Article by Chris Pitt
It’s not unique but it’s definitely unusual: a jockey who rode in the Grand National without having ridden a winner over jumps. (Under today’s regulations it wouldn’t be allowed; anyone wanting to take part must have ridden a minimum of 15 winners over fences, the measure having largely been taken to prevent inexperienced and sometimes dangerous amateur riders from having a go for the thrill of taking part.) But such was the case with Roy Court, who rode Harry Black in 1966.
Roy Derek Court was born on October 6, 1942, and served his apprenticeship with Alfred Smyth at Whitsbury. His first winner, however, was for another trainer, Richmond Sturdy, on the grey mare Pink Fizz in an apprentices’ race at Windsor on May 28, 1958. He lost his cap during the race – in those days Flat jockeys didn’t even wear crash helmets – but managed to hold onto his mount, winning by half a length.
He went on to ride a total of 14 winners over the course of the next four years, the latter part of his apprenticeship being spent with
Ernie Davey at Malton, for whom he won a race on the two-year-old Senior Warden at Hamilton on May 21, 1962. Shortly after that he rode a winner at Bogside on John Barclay’s Vulmidas, who would subsequently become a useful two-mile chaser.
Roy took out a National Hunt jockey’s licence in 1964 but was still to break his duck over hurdles or fences when coming in for the ride on Harry Black in the Haydock Park National Trial Chase on February 2, 1966. Harry Black had previously been trained by Arthur Stephenson and had won the Christmas Dinner Chase over Aintree’s Mildmay fences in December 1964, ridden by Paddy Broderick. The horse’s owner, Harry Lane – who had owned 1952 Grand National winner Teal, trained by Neville Crump – was keen to have a go at training and set himself up as a permit holder with three horses based at Norton-on-Tees, near Darlington.
The venture got off to a bad start with Harry Black being pulled up on both his first two starts of the 1965/66 campaign. Lane duly dispensed with the services of his jockey, Tommy Foran, handing the Haydock ride to Roy Court. Despite going off the 66/1 complete outsider of the eleven-runner field, Harry Black ran a stormer, finishing fourth but beaten little more than three lengths by three decent horses in The Ringer, Rough Tweed and The Fossa. It was all systems go for Aintree after that and Roy would keep the ride.
Come the day, Harry Black was among the 100-1 outsiders but he ran a decent race, jumping well and being up with the leaders for pretty much all of the first circuit. He began to drop off the pace soon after halfway but continued as far as the fourth last fence. For a jockey who’d never ridden a winner under National Hunt rules, it was a most competent performance.
Less than a month after the 1966 Grand National, Roy finally rode bagged his first winner over jumps, returning south to score on the Vernon Cross-trained hurdler Suilven at Wincanton on April 21. That was the fifteenth winner of his career and resulted in his claim being cut from 5lb to 3lb.
He rode two more winners the next season, the first being on another Vernon Cross-trained hurdler, Tipulidae at Taunton on November 5, 1966. Then on February 18, 1967, he repaid the confidence Harry Lane had shown in him at Aintree by riding a winner for him on novice hurdler King Dolphin at Catterick.
There were to be no more winners for Roy Court. He retired at the end of the 1967/68 season with just those 17 to his name: 14 on the Flat, three over hurdles and none over fences, despite having ridden in the Grand National.
Sadly he died young in 1993 when barely into his fifties.
