William Bartlam

Article by Alan Trout

William Henry Bartlam rode ten winners between 1935 and 1940, the last of them being a victory at Cheltenham’s National Hunt meeting. 

His first success came in the Colwall Park Maiden Hurdle at that course on March 23, 1936. His mount, Pluvier Dore, routed a field of 21, winning by 15 lengths, and showed that performance to be no fluke by following up in the Pitchcroft Hurdle at Worcester the following month, albeit this time by only two lengths. 

William had to wait until a return visit to Worcester almost a year later for his next win, when Severn Salmon took the Hallow Hurdle by five lengths. He then teamed up with trainer Assheton Curzon-Howe to win two hurdle races with the six-year-old Jack.

There were no wins the following season, but William achieved four victories in the 1938/39 campaign, including one on Jack in the Berkshire Hurdle at Windsor in February. Jack was still owned and trained by Curzon-Howe at the time of that win but was subsequently acquired by Richard Dawson.

Owned and trained by Dawson, and having his first run for nearly a year, Jack narrowly won the opening race of the final day of the 1940 Cheltenham National Hunt meeting, the Lansdown Selling Hurdle, to give William what would prove the final winner of his career. Jack won by just a short-head from Darsi, owned by Dorothy Paget and the mount of Sean Magee.

Jack did not race again, and although William Bartlam held a licence until the 1946/47 season, he did not add to his total of wins.

William Bartlam’s winners were, in chronological order:

1. Pluvier Dore, Colwall Park, March 23, 1936

2. Pluvier Dore, Worcester, April 25, 1936

3. Severn Salmon, Worcester, April 17, 1937

4. Jack, Colwall Park, April 26, 1937

5. Jack, Uttoxeter, May 13, 1937

6. Krassawitz, Uttoxeter, October 11, 1938

7. Jack, Windsor, February 15, 1939

8. Up the Aisle, Wetherby, April 10, 1939

9. Le Maestro, Bogside, April 22, 1939

10. Jack, Cheltenham, March 20, 1940