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On October 5, 1970, President Nixon visited the Curragh Racecourse during a trip to celebrate his mother's Irish Quaker roots. His motorcade stopped briefly by the roadside, where he got out to admire the area and chat with local riders schooling their horses. Doug — on the extreme right of the photo, aboard Many Ways — recalls the incident.
"One of the things I experienced while in Ireland was President Richard Nixon's 1970 visit. We knew his motorcade would cross the Curragh on his way back to Dublin, so we rode our horses beside the main road to watch. Nixon must have spotted us, because he ordered his car to stop. He got out and walked over to us, and just as he began speaking, a mass of photographers and press came rushing in to capture the moment. One of them tripped and fell, his camera shattering on the road, and the sudden noise and chaos sent our horses into a bucking, kicking frenzy."
Doug's next ride on Zimone boy came at Down Royal on 2 May, 1970.
Doug's final ride came on Snow on Fuji at Navan on 30 September, 1970
Doug Benneyworth was born in Buxted, East Sussex, on 5 April 1951.
He left school at 15 and signed on as an apprentice with M. J. Bolton.
At Kempton Park on 29 November 1968, Doug had his only ride in England: River James for Mick Goswell.
He then became too heavy to ride on the Flat, so it was decided that he would pursue a career as a jump jockey instead.
Doug decided to go to Ireland, as his family — his mother — was Irish. He started picking up a few rides, and things were looking promising.
On April 21, 1970, Doug took the ride on Zimone Boy at Killarney.
Doug went back to England on holiday, and was supposed to ride two horses at Mallow Races, but racing was cancelled. This was annoying, as he had spent two weeks wasting in order to do 10 stone for his return. Doug decided it wasn't worth the constant dieting to keep his weight down, so he made the very hard decision to give up racing for good.
On his return, he went and schooled a horse called Jack Palmer for his old boss, Mick Goswell, and this was the time he schooled over fences with Doug Barrott. Mick asked Doug to ride Jack Palmer at Newbury the following week, but again racing was cancelled — that was the last time he ever sat on a racehorse.
Doug pursued a career outside of racing, working mainly in the construction industry, and in 1998 he decided to retire back to Ireland to live with his wife and two sons.
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