Born in Barnstable on May 28, 1961, Paul William Croucher, as a youngster, rode ponies on Exmoor near his north Devon home. Leaving school, he went straight into the Lambourn stables of Nicky Henderson, spending five years there. He rode his first winner on Classified in May 1981 with whom he had formed a great understanding.
On Friday, August 12, 1988, driving back to his Lambourn home, his Ford Orion car left the road, hit a tree and burst into flames just outside the village of Chaddleworth, Berkshire. He was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash. He was 27.
Henderson spoke for the Lambourn community when he said: "We are all shattered by the news. A nicer fellow would be very hard to come across. He had a great career ahead of him. He succeeded through being an extremely pleasant and hard-working fellow."
Croucher had travelled down to Newton Abbot on Thursday to partner Arbitrage for Somerset trainer Brian Forsey.
Croucher had ridden a total of 140 winners in eight seasons and had finished tenth in the jockeys' championship with 51 winners.
He had also just ridden his first Cheltenham Festival winner, Aquilifer in the Ritz Club NH Chase.
Paul Croucher was an extremely popular member of the jockeys' fraternity. He had a happy-go-lucky nature and never seemed to worry about anything. He had a terrible time with injuries months before he died and it says much for his character that he came back to such success in his final season.
