Ruth Hargreaves

Ruth Hargreaves

Article by Alan Trout

Ruth Angela Hargreaves rode three winners over hurdles in a career that began aged 17 at Catterick on November 24, 1979, when Our Sovereign was unplaced in the Cleveland Selling Handicap Hurdle. 

A conditional jockey with Jack Berry at Cockerham, Lancashire, she had her first success at Stockton on February 23, 1980 when 12-year-old Caleta Prince overhauled Warren Gorse to take the Hilton Selling Handicap Hurdle by three-quarters of a length. Ruth kept the ride and had one third place from two subsequent starts. 

Jack Berry also trained Ruth’s other winner that season when Pelton Castle, making his debut under Rules, beat 22 rivals in the Grunwick Stakes National Hunt Flat Race at Catterick on April 10, beating Saintly Scholar, ridden by top amateur Colin Platts, by a short head. 

Ruth had over 40 rides the following season but only one success when La Fille, owned and trained by Jack Berry, stayed on to beat Glendyne by half a length in the Sheffield Selling Handicap Hurdle at Wetherby on December 2. The partnership made no impression in four subsequent starts, with Ruth being unseated twice. 

She finished third on her final ride when Running Arrow led for much of the way before weakening in the Bourne Leisure Group National Hunt Flat Race (Division 2) at Worcester on April 24, 1985.

Ruth Hargreaves’ wins were, in chronological order:

1. Caleta Prince, Stockton, February 23, 1980

2. Pelton Castle, Catterick Bridge, April 10, 1980

3. La Fille, Wetherby, December 2, 1980