National Hunt jockey Patrick Joseph L’Estrange rode 16 winners during a career that lasted for over a quarter of a century but was compromised by World War One.
Born in 1885, his first ride was at Windsor on February 15, 1905, when his mount McKinnel finished unplaced in the Weir Steeplechase. He had to wait exactly six years for his first win, at Warwick on February 15, 1911, when Queen Of The Sky won the Stewards’ Steeplechase. Receiving 27lb from the runner-up Worm Pecker, the mount of Bill Payne, the four-year-old was running for the first time over jumps and won by a head. Patrick did not get another chance to ride her before she was sold and sent to Chile.
He rode one winner in 1913 but that was all until after the war when he resumed his career. He even had at least one ride on the Flat when partnering Marcoglass, unplaced in the Stewards’ Plate at Salisbury on March 29, 1919, a race won by Brownie Carslake on Finisher.
It was not until 1922 that he had more than two winners in a year. He rode seven that year, including three in a row on selling chaser Schiddles, and three wins on the four-year-old Test Match, including the most important victory of his career in the National Hunt Juvenile Chase at Cheltenham. With three of the six runners failing to finish, Pat brought Test Match home four lengths clear of Blastino, ridden by Jack Anthony. It was by the same margin that the pair triumphed in the Cheltenham Handicap Chase back at that course in November.
Pat also had two rides over the fearsome Liverpool fences. In November 1925 he finished third on Test Match in the Grand Sefton Chase, albeit a long way behind the winner Ardeen, ridden by Bilbie Rees. They also competed in the 1926 Grand National but were among the fallers.
After riding for so long, Pat finally landed a double, at Huntingdon on Whit Monday, May 24, 1926. Fitzpicton won the Cambridgeshire Open Selling Handicap Chase by a length from Bob Lyall on Here’s Hoping, and, in the last race of the afternoon, Cat Burglar had the same margin of victory at the end of the Stukeley Hurdle. They were also the last wins of Pat’s career. He had his final ride on Fornada, unplaced in the Juvenile Selling Hurdle at Lingfield Park on February 28, 1931.
Pat L’Estrange died in the Royal West Sussex Hospital, Chichester, aged 48. He was buried in Plot H639A at Epsom Cemetery, on 18th January 1933.
Pat L’Estrange’s winners were, in chronological order:
1. Queen Of The Sky, Warwick, February 15, 1911
2. Gaston Bocard, Plumpton, January 4, 1913
3. Abanesk, Hurst Park, December 19, 1919
4. Abanesk, Newbury, December 30, 1919
5. Holmdale Pride, Crewkerne, November 25, 1920
6. Schiddles, Gatwick, February 9, 1922
7. Littlewanted, Newbury, February 22, 1922
8. Test Match, Cheltenham, March 9, 1922
9. Schiddles, Folkestone, March 27, 1922
10. Schiddles, Sandown Park, October 21, 1922
11. Test Match, Cheltenham, November 24, 1922
12. Test Match, Newbury, December 30, 1922
13. Schiddles, Gatwick, January 3, 1923
14. Test Match, Newbury, November 29, 1923
15. Fitzpicton, Huntingdon, May 24, 1926
16. Cat Burglar, Huntingdon, May 24, 1926