National Hunt jockey David Jelf was born on September 5, 1946 and began his career as an amateur, riding his first winner on Doxford for Cheltenham trainer Geoff Turk at Newton Abbot on Saturday, March 28, 1964.
He rode three more in 1964/65, two of them on Billycan for permit holder Hugh Trevor Hughes, who trained at Haselton, near Cheltenham, the other on the Earl Jones-trained hunter chaser Burton Jack. He turned professional the following season but had just one winner, Roselyn’s Trial, trained by Shropshire permit holder Gordon Needs, in a novice riders’ chase on the Tuesday of Uttoxeter’s 1966 Easter meeting.
On September 30, 1967, David had a bad fall from a horse named Western Ghats at Stratford, breaking three ribs, puncturing a lung and suffering concussion.
He had gone four years without a winner when scoring twice within the space of half an hour, bagging the first two races on Towcester’s card on Saturday, April 25, 1970, courtesy of Frank Richards’ selling chaser Prince Arum and Richard Hannon’s hurdler Sir Nulli.
Three more victories came his way in 1970/71, the last of which was on Pat Kearney’s selling hurdler Emerald Cut at Chepstow. Emerald Cut also became David’s eleventh and final winner when landing a selling hurdle at Devon & Exeter on November 24, 1971.
David Jelf’s winners were, in chronological order:
1. Doxford, Newton Abbot, March 28, 1964
2. Billycan, Windsor, February 25, 1965
3. Burton Jack, Wolverhampton, March 15, 1965
4. Billycan, Newton Abbot, April 17, 1965
5. Roselyn’s Trial, Uttoxeter, April 12, 1966
6. Prince Arum, Towcester, April 25, 1970
7. Sir Nulli, Towcester, April 25, 1970
8. Sir Tickle, Newton Abbot, Tuesday, December 8, 1970
9. Alice’s Boy, Leicester, February 8, 1971
10. Emerald Cut, Chepstow, February 20, 1971
11. Emerald Cut, Devon & Exeter, November 24, 1971