Bobby Jones
1904 - 1969
Bobby Jones
1904 - 1969
Bobby Jones and Royal Lancer win the 1922 St Leger
St Leger winners - the precocious apprentice Bobby Jones and Royal Lancer - being led up by owner Lord Lonsdale, who died in 1943. The Earl was a parsimonious man, and Bobby Jones never got his promised present for winning.
Royal Lancer, a bay Irish-bred colt, had only won one race in its first season - likewise, his jockey Bobby Jones, who only won one race in his first season as an apprentice in 1920.
At Doncaster on Wednesday 13 September 1922, they combined to land odds of 33-1 in the 147th running of the St Leger.
Just eight days later, on 21 September 1922, Royal Lancer won the Irish St Leger at the Curragh. He became the first horse to win both the English and Irish St Legers (a feat later achieved by others like Trigo in 1929).
Friday June 4, 1926. Short Story and Bobby Jones run out the easy four length winners of the Epsom Oaks
Lord Astor leads in Short Story, his fourth winner of the Oaks
Cross Bow - furthest left, next to the rails - and Bobby, winning the 1926 Royal Hunt Cup. Foaled in 1922, Cross Bow was sired by Gay Crusader (a notable horse who won the English Triple Crown in 1917) out of the dam Popinjay (by St. Frusquin). He later stood as a sire himself, with progeny including Moonlit (a South African racehorse) and others who achieved some success.
Wednesday June 17 1926.
Bobby gets the 33-1 outsider Cross Bow home
4-y-o Dark Warrior leads the parade for the 1928 Lincoln Handicap.
Solly Jol's Dark Warrior still leading at the post, two lengths clear of Solly's brother's runner, Philammon. Bobby's mount won at 28-1
A close-up view of the Lincoln finish
A jubilant Bobby Jones & Orwell (number 10) return to the scales after their 1932 Two Thousand Guineas victory. The race took place on Wednesday, April 27, 1932. Orwell, trained by Joseph Lawson, and owned by American sportsman Washington Singer, delivered impressively. He won by two lengths from the runner-up Dastur, with Hesperus finishing third. The winning time was recorded as 1:42.4.
Orwell was then rated a certainty for the Epsom Derby. Then Joe Lawson made a mistake: a week before the actual Derby, he ran a trial on the gallops in which Orwell was asked to give weight to older horses. He did so, but Bobby, his trial rider that morning, was rightly convinced that he had left the Derby behind on those gallops.
Orwell, a brown colt bred in Ireland and sired by the great Gainsborough, was the top-rated 2-y-o of 1931.
Ascot Gold Cup finish, 1938: Flares, ridden by Bobby Jones, gets home by a neck from Buckleigh, ridden by Michael Beary. Third was Senor, ridden by the ill-fated Jackie Crouch. This was the first time an American horse had won this race since Foxhall's victory in 1882. Flares, trained by Cecil Boyd-Rochfort, was sired by the 1930 American Triple Crown winner Gallant Fox out of Flambino (making him a full brother to the 1935 Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes winner Omaha).
Royal Ascot Thursday June 16 1938
Bobby Jones wins on Flares
Newmarket: 1939 One Thousand Guineas.
Galatea ll & Bobby Jones win by an easy three lengths from Aurora (Dick Perryman),
and Olien (white blaze), who was making her racecourse debut.
It was a different story in 1939 Oaks at Epsom where Galatea ll (white blaze) scraped home by a head from the Charlie Elliott-ridden White Fox.
A different view of the Oaks finish. Galatea ll was a French-bred but British-trained filly who had a modest two-year-old season without wins. In 1939, she showed dramatic improvement as a three-year-old, winning her first three starts. A bay filly trained by Joe Lawson, Galatea ll started 10-11 favourite.