Garnet Bull

c1882 - 1927

Article by Chris Pitt

Garnet Bull was born in either 1882 or 1883, depending on the source, and rode as an amateur before turning professional in 1914.

He finished third on his first ride under National Hunt rules, on Whirlwind II in the Malvern Hunters’ Handicap Chase at Colwall Park on November 2, 1908. He had to wait awhile before registering his first success under rules, this coming at Wincanton on Easter Monday, March 28, 1910, aboard Playboy II in an eventful three-runner Hatherleigh Chase, in which both their rivals fell, leaving Garnet and Playboy II to finish alone.

On Easter Monday 1911, Garnet rode Molly Blyth to win the Huntingdon Handicap Chase. Then, returning to Wincanton on Easter Monday 1912, he won yet another eventful renewal of the Hatherleigh Chase, in which all four runners fell at some point, three of them being remounted.

Also in 1912, he finished second on Postman in the prestigious National Hunt Chase at Cheltenham. It cannot be said that he was an unlucky runner-up, as Postman finished 50 lengths behind the runaway winner.

Garnet was certainly a man to have on your side on Easter Mondays. Having ridden a winner on that day in 1910, 1911 and 1912, he continued the sequence at Huntingdon in 1913, winning the Huntingdon Handicap Chase for a second time, on this occasion aboard a horse named Carmeen, trained by Fred Withington. Garnet turned professional later that year.

Back at Huntingdon on Easter Monday, April 13, 1914, he achieved a career highlight when recording a treble, winning the Open Selling Handicap Hurdle on Obnoxious, the Brampton Maiden Hurdle on Gerdolai, and the Fitzwilliam Hunt Maiden Chase on Winifucan. He might easily have ridden a fourth winner that day but for the Waterloo Open Handicap Chase being declared void after all three runners repeatedly refused and none could be persuaded to complete the course.

It was unfortunate that, so soon after turning professional, Garnet’s career was compromised by the outbreak of the First World War. There was no Easter Monday fixture at either Huntingdon or Wincanton the following year, nor indeed until 1919.

Having survived the Great War, Garnet rode what proved to be his last winner when dead-heating on 5-1 chance Ingoe in the Timberham Maiden Hurdle at Gatwick on December 12, 1919, the judge being unable to split them from Percy Whitaker’s mount, the 6-4 favourite Somerville.

He rode for the final time at Newbury on December 31, 1921, falling on Main Line in a large field of 17 runners for the Wroughton Selling Handicap Hurdle. Whether he was forced to retire as a result of that fall, or whether he’d planned to retire anyway on that last day of 1921 is pure conjecture. Whatever the reason, he ended his career having ridden a total of 43 winners over jumps in Britain.

On Wednesday, April 20, 1927, Garnet Bull, Captain William Lidington and Mr H. Endersby (all from Thame in Oxfordshire) were travelling by train through Northern Ontario, in charge of a valuable consignment of racehorses. Heavy rain had washed away part of the line and, speeding through Hornepayne, the entire train of seventeen cars was sent over a forty-foot embankment. Garnet Bull and his two companions, together with most of the horses, were killed outright.