Jonathan Handley

Jonathan Handley

Article by Alan Trout

Northern-based Jonathan Handley was one of those rare jockeys who rode his first winner twice. He had his first ride when unplaced on Sunbold in the Paddock Four-Year-Old Hurdle at Manchester on March 4, 1927. 

He went on to record eleven wins, starting – or so he must have believed – with victory on 4-1 co-favourite Belah in the Warwick Hurdle on the Saturday of Carlisle’s two-day Easter fixture, April 16, 1927. The winning margin on five-year-old Belah was a length and a half. He rode his second winner at the same course on Easter Monday, when Brushwood Boy won the Spring Handicap Hurdle by three-quarters of a length. 

However, at some stage the Carlisle stewards received a letter from Belah’s owner informing them that the “partnership which existed in Belah had not been registered under National Hunt rules,” and so the gelding was disqualified, and Jonathan was back to one winner. 

Over the next six seasons, he had ten more wins, including a double at Cartmel’s annual Whit Monday meeting, and three on selling hurdler Speckled Band. His last success was on Craven Lassie in the Coxhoe Selling Handicap Hurdle at Sedgefield on February 15, 1933. The five-year-old had been ridden by Jonathan on his two previous starts that season. 

As Craven Lassie changed stables at the post-race auction, he had no further opportunities to ride her, although he kept his licence for one more season. 

Jonathan Handley’s winners were, in chronological order:

1. Brushwood Boy, Carlisle, April 18, 1927

2. Zeus, Hexham, October 6, 1927

3. Condar, Carlisle, April 9, 1928

4. Speckled Band, Sedgefield, December 26, 1928 

5. Speckled Band, Carlisle, March 30, 1929

6. Speckled Band, Hexham, April 25, 1929

7. Sister’s Boy, Cartmel, May 20, 1929

8. Gleneagles, Cartmel, April 20, 1929

9. Dan French, Carlisle, December 3, 1931

10. Negligence, Sedgefield, December 26, 1931

11. Craven Lassie, Sedgefield, February 15, 1933