George Mulcaster is best remembered as the trainer of 1886 Grand National winner Old Joe. However, he was also a decent amateur rider who had his greatest success in that sphere when winning the Scottish Grand National.
He had his first mount in public on Mr J. Fearon’s horse The Screw in the County Cup over the Steeplechase Course at Whitehaven on April 25, 1871. He failed to finish but the race was won by Mr R. B. Heatherington’s Lady Jane ridden by Mr E. H. Mulcaster, doubtless a relation of some sort, possibly George’s brother.
George gained his first two victories at the last-ever meeting held at Wigton on March 14, 1872. He won the first two races on the card, the Wigton Hunters’ Chase on Gone Away and the County Cup on Juliet (previously known as Maggy). Both horses were owned by Mr Fearon. Racing had been revived at Wigton in 1857 after a lapse of over 20 years. Its new location was the grandly-titled Goodwood Racecourse, near Moorhouse, but it bore little resemblance or comparison to its Sussex namesake and lasted just 15 years until its closure.
George finished second in the 1873 West of Scotland Grand National Chase (as the Scottish Grand National was then known) on Mr Fearon’s Ouragan II. Twelve months later they went one better, winning Scotland’s most important steeplechase, which attracted just five runners, two of whom fell. Prior to winning the 1874 Scottish Grand National, George had ridden Ouragan II in that year’s Grand National at Aintree, completing the course last of the eight finishers behind the 5-1 favourite Reugny.
The Mulcaster family had long been connected with racing and coursing in the north of England. They founded the National Hunt course at Burgh-by-Sands (pronounced Bruff), which held its first meeting on April 10, 1882. Leading amateur rider ‘Wenty’ Hope-Johnstone rode two winners on the opening day. George Mulcaster officiated as Clerk of the Course there and also at a number of other northern jump-meetings.
George lived and trained at Burgh-by-Sands and saddled Old Joe to make a winning racecourse debut there when landing the Carlisle Tradesmen’s Cup in 1884. Later that year, Old Joe won two races on the same day at Whitehaven. Hope-Johnstone was Old Joe’s regular partner and would have ridden him when he won the 1886 Grand National but for being unable to make the 10st 9lb weight he was required to carry. Professional jockey Tom Skelton therefore stepped in for the ride and guided Old Joe to Aintree glory.
Burgh-by-Sands’ race meetings traditionally took place on Easter Monday and were predominately domestic affairs for local hunting men and in keeping with the original intention of National Hunt racing. The character of the races was preserved until 1892, when they were no longer confined to hunters. Its final fixture took place on Easter Monday, April 16, 1900.
A few years after it had disappeared from the fixture list, nearby Carlisle stepped in to acquire the date and maintained a two-day Easter meeting (Saturday and Monday) until 2003, after which it was reduced to one day only on the Saturday. In 1995 the Easter Monday card had included the inaugural running of the Burgh-by-Sands Handicap Chase, thus reviving memories of bygone days.
George combined training with riding as an amateur and went on to amass a total of 38 winners over jumps in Britain, 11 of them at Whitehaven. Whitehaven’s racecourse, located on Harras Moor, had opened for business in 1852. By 1870 it was billed as ‘Whitehaven and West Cumberland’ and offered steeplechases as well as Flat races. The meeting moved to a new course, closer to Whitehaven itself, in 1878. It staged its final meeting in 1890.
That was also the year when George Mulcaster rode his last winner, Old Tatt, in the Hunters’ Selling Plate at Lanark on September 23, 1890. He had his final ride at Doncaster on February 15, 1893, aboard Waterford, who finished last of three runners in a two-mile National Hunt Flat race.
George Mulcaster died on April 20, 1905, aged 80. For many years, he was commemorated by the George Mulcaster Memorial Cup, a handicap chase run at Sedgefield.