Godfrey King

Born on August 31, 1930, Godfrey Roland King served his apprenticeship initially with John Waugh at Chilton, near Didcot (1944-49) and then with Harry Davison at Findon, Sussex (1951-53). 

Retained by trainer Douglas Gunn at Cravengate Stables, Richmond, Yorkshire, Godfrey held a full jockey’s licence between 1957 and 1960 but had very few opportunities and failed to ride a winner. 

The best horse he rode was Beau Ideal, which he partnered just once, on her debut in the Wilkinson Memorial Stakes at York on May 28, 1959, finishing eighth of thirteen, having been slowly away. Beau Ideal won two races later that season and finished second in Ascot’s Tankerville Nursey in the autumn. 

At three, Beau Ideal won the Roseberry Stakes at Stockton and put up her best performance when finishing fourth in the Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot. As a four-year-old in 1960, she won Chester’s Great Cheshire Handicap in the hands of Lester Piggott. 

Godfrey’s son Gary Nigel King (pictured below), born in 1964, was a successful apprentice during the mid-1980s, riding three winners in 1985, a career-best seven in 1986, and five in 1987.