Geoff Kersey

Geoff Kersey

Article by Alan Trout 

After riding four winners as an amateur, Geoff Kersey turned professional and added four more. The son of Rotherham trainer Trevor Kersey and brother to Susan, who also rode winners over jumps, Geoff had his first success at Huntingdon on Bank Holiday Monday, August 25, 1975, when Birdcage Walk, trained by his father, won the Alconbury Handicap Hurdle, a race for amateur riders, beating Miralgo Joe, the mount of John Docker, by a neck. 

Market Rasen’s two-day fixture the following month went well for father and son Kersey. On the first day, Bechet took the Lodge Selling Hurdle by six lengths, and on day two Ballymoy just got the better of a battle with Marchi, ridden by Jeremy Glover, to land the Lincoln Long Distance Selling Hurdle by a short head. 

Birdcage Walk gave Geoff  his final victory as an amateur by finishing strongly to take the Newton Handicap Hurdle at Wetherby on October 15. 

He had his first ride as a professional in August 1976 but it was not until the opening day of the 1979/80 season that he had his first success in the paid ranks. It came at Market Rasen where Janemar took the lead between the last two flights and ran on gamely to score by three lengths in the Gainsborough Maiden Hurdle (Division 2). 

Market Rasen was proving to be a lucky course for Geoff as he scored there again on October 19 when Tehran Prince overhauled long-time leader Apollo Kit on the flat and ran on to take the Kingerby Selling Hurdle by two lengths.

There were no more wins that season but Geoff got his name on the scoresheet at the start of the 1980/81 campaign when Elworth got up in the last few strides to land the Lindsay Juvenile Hurdle at Market Rasen on August 4 by a short head. 

Nineteen days later at the next Market Rasen fixture, Geoff rode what turned out to be his final winner when the seven-year-old Pinewood Grange scored in the Scunthorpe Selling Handicap Hurdle by ten lengths. They were only beaten a length on their next start at Sedgefield on September 23. 

Towards the end of 1981, following an eight-year legal battle, Trevor Kersey was evicted from his Bleak House Stables in West Melton, near Rotherham, after a court ruling that gave Rotherham Borough Council possession of a two-acre plot of land, forcing him to quit the site where he had trained for 20 years. The Local Authority had bought the land from a building company in 1973. Kersey claimed that the land was his but the court resolved that he had no title to it and that he was effectively a trespasser, a decision vigorously disputed by the trainer. 

Geoff thereby lost the source of the vast majority of his rides, although it was not until the meeting at Hereford on April 9, 1983 that he had his final mount when Lysistra was pulled up in the Hay Novices’ Hurdle (Division 1). 

Geoff Kersey’s winners were, in chronological order:

1. Birdcage Walk, Huntingdon, August 25, 1975 

2. Bechet, Market Rasen, September 27, 1975

3. Ballymoy, Market Rasen, September 28, 1975

4. Birdcage Walk, Wetherby, October 15, 1975

5. Janemar, Market Rasen, August 4, 1979

6. Tehran Prince, Market Rasen, October 19, 1979

7. Elworth, Market Rasen, August 4, 1980

8. Pinewood Grange, Market Rasen, August 23, 1980