Article by Alan Trout
William Adkin rode without success on the Flat at the start of the 20th century but fared far better over jumps a decade later with a dozen wins.
He was apprenticed to W. Westgate and had his first ride when Proud Star finished fourth in the Kingston-Upon-Hull Plate at Beverley on June 13, 1901, a race won by John McCall on Silver Slipper.
His first win over jumps came ten years after his final effort on the Flat. At Huntingdon on Easter Monday, April 8, 1912, he won the Open Selling Handicap Hurdle when his mount, Thremhall, prevailed by half a length. It was his only win of the year, but 1913 went much better with six winners, including a double at Uttoxeter. However, that proved to be his best season and he managed just five more winners over the next two years, his final success coming at the Quorn Hunt meeting at Loughborough on April 19, 1915, when finishing alone in a match for the Half-bred Steeplechase on Big Ben II, his only rival, Kilmessa, having fallen.
William Adkin’s winners were, in chronological order:
1. Thremhall, Huntingdon, April 8, 1912
2. Vlody’s Star, Uttoxeter, May 22, 1913
3. Milree, Southwell, October 2, 1913
4. Milree, Uttoxeter, October 23, 1913
5. Vlody’s Star, Uttoxeter, October 23, 1913
6. Fitting Light, Nottingham, December 9, 1913
7. Fitting Light, Derby, December 17, 1913
8. Mercury, Leicester, March 10, 1914
9. Little Mac, Southwell, May 4, 1914
10. Captain Farrell, Wetherby, June 1, 1914
11. Gold Tipped, Market Rasen, April 5, 1915
12. Big Ben II, Quorn Hunt (Loughborough), April 19, 1915
