James Hodges

Article by Chris Pitt

Captain James Hodges was an officer in the Royal Horse Artillery and is best remembered in racing terms for his association with former Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Ten Up, on which he won Sandown’s Grand Military Gold Cup and three renewals of the Royal Artillery Gold Cup.

Ten Up, winner of the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 1975, was given to Captain Hodges by his godmother, Anne, Duchess of Westminster, to ride in point-to-points and under National Hunt rules. Although past his best by then, he gave his new owner-rider plenty of success in the ensuing years.

Captain Hodges, who had parted company with his mount Forge On in the 1977 Royal Artillery Gold Cup (his first attempt at the race), hunted Ten Up with the Quorn before making their first appearance together in 1978. It was a winning start, landing a two-horse military race at the Army point-to-point at Tweseldown. That was Ten Up’s only point-to-point appearance. From then on, Captain Hodges rode him purely under NH rules.

The combination began by finishing fifth in the 1978 Grand Military Gold Cup. They then finished runner-up to no less a horse than Spartan Missile in the Schillizzi Challenge Cup Hunters’ Chase at Towcester. That was followed by a runaway 25-length success in the 1978 Royal Artillery Gold Cup. They then finished second to the top-class hunter chaser Mountolive at Cheltenham and third behind Mr Batnac in the Town of Warwick Champion Hunters’ Cup.

The following season, 1979, Ten Up and Captain Hodges won a Kempton hunter chase by 10 lengths before claiming victory in the Grand Military Gold Cup. They were surprisingly beaten by Wisbech Lad, the mount of Tim Holland Martin, in that year’s Royal Artillery Gold Cup, but then returned to winning form by inflicting a rare defeat of Spartan Missile by a length in the Schillizzi Challenge Cup at Towcester.

In 1980, Ten Up and Captain Hodges won hunter chases at Chepstow and Newbury before winning a second Royal Artillery Gold Cup, avenging their defeat of 12 months earlier by beating Wisbech Lad by half a length. They then finished second to Mountolive in Towcester’s Schillizzi Challenge Cup.

Beaten two and a half lengths by Border Mark in the 1981 Royal Artillery Gold Cup, Ten Up and Captain Hodges bounced back by winning a sub-standard three-runner renewal of the Schillizzi Challenge Cup, returning to Towcester the following month to make all and win the Empress Elizabeth of Austria Hunters’ Chase.

By now 15 years old, Ten Up began his 1982 campaign with a one-paced fourth-place effort in the Duke of Gloucester Memorial Trophy Hunters’ Chase at Sandown. It looked as if the years had finally caught up with him but not a bit of it, for later that month Ten Up and Captain Hodges won their third Royal Artillery Gold Cup, beating the favourite De Pluvinel (which would himself go on to win the race three times) by two and a half lengths.

They followed up by winning Schillizzi Challenge Cup for the second year running. Next time out they parted company when leading at the last fence at Cheltenham. Ten Up gained swift compensation by achieving what proved to be his final victory in Towcester’s Empress Elizabeth of Austria Hunters’ Chase for a second time, but this time in the hands of Captain Charlie Moore.

Few Cheltenham Gold Cup winners are still running and winning at the age of 15, and although Ten Up was a cut above the average military hunter chaser, it was a credit to his connections that he remained sound and carried on enjoying his racing for so long.