Edward Connell

Edward Connell

Edward Connell, popularly known as Ginger, rode six winners over hurdles between 1910 and 1911, the first of which was at Lingfield Park on February 12, 1910, when Solid Silver won the Surrey Selling Handicap Hurdle by six lengths. The four-year-old, who was having only her second run over hurdles, was sold at the post-race auction and exported to Germany. 

Victory on Park Keeper in the Hare Selling Hurdle back at Lingfield on March 9 doubled Edward’s score, then just seven days later he added a third when Country Squire won the Wye Selling Handicap Hurdle at that East Kent venue. There was then a long gap before a fourth and final success of the year when Mr Postman won the Wymering Selling Handicap Hurdle at Portsmouth Paark on November 26 by six lengths.

If Edward hoped he would win races other than just selling hurdles in 1911, he was to be disappointed. Silver Fern landed one at Wye in January, as did Nix Nuts at Lingfield the following month, his only two wins that year. He did not renew his jump jockey’s licence for 1912, and it appears that he and his brother, Myles, went to ply their trade in Australia. 

Edward and Myles Connell returned to England from Australia in early August 1921. Myles was not intending to ride. He had met with a bad accident in March and decided to stay with an old friend, trainer Etienne de Mestre, in Newmarket. 

De Mestre offered Myles the ride on Polyhistor in the valuable Champion Breeders’ Foal Stakes for two-year-olds at Derby on August 29 as part of his recuperation. Surviving an objection on grounds of crossing, Polyhistor won by a short head to repay the trainer’s trust in his jockey friend. 

Ten days earlier, Edward had got off the mark on the Flat in England when riding 10-1 chance Balnamoon, trained by John Clement, to victory in the Ferry Two-Year-Old Selling Plate at Hurst Park.

Edward Connell died on April 1, 1937. Myles, born in 1881, died in 1958. 

Edward Connell’s National Hunt winners were, in chronological order:

1. Solid Silver, Lingfield Park, February 12, 1910

2. Park Keeper, Lingfield Park, March 9, 1910

3. Country Squire, Wye, March 16, 1910

4. Mr Postman, Portsmouth Park, November 25, 1910

5. Silver Ferm, Wye, January 3, 1911

6. Nix Nuts, Lingfield Park, February 10, 1911