Herbert Booth

Herbert Booth

Article by Alan Trout

National Hunt jockey Herbert Booth enjoyed a degree of success over jumps during the last decade of the 19th century, riding 19 winners, with a best score of seven in 1898. He belongs to that group of jockeys who rode their first two winners on the same afternoon.

The occasion was the Eridge Hunt meeting on Easter Monday, April 15, 1895. Victory by a short head on St Anthony in the Tunbridge Wells Open Steeplechase was his first winner, the double then completed by a three-length success on Coenraad in the Ladies Open Plate Chase. Both horses were owned, and probably trained, by Harry Escott, who only 17 days earlier had finished second in the Grand National on Cathal. 

Another victory on Coenraad in the Laughton Selling Chase at the Southdown Hunt meeting at Ringmer on April 22 concluded a satisfactory first season for Herbert. Winning the Molesey Steeplechase on Commissariat at Hurst Park on January 25 appeared to be a harbinger of a bright year ahead in 1896, but that proved to be his sole success. However, he fared better in the following two years, with scores of six in 1897 and seven in 1898, including a double at Keele Park in October. 

His final win came courtesy of the 10-1 chance Svengali in the Mersey Selling Handicap Chase at Hooton Park on April 7, 1900. He did not renew his licence the following year. 

Herbert Booth’s winners were, in chronological order:

1. St Anthony, Eridge Hunt, April 15, 1895 

2. Coenraad, Eridge Hunt, April 15, 1895

3. Coenraad, Southdown Hunt (at Ringmer), April 22, 1895 

4. Commissariat, Hurst Park, January 25, 1896

5. Oak Park, Windsor, January 13, 1897

6. Ballymoney, Gatwick, February 4, 1897

7. Lal-lab, Sandown Park, February 27, 1897

8. Oak Park, Windsor, March 4, 1897

9. Exning Belle, Wolverhampton, October 26, 1897

10. Little Cisestrian, Plumpton, November 20, 1897

11. Kirkdale, Wye, February 17, 1898

12. Chillingworth, Lingfield Park, February 24, 1898

13. William the Fourth, Windsor, March 2, 1898

14. Leach Macha, Wye, September 21, 1898

15. Leach Macha, Keele Park, October 14, 1898

16. Misanthropist, Keele Park, October 14, 1898

17. Leach Macha, Nottingham, October 19, 1898

18. The Skipper II, East Sussex Hunt, April 5, 1899

19. Svengali, Hooton Park, April 7, 1900