Frank Carr with his stable guard dog, Sabre, in 1965
Frank Carr
1927-1997
Article by Alan Trout
Born on August 6, 1927, Frank Carr rode for a few seasons under National Hunt rules in the immediate post-war years and had seven wins, prior to embarking on a successful training career in the 1960s.
Frank had his first success at Southwell on January 12, 1946 when steering Bonvivant, trained by Percy Vasey, to an easy 15-length victory in the Kinoulton Novices’ Hurdle (Division 2). The pair followed up at Wetherby three weeks later. His third win was achieved in May aboard Our Teddy in a Market Rasen handicap hurdle.
Frank rode one winner in each of the next four seasons. In the ‘Directory of the Turf’ he nominated Southwell as his favourite course, and it was there that he rode his fourth winner when Tell Ada, trained by William ‘Rip’ Bissill, won the Lee Novices’ Chase on May 13, 1947.
It was twelve months later before he registered his fifth success on The Raparee in a Towcester novices’ hurdle. Another ten months elapsed before his next, on the 11-year-old Shareholder, trained by Jack Ormston, in the De Aston Handicap Hurdle at Market Rasen in March 1949.
His seventh and final victory came on probably the best-known horse he rode during his career in the saddle. That was Workboy, trained by Alec Kilpatrick, on whom he won the Middleton Novices’ Chase (Division 1) at Fontwell Park by five lengths on November 2, 1949. Workboy was only a four-year-old at the time, but went on to win 13 chases before being acquired in 1955 by Major (later General) Cecil Blacker for £137. Blacker reinvented Workboy into a top-class international show-jumper, representing Great Britain from 1959 to 1961. In 1959 they won the Imperial Cup at the White City International Horse Show and were members of the team that won the Nations Cup in Madrid.
Frank held a jockey’s licence until the 1950/51 season. He took out a trainer’s licence in August 1961, based at Whitewall Stables, Norton, near Malton, in Yorkshire. He achieved his biggest success when the John Banks-owned Kamundu won the 1969 Royal Hunt Cup in the hands of Lester Piggott. His best jumper was Swan-Shot, who won numerous chases in the early 1970s, including back-to-back renewals of Market Rasen’s Watney’s ‘Red Barrel’ Handicap Chase in 1970 and ’71.
Frank spent six years during the 1980s training in Hong Kong, where he acquired a reputation for being a colourful character. His big wins there included the Sha Tin Trophy. He eventually returned to Yorkshire, where he died in March 1997, aged 69.
Frank Carr’s winners were, in chronological order:
1. Bonvivant, Southwell, January 12, 1946
2. Bonvivant, Wetherby, February 2, 1946
3. Our Teddy, Market Rasen, May 11, 1946
4. Tell Ada, Southwell, May 13, 1947
5. The Raparee, Towcester, May 15, 1948
6. Shareholder, Market Rasen, March 12, 1949
7. Workboy, Fontwell Park, November 2, 1949
