Ray Atkinson

National Hunt jockey Ramon Atkinson held a licence between 1954 and 1961 and rode a total of 18 winners to add to the three he’d ridden earlier as an apprentice.

Ray served his apprenticeship with Arthur Smyth at Whitsbury, beginning in 1945 and weighing just 5st 7lb. He had to wait until 1949 before opening his account on Eulogy, trained by Smyth, in the Apprentice Handicap at Windsor on June 9.

His second winner was at the opposite end of Britain, aboard 7-2 chance Ronald M. in the Craigmillar Apprentice Selling Handicap at Edinburgh on July 2 for a little-known trainer, H. C. Isom, who trained at Holly Lodge, Epsom from 1948 to 1949. The fact that an almost unknown trainer would take a horse ridden by someone with only one winner to his name all the way from Epsom to Edinburgh in those far-off days, implies that the horse may have been the subject of a gamble. If so, it paid off.

Ray won another apprentice race on Eulogy at Warwick in August and ended the year with three wins from just eight rides. He rode no more winners while serving his apprenticeship, ending it in 1951, by which time his 5st 7lb frame of 1945 had soared to 8st 5lb.

In 1954 Ray took out a National Hunt jockey’s licence and rode for East Ilsley trainer Syd Warren. He enjoyed a fair first season with four wins from 39 mounts. The first of that quartet, all of them for Warren, was on Little Fiddler in the Four-Years-Old Hurdle on the Saturday of Plumpton’s 1955 Easter meeting.

Two early season wins on Warren’s novice hurdler King Cardinal got Ray off to a quick start for the 1955/56 campaign but there was to be only one more that season, Warren’s selling hurdler Slightly Scruffy at Hereford in November. That was Ray’s tenth winner and saw his claim reduced to 5lb.

The 1956/57 campaign commenced with Ray living in Newmarket and riding for Basil Foster. It again started well with victory on Foster’s selling hurdler Rockspring at Southwell in September, but the remainder of the season brought no more winners from just 11 rides. It was a similar story in 1957/58 with a pair of wins on Foster’s handicap hurdler Otterburn and victory on Sun Monarch for fellow Newmarket trainer Percy Allden being the only rewards from 19 rides.

Even worse followed in 1958/59 with a single success from 19 mounts, on Carolus Rex for Winkfield, Berkshire trainer Doug Marks at Fontwell in September. That was Ray’s 15th winner, resulting in his claim being further cut to 3lb.

At last, the tide turned in 1959/60 with a career-best score of five wins from 40 rides. They included a red-letter day on Thursday, March 3, 1960, when recording a hat-trick at Wincanton, landing both divisions of the Farnham Novices’ Hurdle on Just My Mark and The Penciller and the Field-Fare Handicap Hurdle on Rampark. All three were trained by David Thom.

Sadly, that Wincanton treble was not a harbinger of better times ahead. Ray rode just one more winner, that being on Query Mark for Middleton Stoney trainer Derek Ancil at Stratford-on-Avon on Saturday, September 3, 1960. He only had a handful of rides thereafter and did not renew his licence the following season.

Ray Atkinson’s winners were, in chronological order:

1. Eulogy, Windsor, June 9, 1949

2. Ronald M., Edinburgh, July 2, 1949

3. Eulogy, Warwick, August 6, 1949

4. Little Fiddler, Plumpton, April 9, 1955

5. Torrid Zone, Ludlow, April 28, 1955

6. Pepito II, Taunton, May 5, 1955

7. Pepito II, Newton Abbot, May 13, 1955

8. King Cardinal, Buckfastleigh, August 27, 1955

9. King Cardinal, Newton Abbot, September 3, 1955

10. Slightly Scruffy, Hereford, November 5, 1955

11. Rockspring, Southwell, September 10, 1956

12. Otterburn, Fontwell Park, September 18, 1957

13. Otterburn, Stratford-on-Avon, October 5, 1957

14. Sun Monarch, Huntingdon, October 26, 1957

15. Carolus Rex, Fontwell Park, September 15, 1958

16. Primal, Market Rasen, January 9, 1960

17. Just My Mark, Wincanton, March 3, 1960

18. Rampark, Wincanton, March 3, 1960

19. The Penciller, Wincanton, March 3, 1960

20. Rampark, Worcester, March 28, 1960

21. Query Mark, Stratford-on-Avon, September 3, 1960