Tony Carroll
The son of Irish-born work rider Michael Carroll, Anthony William Carroll was born in Lambourn on February 26, 1957.
He served his apprenticeship with Upper Lambourn trainer Pat Taylor, whom he joined straight from school. He had his first ride, Hunting Song, at Newbury in 1972 and rode his first winner, Quite Sweet, in the Glynde Apprentice Handicap at Brighton on May 13, 1973. They followed up in the Polar Jest Apprentice Handicap at Newbury two weeks later, then added a third apprentices’ contest at Bath in August.
Tony had 12 winners on the Flat before rising weight obliged him to ply his trade over the sticks. He joined trainer Stan Mellor, for whom Royal Mail was one of his best rides.
But he never forgot his old mentor, Pat Taylor, and won several races for him on handicap hurdler Tip The Wink, including when landing a gamble at Towcester one December day to finance the Christmas expenses.
He went on to have a lengthy career over jumps, retiring on a winning note after getting the Dr John Scargill-trained Jawani up in the last strides for a short-head victory in the Greet Handicap Hurdle at Southwell on May 2, 1994.
Tony’s worst injury as a jockey was a broken leg, sustained not in a race but by way of a freak accident in September 1981 at Alan Jarvis’s Royston stable, where he regularly rode out. He went into a box to look at a two-year-old which kicked out and rolled over on top of him.
He clocked up over 160 winners during his career in the saddle. His one regret was that he never got the chance to ride in the Grand National.
After retiring from riding he turned his attention to training, going on to forge a highly successful career both on the Flat and over jumps, based at Mill House Racing Stables, Cropthorne, near Pershore, in Worcestershire.
