Sid Kernick

1905-1982

Article by Alan Trout

For over 40 years, first as a National Hunt jockey, then as a trainer, Sid Kernick was a prominent figure in West Country racing circles.

Sidney George Kernick was born on November 2, 1905. He had his first ride under NH rules at Torquay on Easter Monday, April 21, 1930. It was a winning debut, as the six-year-old Hard Case, owned and trained by Mr J. Davies, scored by a length in the Torquay Selling Handicap Hurdle. It may have been a happy occasion for Sid, but not for one of his fellow jockeys, Richard Matthews, who was fined for taking the wrong course.

Despite that promising start, it would be six years before Sid entered the winner’s enclosure for a second time, and again it was a Bank Holiday, this time on Whit Monday, June 1, 1936, when he steered More Gossip to a one-length victory in the Dean Court Moderate Hurdle at Buckfastleigh. Among the jockeys behind him that day were two future training greats, Fulke Walwyn and Peter Cazalet.

Two more wins followed during the 1937/38 season, both of them on Rannerdale, owned and trained by Major S. B. Sweet-Escott, but the turmoil of war which disrupted NH racing meant that it was to be over eight years before Sid rode another winner, by which time he was past 40.

However, the next three years were to prove the most productive of his riding career with 22 winners. His best season was 1949/50, in which he had eight successes. Although most of his victories were on West Country courses, he did also have winners at Haydock Park, Newport, Plumpton, Birmingham and Worcester, and it was at Fontwell Park that he achieved the only double of his career, on April 5, 1950 when riding Sy Oui and Belrose to win consecutive races. Both were trained at Stockbridge by Henry Gordon-Bowsher.

Sid won five races on Sy Oui, including a memorable day at Wolverhampton on November 15, 1949 when he forced a dead-heat with the incomparable Martin Molony on Irish Lizard in the Dunstall Park Novices’ Chase. One future Grand National-winning jockey, Dave Dick, was a head away in third place, and other, Bryan Marshall, finished fourth. Irish Lizard went on to finish third in the 1953 Grand National. Sy Oui later changed stables and, trained by Ryan Price and often ridden by Fred Winter, won 16 races.

Sid rode his 15th winner, thereby losing his allowance, when making all on Paul’s Hill to win the Butts Novices’ Chase at Worcester on October 11, 1949, beating Idlewild, the mount of Tim Molony, by 15 lengths.

Sid’s last win was gained on Effendi, trained by Gordon-Bowsher, in the Newland Novices’ Chase at Wincanton on November 23, 1950, with another legendary trainer, Bob Turnell, finishing third. Thereafter, Sid only rode a few times each season, finishing unplaced on his final mount, Pas Couplable, in the Moorland Handicap Hurdle at Devon & Exeter on May 12, 1956. In a career lasting 26 years he had ridden 26 winners.

He then took out a trainer’s licence, and although results were fairly modest, he soon acquired an enviable record of transforming difficult, if not downright impossible, horses. Among those who learned much from the experience of working for him was amateur rider and future leading trainer Sir Mark Prescott.

Sid’s last winner as a trainer was Raw Grass, ridden by his son Neil, who triumphed in the Cowley Novices’ Hurdle at Devon & Exeter on November 20, 1979.

Sid Kernick died in 1982.

His winners were, in chronological order:

1. Hard Case, Torquay, April 21, 1930

2. More Gossip, Buckfastleigh, June 1, 1936

3. Rannerdale, Taunton, March 31, 1938

4. Rannerdale, Torquay, April 19, 1938

5. Carrack, Birmingham, December 13, 1946

6. Rake’s Progress, Newton Abbot, April 5, 1947

7. Rake’s Progress, Newport, October 11, 1947

8. Rake’s Progress, Haydock Park, January 7, 1948

9. Enthusiasm, Wincanton, February 19, 1948

10. Enthusiasm, Newton Abbot, March 27, 1948

11. Monty Crag, Newton Abbot, April 16, 1949

12. Sy Oui, Taunton, May 7, 1949

13. Sy Oui, Newton Abbot, August 19, 1949

14. Monty Crag, Devon & Exeter, August 28, 1949

15. Paul’s Hill, Worcester, October 11, 1949

16. Sy Oui, Hereford, November 10, 1949

17. Sy Oui, Wolverhampton, November 15, 1949

18. Chain Link, Worcester, December 3, 1949

19. Sy Oui, Fontwell Park, April 5, 1950

20. Belrose, Fontwell Park, April 5, 1950

21. Valignus, Devon & Exeter, August 24, 1950

22. Hotina, Newton Abbot, September 9, 1950

23. Brenner, Taunton, September 30, 1950

24. Teetotal, Taunton, November 11, 1950

25. Scotts Winn, Plumpton, November 13, 1950

26. Effendi, Wincanton, November 23, 1950