Tony Ives
1952 - 2026
Embedded Files
Tony Ives first hit the headines when breaking his leg at Redcar on Saturday April 25 1970
Tony's first winner, Moor Court, came at Hamilton on 18 July 1970, just 85 days after breaking his leg at Redcar.
September 11, 1981: Tony rides his first Group winner, Alma Ata (second left).
Tony Alexander Ives was born at Westow, near Malton, in North Yorkshire on February 7, 1952, the son of John Ives, a trainer in Belgium and the Netherlands.
He began his apprenticeship with Willie Stephenson at Royston but later transferred to Snowy Wainwright. His first winner came on Wainwright’s three-year-old Moor Court in the Cambuslang Handicap at Hamilton on July 18, 1970.
Ives became stable jockey to the then unfashionable Reg Hollinshead and, for the yard, rode Remainder Man to two classic placings in 1978, finishing second in the 2,000 Guineas and third in the Derby.
He rode his first Group winner on the Luca Cumani-trained filly Alma Ata in the 1981 Park Hill Stakes at Doncaster.
Standing 5ft 2ins, Ives was a good, steady jockey, averaging some 50 per season. He became first jockey for Bill O’Gorman, who rated him “the most stylish jockey in the country.”
For O’Gorman, Ives partnered the superfast two-year-old Brondesbury to win his first six races in 1982. He was also aboard the incredible juvenile Provideo who won a record-equalling 16 races in 1984, that being Ives’ best season numerically with 90 winners.
1982: Tony and the brilliant Brondesbury.
Tony's biggest pay payday came in 1985 when winning the $600,000 (£517,241) Arlington Million in Chicago on the Bill Watts-trained Teleprompter, despite having been kicked in the head by a horse in Britain earlier in the week.
In 1988 he won Royal Ascot’s King Edward VII Stakes and York’s Great Voltigeur Stakes on Sheriff’s Star and finished third on him in that year’s St Leger.
He rode his last British winner on Paradise Navy in a two-mile all-weather handicap at Lingfield, August 10, 1996. He was forced to retire later that year, aged 45, due a back problem, having ridden over 2,000 winners worldwide during a career that lasted a quarter of a century. Of those a total of 1,064 were gained in Britain, including 21 Group races.
“I was getting no feeling in both my hands and my right leg, it was just an accumulation of old age and wear and tear,” he explained of his retirement. “My hands were going cold and I had tingling in my right leg.
“Teleprompter’s 1985 Arlington Million was the high point for me and to go there and win was incredible. The stands had been burned down and they had replaced them with tents but that only added to the occasion.
“Winning three Magnet Cups at York were extra special as it was unbelievable to do that in a big race at your local track. The first year was the best as I actually rode a four-timer that afternoon.
"I also have great memories of Remainder Man, Provideo and other Bill O’Gorman horses such as Superpower, Superlative, Brondesbury and Mummy’s Game.
“I had a fantastic time and I was very lucky.”
Tony frequently rode in Hong Kong and Macau in the 1990s, during which time he fell in love with Asia. Having hang up his saddle, he returned there to become assistant trainer to Australian Geoff Allendoff in Macau and later Jose Corrales. He thrived on the buzz of the fast-growing casino city.
“The way of life is great and the people are very friendly,” he said in 2012. “Every day is Saturday, it’s a very exciting place and there’s always something new.”
By then Ives was on his second marriage and, with three children from his first, had three more, aged eight, six and four, with his Thai-born wife Jiraporn. The couple bought property in Chiang Rai, in Northern Thailand.
Suffering from skin cancer following a bout of sepsis, Tony Ives died in Thailand during the weekend of May 24-25, 2026, aged 74.
Classic winner
Irish One Thousand Guineas – Forest Flower (1987)
Other big winners:
1971: Carlisle Bell – El Credo
1979: Gosforth Park Cup – Manor Farm
1981: Beeswing Stakes – Milk Of The Barley
1981: Portland Handicap – Touch Boy
1981: Park Hill Stakes – Alma Ata
1982: Temple Stakes – Mummy’s Game
1982: Norfolk Stakes – Brondesbury
1982: Beeswing Stakes – Silly Steven
1983: European Free Handicap – Boom Town Charlie
1983: July Stakes – Superlative
1983: Flying Childers Stakes – Superlative
1983: Princess Royal Stakes – Sylph
1984: Ribblesdale Stakes – Ballinderry
1984: Scottish Derby – Raami
1984: Doncaster Cup – Wagoner
1984: Land of Burns Stakes – Bedtime
1985: John Smith’s Magnet Cup – Chaumiere
1985: Jockey Club Cup – Tale Quale
1986: Cherry Hinton Stakes – Forest Flower
1986: John Smith’s Magnet Cup – Chaumiere
1986: Scottish Derby – Moon Madness
1986: Criterion Stakes – Mister Wonderful
1986: Kiveton Park Stakes – Hadeer
1986: Mill Reef Stakes – Forest Flower
1987: Fred Darling Stakes – Littlefield
1987: Henry II Stakes – Saronicos
1987: Lancashire Oaks – Three Tails
1987: Hungerford Stakes – Abuzz
1988: Norfolk Stakes – Superpower
1988: Wokingham Stakes – Powder Blue
1988: King Edward VII Stakes – Sheriff’s Star
1988: Great Voltigeur Stakes – Sheriff’s Star
1989: Lancashire Oaks – Roseate Tern
1989: John Smith’s Magnet Cup – Icona
In Ireland
1984: Greenlands Stakes – Reesh
1985: Phoenix Park International – Teleprompter
In France
1985: Prix du Conseil de Paris – Jupiter Island
1989: Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud – Sheriff’s Star
In America
1985: Arlington Million – Teleprompter
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