Gerald Carville

Gerald Carville

National Hunt jockey Edward Gerald Carville – who rode under his second christian name – had two winners over jumps in the late 1960s.

He began his career with Kingsbridge, Devon trainer Tom Jarvis and had his first two rides in public on Mrs Bessemer, finishing seventh in a long-distance handicap hurdle at Stratford on March 18, 1965, then last of four finishers in an eventful 13-runner novice chase at Newton Abbot on Easter Monday, in which seven fell, one refused and one pulled up.

Gerald, by then aged 21, joined Oliver Carter’s Ottery St Mary stable in March 1967. Two months later he achieved his first success when steering Carter’s five-year-old Master Spiritus to a 30-length success over Wedding Dance, ridden by future champion jockey Bob Davies, in the Highweek Novices’ Chase at Newton Abbot on May 31.

It was Master Spiritus’s first race over jumps, but hopes of a follow-up were thwarted when, again with Gerald on board, Master Spiritus fell at the final fence when still in with every chance at Stratford nine days later. Master Spiritus never ran again and Gerald failed to register a win the following season.

However, he did have one further success when Fire Mark, trained by another west country stalwart, Les Cottrell, was an easy winner of the Combe Martin Novices’ Hurdle at Newton Abbot on September 24, 1968. A faller in a race at Taunton just seven days later, Fire Mark also did not race again.

Gerald Carville relinquished his licence on October 22, 1970.