Leonard Hall

Leonard Hall

Article by Alan Trout

Although Leonard Bartley Hall held a licence to ride on the Flat for almost 20 years, he only had one win. He fared better over jumps with nine between 1923 and 1925. 

Born in 1896, he was apprenticed to John Rogers, who trained at Chilton, and had his first ride at Wolverhampton on October 15, 1912, when unplaced on Dolan’s Pride in the Madeley Maiden Handicap. 

It was not until 1920, long after he had lost his allowance, that he had his sole success on the Flat, when Dalblaney took the Beacon Maiden Three-Year-Old Plate at Lingfield Park on May 28, scoring by a length and then surviving an objection by the trainer of the runner-up on grounds of interference.  

He rode his first winner over jumps on March 15, 1923, aboard Rookwood, the outsider of four, in the Warren Hurdle at Sandown Park, beating Agricola, the mount of Frank Wootton, by five lengths. It was hardly surprising that the four-year-old was not fancied, as he had only managed two third places from five previous starts that season, but Leonard had been in the saddle on both those occasions. 

He rode a few winners over the next couple of years, his final two victories coming on the five-year-old hurdler Ardaile, the last of them at Pershore on September 21, 1925, with a three-length win in the Strensham Hurdle. He had his final mount when finishing seventh on Honest Boy in the Imber Selling Handicap Chase at Hurst Park on February 19, 1936.  

Leonard Hall’s wins were, in chronological order:

1. Dalblaney, Lingfield Park, May 28, 1920 

2. Rookwood, Sandown Park, March 15, 1923

3. Speen, Sandown Park, December 8, 1923

4. Mebos, Kempton Park, February 23, 1924

5. Ticker, Vale of Aylesbury Hunt, April 10, 1924

6. Counter Proposition, Wye, November 5, 1924

7. Roisel, Gatwick, February 5, 1925

8. Honest Boy, Plumpton, April 11, 1925

9. Ardaile, Bournemouth, September 12, 1925

10. Ardaile, Pershore, September 21, 1925