National Hunt jockey George Green rode 109 winners over jumps between 1898 and 1911. Interestingly, his first and last rides and wins were all at tracks that eventually disappeared from the fixture list. He also rode the winner of the last race ever run at Hall Green.
George finished unplaced on his first ride in public, Conrncrake in the Broadlands Half-Bred Steeplechase at Burgh-by-Sands on Easter Monday, April 3, 1893.
Burgh-by-Sands (pronounced Bruff) is a Cumbrian border outpost. Its racecourse was founded by the Menzies family, the inaugural meeting taking place on April 10, 1882, with five races, all for hunters. The 1886 Grand National winner Old Joe had made his racecourse debut there two years earlier, winning the Carlisle Tradesmen’s Cup.
Burgh-by-Sands staged its final meeting on Easter Monday, April 16, 1900. Nearby Carlisle stepped in a few years later to take up Burgh-by-Sands’ traditional Easter Monday slot and maintained it as a two-day fixture (Saturday and Monday) until 2003 when it was reduced to one day only on the Saturday.
George Green had ridden his first winner two years before Burgh-by-Sands’ demise, aboard 5-1 chance Lady Cristonia, who scored a one-length success in the Matlock Selling Handicap Chase at Derby on March 16, 1898.
He won Pershore's flagship race, the Land of Plums Handicap Chase, three times, on Ashwig II (1901 & 1902) and Knockdrinagh (1907).
He enjoyed his most successful year in 1905 with 20 winners. He never achieved a big race win, coming closest when third on Quarto, beaten a total of 3¾ lengths in the 1906 Grand Annual Chase at Cheltenham.
On Wednesday, May 25, 1910, George rode S.S. Baltic to win the two-mile Novices’ Chase, the last race on the final day’s racing at Hall Green Hunt. Located on what was then the outskirts of Birmingham, Hall Green staged its first meeting on April 28, 1871. During its formative years it held a two-day meeting in May, supplemented by a November fixture in 1879 and a September one the following year. However, from then on it became a single-day annual meeting, usually held on a Monday in mid-to-late-May. It was an all-steeplechase affair; there were no hurdle races.
By the time of Hall Green’s closure, George Green’s career was also nearing its end. He rode his last winner on Favour in the Tiddesley Hunters’ Selling Handicap Chase at Pershore on May 1, 1911. Six months later, on November 16, 1911, he had his final mount, finishing unplaced on Round Fort in the Winchfield Selling Handicap Hurdle at Aldershot.