightly, then spent eight years with Bobby Renton. During the war he served three years with the Gordon Highlanders and three years with the Cameronians and saw action in Madagascar, India, Sicily, Italy and Germany. He was Mentioned in Despatches. 

After the war he spent four years as head lad with Captain Gerald Balding, for whom he had the occasional ride in public, mostly on the chaser Paricutin. He won three chases in a row on him at the end of the 1947/48 season, the first being at Newton Abbot on May 8, 1948, followed by two over the Whitsun bank holiday weekend at the now-defunct tracks of Newport and Buckfastleigh.

Charles won four more chases on Paricutin the following season, including twice at Buckfastleigh over the Whitsun weekend. Switched to hurdles for the 1949/50 campaign, Paricutin carried Charles to victory eight times over the smaller obstacles, including five in a row. The last of those eight wins, at Hereford, on May 27, 1950, was Charles’ 15th win and the one which resulted in him losing his claim.

Their successful partnership ended when Charles took out a trainer’s licence for the 1950/51 season. He rode two winners at the start of that campaign, both on the novice chaser Hopeful Marcus II, but they proved to be his last, although he continued to hold a jockey’s licence until 1956. 

Based initially at Winterbourne, near Bristol and later at Lye Grove Stables, near Badminton, he continued to train until 1966. His best horses were Gay Fox, Trim Ruina and Thrifty Lad. His major wins came in Cheltenham’s Holman Cup (twice) and the Newbury Spring Chase (twice) which is today known as the Game Spirit Chase.

Charles Cooper’s winners were, in chronological order:

1. Paricutin, Newton Abbot, May 8, 1948

2. Paricutin, Newport, May 15, 1948

3. Paricutin, Buckfastleigh, May 17, 1948,

4. Paricutin, Taunton, March 31, 1949

5. Paricutin, Newton Abbot, April 18, 1949

6. Paricutin, Buckfastleigh, June 4, 1949

7. Paricutin, Buckfastleigh, June 6, 1949

8. Paricutin, Newton Abbot, September 10, 1949

9. Paricutin, Taunton, September 24, 1949

10. Paricutin, Ludlow, September 29, 1949

11. Paricutin, Plumpton, October 17, 1949

12. Paricutin, Stratford-on-Avon, November 5, 1949

13. Paricutin, Taunton, March 16, 1950

14. Paricutin, Stratford-on-Avon, May 6, 1950

15. Paricutin, Hereford, May 27, 1950

16. Hopeful Marcus II. Buckfastleigh, August 12, 1950

17. Hopeful Marcus II, Devon & Exeter, August 23, 1950