Douglas Bonham
Article by Alan Trout
Douglas Cecil Bonham, always known as ‘Duggie’, rode 17 winners in a career on the Flat that stretched from 1922 to 1926, followed by six over hurdles in the 1930s. He was apprenticed to Colledge Leader, later to train two Classic winners, and had his first ride when Juli finished second in the Apprentices’ Handicap at Newmarket on April 5, 1922.
Almost 18 months later, on September 6, 1903, he had his first win when Deserted Village took the Burton Apprentice Stakes at Derby by a length from Margode, the mount of future Irish Derby-winning jockey George Bezant.
That was Duggie’s only success that season, but there were seven to come in 1924, and nine more in 1925. They included his most important victory in the Great Surrey Handicap at Epsom on April 21, 1925 when riding Tarpon to a short-head victory over Laughing Lady, the mount of Harry Wragg.
The last two of Duggie’s nine winners in 1925 came on successive days at Catterick Bridge’s September meeting: an unnamed two-year-old filly by Rock Flint out of Starwort in the Easby Nursery Handicap, and Sunpath in the Croft Selling Nursery Handicap. They were also the final two victories of his career.
He had a few rides in 1926, the last of them being when unplaced on an unnamed two-year-old gelding by Friar Marcus out of Fair Vision in the Bure Plate at Yarmouth on May 27.
Having not ridden in public for five years, Duggie reappeared under National Hunt rules in the 1931/32 season. He rode his first winner in that sphere on Fly Alone, trained at Epsom by Jack Reardon, in the Punch Bowl Selling Hurdle at Plumpton on December 14, 1931.
More than five years elapsed before his second win over jumps, by which time he was riding for Newmarket trainer Tom Leader, for whom he rode Tincture to victory in the Isis Four-Year-Old Hurdle ay Hurst Park on February 6, 1037.
At the end of 1938 Duggie struck up a rewarding partnership with Leader’s three-year-old hurdler Main Mast, winning at Birmingham in late November, at Leicester on December 5, and then landing the Marble Hill Hurdle Hurst Park 12 days later.
Following that hat-trick of victories, they were reunited at Newbury on New Year’s Eve for the more valuable Berkshire Hurdle, only for Main Mast to knock the first flight out of the ground and then fall at the second. Duggie escaped with little more than bruises but was forced to give up his ride on Grasshopper in the next race, the Slough Handicap Hurdle. George Archibald substituted and won by two lengths.
Had he been fit to take the mount, that would have been Duggie’s last winner, for he failed to ride another all season and did not have a licence the following season. He renewed it for the 1940/41 campaign but had no winners.
Having hung up his boots and saddle, Duggie became head lad to Newmarket trainer Dick Perryman.
Duggie Bonham’s winners were, in chronological order:
1. Deserted Village, Derby, September 6, 1923
2. Tocsin, Haydock Park, August 30, 1924
3. b. f. by Torloisk out of Larkspur II, Doncaster, September 9, 1924
4. ch. g. by Rocksavage out of Pearl Maiden, Leicester, September 22, 1924
5. Pins And Needles, Nottingham, October 6, 1924
6. br. f. by Bramble Twig out of Almond Rock, Newmarket, October 28, 1924
7. b. g. by Honey Bee out of Miss Clytie, Newmarket, October 31, 1924
8. Quandry, Leicester, November 10, 1924 (dead-heat)
9. Orenza, Newmarket, April 17, 1925
10. Tarpon, Epsom, April 21, 1925
11. Moncel, Haydock Park, May 16, 1925
12. Little Coon, Liverpool, July 22, 1925
13. Gipsy Lass, Redcar, August 12, 1925
14. Gipsy Lass, Stockton, August 18, 1925
15. Mooning, Yarmouth, September 17, 1925 (dead-heat)
16. ch. f. by Rock Flint out of Starwort, Catterick Bridge, September 25, 1925
17. Sunpath, Catterick Bridge, September 26, 1925
18. Fly Alone, Plumpton, December 14, 1931
19. Tincture, Hurst Park, February 6, 1937
20. Khordad, Hurst Park, February 17, 1938
21. Main Mast, Birmingham, November 28, 1938
22. Main Mast, Leicester, December 5, 1938
23. Main Mast, Hurst Park, December 17, 1938
