Bill Holroyd

Bill Holroyd

Article by Alan Trout

William Holroyd, known as Bill, rode on the Flat for trainer Fred Vasey between 1921 and 1924 and had six wins, all of them trained by Vasey, before turning his attention to riding over jumps. 

He did not claim an allowance so may well have started his career elsewhere. His first victory on British soil was at Pontefract on September 28, 1921, when the three-year-old Shady Lake won the Newby Nursery Handicap by a short head. 

His National Hunt career did not get off to a good start, as his first mount, Greek Tyrant, was a faller in the Birchfield Four-Year-Old at Hurdle at Haydock Park on January 6, 1927. However, he went on to ride three winners before the decade was over.

It was more than two years after that debut ride before he had his first success, when Aberdonian, trained at Cheltenham by former jockey Arthur Saxby, won the Watcombe Hurdle at Torquay on Easter Monday, April 1, 1929, beating Well Played, the mount of Gerry Hardy, by two lengths. 

The following day at the same course, Bill and Aberdonian had a less happy outcome. They passed the post first in the St Mary-Church Hurdle three lengths clear of Wood Owl, but the runner-up’s rider, Jim Dodd, lodged an objection on grounds of the winner going the wrong side of a post. The stewards heard from three of the jockeys, as well as the starter who examined the track at the post in question, and duly disqualified Aberdonian. 

Bill rode his second winner at Chepstow later that month, April 19, when Green Eagle, also trained by Arthur Saxby, took the Wye Valley Handicap Hurdle by a neck. However, he again had to face an objection, this time from champion jockey Billy Stott, rider of second horse home Tidenham, on grounds of ‘boring’, but the objection was overruled. Bill kept the ride on Green Eagle after the Chepstow victory, although he probably wished he hadn’t, as the four-year-old refused twice and fell on their three subsequent outings. 

He made a good start to the following season, 1929/30, with a winner on the opening day, when Aberdonian, the evens favourite, won the Selling Handicap Hurdle at Newton Abbot on August 5, scoring by four lengths. But that was as good as it got, for it turned out to be the last win of his career. Despite that first day success, and with Aberdonian being bought back for 120 guineas after the race and returning to Arthur Saxby’s stable, Bill did not ride the horse again. 

His final mount was on St. Gowan, unplaced in the Graveley Maiden Hurdle at Birmingham on February 10, 1930.

Bill Holroyd’s British winners were, in chronological order:

1. Shady Lake, Pontefract, September 28, 1921

2. Shady Lake, Catterick Bridge, September 30, 1921

3. Miss Connie, Ripon, May 4, 1923

4. Grange Lane, Haydock Park, May 11, 1923

5. Miss Myra, Pontefract, May 1, 1924

6. Miss Myra, Stockton, May 3, 1924

7. Aberdonian, Torquay, April 1, 1929

8. Golden Eagle, Chepstow, April 19, 1929

9. Aberdonian, Newton Abbot, August 5, 1929