Colin Holman was apprenticed to Sam Armstrong and rode his first winner on his very first ride in public, Aphasia in the Apprentice Handicap at Salisbury on July 9, 1957.
It was an impressive first ride. while the lads on Itajura and Worthy Wonder were battling for the lead from halfway, Colin was content to sit patiently in behind them. Not until well inside the last furlong did he make his effort and a smoothly judged run landed him a two-length winner. Such unflurried, unhurried riding performances are rarely seen in apprentice races.
He gained his second on Otterburn at Hurst Park on July 26 and soon found his services in demand, going on to ride four more winners that season from a total of 124 rides. They included two on Jack Calvert’s Royal Star, at Thirsk on September 28 and York’s Rockingham Handicap on 9th October
Colin’s first ride of 1958 saw him finish second in the Lincolnshire Handicap on the Jack Fawcus-trained Who You, beaten a length and a half by Edgar Britt on Babur. He rode eight winners from 112 rides that year. They included a victory on the Duchess of Norfolk’s Middle Watch at Ascot on ‘King George’ day and one for Malton trainer Albert Cooper at York’s October meeting, but his main source of winners was another Yorkshire trainer, Tommy Dent. When Colin won a Redcar nursery on Dent’s two-year-old Gunga Din on October 11, few would have predicted that it would be his final winner in Britain.
Colin spent most of his career riding in Scandinavia. He held a British licence in 1964 and 1965 but had no winners in either year. However, he did well in Scandinavia, winning plenty of big races there, including the 1972 Jägersro Sprint on Martorin at Jägersro Racecourse in Malmo, Sweden.
Sadly, he was killed in a fall in a race at Jägersro in June 1976 when his mount was brought down on a bend. He was 35.