Frankie George

Frankie George

Article by Chris Pitt

Racing’s history is strewn with apprentices who did well with their 7lb and 5lb claims but disappeared from the scene once they lost their allowance. One such youngster who showed plenty of promise for a couple of seasons at the start of the 1960s was Frank George, who rode nine winners in 1960 and seven in 1961.

Francis Norman George was born on August 31, 1943, and served his apprenticeship with Bob Read at Lambourn. However, it was for Cheltenham trainer Phil Doherty that he rode his first winner, on Silver Shade in a six-furlong handicap at Chepstow on June 27, 1959, his only success that season.

By the middle of September 1960 he’d managed just one winner all year, even suffering the ignominy of being disqualified for bumping and boring after passing the post first on Marchakin at Bath in August. But then his luck turned, riding six winners in a nine-day spell, including a double at Haydock and two apiece for ‘Ricky’ Vallance and Ted Goddard. He subsequently won on Archdale for Eric Cousins at Wolverhampton and on Ron Mason’s Tool Merchant at Manchester’s end of season fixture in November. At the end of that season he could still ‘do’ 6st 4lb.

Frank started the 1961 Flat campaign where he’d left off, winning on Arthur Budgett’s three-year-old Tenet at Lincoln’s traditional season opener in March, following that with an Easter Monday success on Ted Goddard’s handicapper Fangio at Kempton Park; then came victory on Harold Wallington’s Hanbury Lad at Windsor on April 7, followed by one on his boss Bob Read’s Marleycombe at Hurst Park later that month.

He rode winners on Goddard’s mare Mieletta at Wolverhampton and Vallance’s gelding Gay Cobbler at Warwick in May. He then won on the Atty Corbett-trained Spring Brow in the two-mile Compton Handicap at Wolverhampton on June 27, beating Lester Piggott’s mount by a head in a photo-finish. Everything appeared to be on course for another successful season, yet Spring Brow was to be his last winner for ten years – and that would be over jumps. Once he’d finished his apprenticeship he rode as a fully-fledged jockey for one season in 1964. He had a fair number of rides but no winners. Presumably it was rising weight that halted his progress on the Flat and persuaded him to try his luck as a National Hunt jockey for the 1964/65 season.

He did not ride for the next two years but renewed his jumping licence in 1968. He rode just one winner in that sphere, novice hurdler Petite Garcon at Stratford on May 14, 1971 for Winchcombe, near Cheltenham trainer John Gilbert, to whose stable he was then attached. Frank relinquished his licence at the end of the following season.

Frank George’s winners were, in chronological order:

1. Silver Shade, Chepstow, June 27, 1959

2. Kaper, Hurst Park, July 22, 1960

3. Robert-la-Rose, Brighton, September 15, 1960

4. Infatuated, Haydock Park, September 17, 1960

5. Manyana, Haydock Park, September 17, 1960

6. Gay Cobbler, Windsor, September 20, 1960

7. Perhaps, Lincoln, September 23, 1960

8. Doctor Tadgh, Worcester, September 24, 1960

9. Archdale, Wolverhampton, October 15, 1960

10. Tool Merchant, Manchester, November 10, 1960

11. Tenet, Lincoln, March 20, 1961

12. Fangio, Kempton Park, April 3, 1961

13. Hanbury Lad, Windsor, April 7, 1961

14. Marleycombe, Hurst Park, April 29, 1961

15. Mieletta, Wolverhampton, May 13, 1961

16. Gay Cobbler, Warwick, May 20, 1961

17. Spring Brow, Wolverhampton, June 27, 1961

18. Petite Garcon, Stratford, May 14, 1971