James Green

James Green

Article by Alan Trout

A winner on both days of Cheltenham’s May meeting in 1909 was a good start to James Green’s career as a jump jockey. On the 11th,  Mountain Guide, the outsider of three, won the Prestbury Park Handicap Hurdle, then a day later repeated the feat by winning the Moderate Handicap Hurdle, this time beating three rivals. 

Following his Cheltenham exertions, Mountain Guide was given little time for rest. On May 21, he and James finished second at Cardiff, and a day later came out and won the Tredegar Handicap Hurdle at the same course, although they needed the help of the stewards to do so. Dying Duck, ridden by David Byrne, passed the post first, but Alfred Holman, Mountain Guide’s trainer, objected on the grounds that Byrne had dismounted outside the unsaddling enclosure. This was against the rules and Dying Duck was duly disqualified. 

The year was still not over for Mountain Guide, for after finishing unplaced on his seasonal reappearance at Plymouth at the start of September, he won the Gloucestershire Handicap Hurdle back at Cheltenham on October 22 by three lengths, thus providing James with all four of his wins that year. 

For James, 1910 followed a similar pattern to 1909, except that Mountain Guide only won three races with him aboard. Placed in just one of his first four starts, it was only by a head that he prevailed in his fifth, when taking the Cottrell Handicap Hurdle at Cardiff on Easter Monday, March 28, but he followed up two days later at Cheltenham in the Rose Hill Handicap Hurdle by a more substantial two lengths. 

Finally, it was back to Cheltenham on October 21 for a repeat victory in the Gloucestershire Handicap Hurdle. This time, however, the winner’s prize had to be shared with Pinjane, the mount of future champion amateur rider Herbert Harrison. Mountain Guide, described by The Sportsman newspaper as “a wonderful performer on the course,” made up a lot of ground from the last flight to force a dead-heat. 

The following seasons proved a struggle for James. Mountain Guide only managed one third-place finish from nine starts in 1911, following which he was retired. 

James relinquished his licence for a while, but at Colwall Park on April 20, 1914, he had one final victory, albeit a shared one, when his mount Atteloigna dead-heated with Gentilhomme, ridden by Joseph Hunt, at the end of the Stewards’ Handicap Hurdle. It was the first time the seven-year-old mare Atteloigna had won a race, and the two stone he was receiving from Gentilhomme undoubtedly helped. That was James’s eighth win, and his final ride was on the same mare at Colwall Park the following month, May 18, when they finished second in another race called the Stewards’ Handicap Hurdle. 

James Green’s winners were, in chronological order:

1. Mountain Guide, Cheltenham May 11, 1909

2. Mountain Guide, Cheltenham May 12, 1909

3. Mountain Guide, Cardiff, May 22, 1909

4. Mountain Guide, Cheltenham, October 22, 1909

5. Mountain Guide, Cardiff, March 28, 1910

6. Mountain Guide, Cheltenham, March 30, 1910

7. Mountain Guide, Cheltenham October 21, 1910 (dead-heat)

8. Atteloigna, Colwall Park, April 20, 1914, (dead-heat)