Hugh Barclay Jr.

Hugh Barclay Jr.

Hugh Barclay Junior was a prominent amateur rider on the northern courses in the years following the Second World War, recording a total of 30 winners. 

He was one of four sons who rode either professionally or as amateurs in during the late 1940s and 1950s. Their father, Hugh, born in 1886, had started riding in point-to-points aged 15. He then rode as an amateur under rules, taking out a licence to train after the war, based at Shillahill, Lockerbie, Dumfriesshire, where his entire staff consisted of his four sons – Hugh, James, Andrew (born 1923) and John (born 1926) – and two daughters. He was noted for being fond of a gamble and brought off a few successful touches in his time. 

On September 21, 1949 he set what must rank as a unique record at Perth, saddling three winners on the same day, each ridden by a different son. Hugh junior won the Colonel John McKie Memorial Challenge Cup Handicap Hurdle on Lanton Crag; John won the Scone Novices’ Maiden Hurdle on Gorilla; and Andrew won the Tay Handicap Hurdle on The Barker. He died in December 1967 following a short illness, aged 81. 

Being the son of the ‘original’ Hugh Barclay (1886-1967), Hugh was shown in the form book results throughout his career as ‘Mr H. Barclay, jun’. 

The first part of that career was closely linked to the aforementioned Lanton Crag, although it was on Sonny Lad that he had his first ride when unplaced in a Carlisle novices’ hurdle on 26 October 1946. However, it was Lanton Crag who gave him his first victory when taking the Beacon Amateur Riders’ Handicap Hurdle at Hexham on September 29, 1947. Over the next three and a half years the pair combined to win eight more races, gaining their last two triumphs in hunter chases. 

All of Hugh’s winners, except for the penultimate one, were trained by his father, and even the one exception was under the care of his brother Andrew.

Hugh had his final success when Wood Home was an easy winner of the Auchinfell Handicap Hurdle at Ayr on April 10, 1961, beating Tommy French, the mount of George Milburn, by six lengths.

He had a few rides in the following season, and then returned after an absence of two years to finish fourth on Hopalong Cassidy in the Border Counties Hunts’ Challenge Cup Hurdle on Easter Monday, March 30, 1964, a race he had won on two previous occasions. That was his final ride. 

Hugh was the only one of the four Barclay brothers who did not train at some point. Andrew trained from 1953 to 1984, initially at Ullswater, in the Lake District and then from 1960 at Beckfoot, Annan, Dumfriesshire. John trained from 1959 to 1970, based at Mill Riggs, Boreland, Lockerbie, Dumfriesshire. James, who was primarily a farmer, initially held a permit but subsequently trained a full licence from 1971 to 1979, based at Belstone Farm, in Ayr. 

As mentioned above, Hugh’s name was always shown in the form book and in the lists of runners and riders as Mr H. Barclay, jun, to differentiate him from his father. To add to the confusion, he was the uncle of James Barclay’s son Hugh (born in 1950) who rode 28 winners as an amateur rider under National Hunt rules plus one on the Flat between 1971 and 1976. Hugh Junior was also the uncle of the successful Flat jockey Sandy Barclay. 

Hugh Barclay Junior’s winners were, in chronological order:

1. Lanton Crag, Hexham, September 29, 1947

2. Lanton Crag, Perth, September 22, 1948

3. Stiletto, Bogside, April 9, 1949

4. Helm Bar, Bogside, April 9, 1949

5. Lanton Crag, Kelso, May 4, 1949

6. Victory Morn, Hexham, May 9, 1949

7. Lanton Crag, Perth, September 21, 1949

8. Victory Morn, Hexham, October 3, 1949

9. Lanton Crag, Carlisle, October 17, 1949

10. Lanton Crag, Doncaster, November 24, 1949

11. Cluaran, Carlisle, April 10, 1950

12. Stiletto, Perth, April 27, 1950

13. Lanton Crag, Perth, April 27, 1950

14. Cluaran, Hexham, May 6, 1950

15. Martelli, Perth, September 20, 1950

16. Lanton Crag, Catterick Bridge, March 2, 1951

17. Lanton Crag, Ayr, March 6, 1951

18. American Model, Wetherby, March 26, 1951

19. Fine Fur, Catterick Bridge, January 31, 1953

20. Bas Bleu, Catterick Bridge, January 31, 1953

21. Exodus, Newcastle, November 14, 1953

22. May King, Carlisle, April 19, 1954

23. Orchimedes, Rothbury, April 16, 1955

24. Fine Fur, Hexham, May 2, 1955

25. Fine Fur, Kelso, May 5, 1955

26. Gay Crusade, Rothbury, April 14, 1956

27. Beltourney, Kelso, October 26, 1957

28. Elizabeth’s Choice, April 18, 1960

29. Sybil’s Boy, Hexham, October 3, 1960

30. Wood Home, Ayr, April 10, 1961

Thanks to Alan Trout for providing his list of winners and the nucleus of the story. 

Thanks also to Stan Hayhurst for confirming the relationships between the Barclay family.