Harry Buxton

Manchester-born Harry Buxton, who went to the scales at 7st 12 lb., became Roumanian champion jockey for the second time in 1910 with 26 winners. He also won the Roumanian Two Thousand Guineas, Derby, and St Leger on Vifor. Unable to cope with the heat, Harry returned home shortly after. In July, temperatures reached 126 degrees in the shade at 4 a.m., by which time all work on the gallops had to be completed.

c1881-1922

Born around 1881, Harry Buxton was a prominent jockey under both codes in Ireland in the first decade of the 20th century. He was placed in the Irish Derby three times in four years and landed some of Ireland’s most important two-year-old races. He also had 17 winners in Britain, eight on the Flat and nine over hurdles. 

His first win on British soil came at Warwick on November 20, 1900, when riding Alfar to beat 19 rivals in the Town Plate. The six-year-old had already won four races in Ireland during the season, although Harry was not on board for any of them. Earlier that season at the Curragh, Harry had won the Irish Cesarewitch on Prudence, plus the Lord Lieutenant’s Plate and the Kirwan Handicap, both on Glenart. 

In 1901 he finished third in the Irish Derby aboard the 5-2 second favourite Merrion. In a fast-run race, which concerned only the three principals in the betting, Royal Winkfield, the 2-1 favourite, and Merrion ran each other into the ground. As John Thompson on Royal Winkfield and Harry Buxton on Merrion battled for supremacy, Algy Anthony bided his time on 5-1 chance Carrigavalla, waiting to pounce. At the furlong marker he swept to the front to win “cleverly” by half a length from Royal Winkfield, with an exhausted Merrion four lengths away in third.

Later that summer, Merrion, along with Glenart, gave Harry a double at Paisley, Glenart winning the Renfrewshire Handicap, Merrion winning the Barshaw Plate in a canter by three lengths. In December that year, three-year-old Merrion showed his versatility when winning a brace of all-aged hurdle races at Manchester and Haydock Park with Harry in the saddle.

Another three-year-old, Easter Prize, proved just as versatile, winning on the Flat at Lanark in October and over hurdles at Haydock in December. With nine wins, five on the Flat, four over jumps, including a double at Lanark, between August and December 1901, it was a busy time for Harry Buxton. The sole disappointment came at Manchester on December 20 when Golden Furrow won the Canal Hurdle, only to be disqualified on the grounds that “the name of the horse had not been registered in accordance with the rule”. 

Back in Ireland that year, he had landed two of the season’s most prestigious juvenile contests, the Curragh’s Beresford Stakes and Baldoyle’s Patriotic Plate on the chestnut filly Strategy. The overall strength of those two races is hard to gauge, but Strategy’s next win was not until September the following year in a £44 hurdle race at Carnew. 

Harry won three more British hurdle races in the early part of 1902 but then spent much of his career riding on the Flat in Ireland. His major victories there included, in 1903, the Lord Lieutenant’s Plate and the Turf Club Cup on Raferagh, and his most valuable triumph in the Phoenix Plate for two-year-olds, worth £1,182 to the winner, on Cape Solitaire. He was at the top of his game at that Phoenix Park meeting, recording a double on both days He finished third in the 1903 Irish Derby on Easterling.

In 1904 Harry won three decent races on Bushey Belle, culminating in the Dudley Plate at the Curragh. He also won the Kildare Handicap on Benlight, the Stewards’ Plate on Lady Anne, and the Hopeful Stakes on Whatashine. He finished second in that year’s Irish Derby, beaten three lengths, on the British-trained challenger The Arrowed. 

His victories in 1905 included the Anglesey Stakes on Merry Moment, the Midsummer Plate on Riviere, and His Majesty’s Plate on Sandhoy, all at the Curragh. He finished third in the Irish Oaks on Bath Bun and recorded his most significant success over jumps on Rappel in the £282 to the winner Southern Hurdle at Limerick in May. Earlier that year he had ridden his last winner over jumps in Britain when King Pluto won the Club Selling Hurdle at Manchester in February. 

He formed a productive partnership with the Irish-trained gelding Nobleite, making a winning raid at Manchester’s season-ending meeting in November 1905, then landing three races in Ireland in 1906: the Dunsany Handicap at Phoenix Park, the Howth Handicap at Baldoyle, and the Newbridge Handicap at the Curragh. Other successes in 1906 included a second successive Anglesey Stakes, this time on Knight Of Tully, plus His Majesty’s Plate on Steinhanger.

Harry Buxton had his final British winner when Agglethorpe took the Fishergreen Two-Year-Old Plate at Ripon on August 5, 1907. He relinquished his National Hunt jockey’s licence at the end of that year. He continued to hold a Flat licence until 1919, albeit with no further winners in Britain. 

Jockeys Harry Buxton and Frank Mason took part in a Charity Bowls Match on 27 September 1914 at the Bowling Green Hotel, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, with all proceeds going to 'The Prince of Wales War Fund'. Harry was a local lad, then living at 6 Albermarle Street, and the two jockeys drew a vast crowd. In June 1902, Harry lost his licence for 'foul riding' in the 1902 Irish Derby (reinstated in March 1903). Venturing further afield, Harry landed the Roumanian Triple Crown in 1910. He was champion Roumanian jockey for three years running. During the war, Harry undertook war work in a munitions factory. Harry died at Old Trafford in October 1922 and was laid to rest on October 24 in Stretford Cemetery.

Harry Buxton’s British winners were, in chronological order:

1. Alfar, Warwick, November 20, 1900 (Flat)

2. Glenart, Paisley, August 8, 1901 (Flat)

3. Merrion, Paisley, August 8, 1901 (Flat)

4. Rosglas, Lanark, October 1, 1901 (Flat)

5. Easter Pirate, Lanark, October 1, 1901 (Flat)

6. Proud Star, Edinburgh, October 4, 1901 (Flat)

7. Merrion, Manchester, December 10, 1901 (NH)

8. Mountain Buck, Manchester, December 11, 1901 (NH)

9. Merrion, Haydock Park, December 17, 1901 (NH) 

10. Easter Pirate, Haydock Park, December 18, 1901 (NH)

11. Coolock, Manchester, January 15, 1902 (NH)

12. Easter Pirate, Hooton Park, March 1, 1902 (NH)

13. Coolock, Maiden Erlegh, March 27, 1902 (NH)

14. Dobbie, Wolverhampton, January 19, 1904 (NH)

15. King Pluto, Manchester, February 14, 1905 (NH)

16. Nobleite, Manchester, November 23, 1905 (Flat)

17. Agglethorpe, Ripon, August 5, 1907 (Flat)

Major wins in Ireland included:

1900: Lord Lieutenant’s Plate – Glenart 

1900: Irish Cesarewitch – Prudence 

1901: Stewards’ Plate – Lady Cull

1901: Patriotic Plate – Strategy 

1901: Beresford Stakes – Strategy 

1903: Lawn Handicap – Repel

1903: Phoenix Plate – Cape Solitaire 

1903: Turf Club Cup – Raferagh 

1903: Lord Lieutenant’s Plate – Raferagh  

1904: Hopeful Plate – Whatashine 

1904: Stewards’ Plate – Lady Anne

1904: Kildare Handicap – Benlight 

1904: Howth Handicap – Bushey Belle 

1904: Electric Handicap – Bushey Belle 

1904: Dudley Plate – Bushey Belle 

1905: Southern Hurdle – Rappel 

1905: His Majesty’s Plate – Sandhoy 

1905: Midsummer Plate – Riviere 

1905: Anglesey Stakes – Merry Moment 

1906: His Majesty’s Plate – Steinhanger 

1906: Anglesey Stakes – Merry Moment