Teenage northern-based National Hunt jockey Henry Pearson Glaister had his first mounts in 1954. He rode his first winner on Irish Gift in the Grange Selling Handicap Hurdle at Cartmel for Wigton, Cumberland trainer John Dixon on Whit Monday, May 30, 1955.
Irish Gift had already won there on the Saturday, ridden on that occasion by John Cuddihy.
Returning to Hexham on the first day of October 1955, Henry achieved his second success on Niagara Falls, also trained by John Dixon, in a two-mile handicap hurdle.
Just a fortnight later, on Saturday, October 15, 1955, Henry rode another of Dixon’s horses, West Croft, in the Caprington (3yo) Hurdle at Ayr. He’d ridden West Croft twice already that month, finishing third at Hexham and fifth at Carlisle. He was fourth in the betting at 6-1 and looked to have an each-way chance in the ten-horse field. Tragically, however, West Croft ran out through the wing of a hurdle, inflicting severe injuries on the jockey. Henry died in hospital the next day, having suffered a fractured skull. He was 19 years old.