Peter McDermott

Peter McDermott

Article by Alan Trout

Peter Simon McDermott rode under National Hunt rules for about a decade and finished with 20 winners. He started as a conditional with Toby Balding and had his first ride at Devon & Exeter on December 7, 1984, finishing unplaced on Mt Target in the Sparrow Hawk Conditional Jockeys’ Novices’ Hurdle. 

He moved on to join trainer Graeme Roe and it was on his Kitty Wren that he had his first success when the six-year-old took the lead three out and stayed on strongly to take the Coven Selling Handicap Hurdle at Wolverhampton on November 10, 1986, scoring by three lengths. He won two more races on her before the season ended.

He endured a blank 1987/88 season but then struck up a partnership with handicap chaser Le Grand Maitre, winning four races within a year. He also had some success on horses trained by David Wintle, achieving a best score of seven wins in the 1989/90 campaign. 

However, he struggled from then on, with just one win in each of the next five seasons. He entered the winner’s enclosure for the final time at Newton Abbot on October 4, 1994, when Nalysari looked booked for second place coming to the last flight in the St Austell Brewery Claiming Hurdle, only for the leader, Southampton, ridden by Tony McCoy and trained by Toby Balding, to fall when clear, leaving Peter’s mount to score by two and a half lengths.

That was one of only a dozen or so rides that Peter had in that 1994/95 season. He failed to win again and did not renew his licence thereafter. For a while at least he moved to America. 

Peter McDermott’s winners were, in chronological order:

1. Kitty Wren, Wolverhampton, November 10, 1986

2. Kitty Wren, Warwick, November 15, 1986

3. Kitty Wren, Lingfield Park, March 20, 1987

4. Le Grand Maitre, Uttoxeter, October 20, 1988

5. Le Grand Maitre, Plumpton, October 25, 1988

6. Nippy Chippy, Plumpton, November 23, 1988

7. We’re In The Money, Nottingham, December 3, 1988

8. Below Zero, Stratford-on-Avon, December 29, 1988

9. Le Grand Maitre, Stratford-on-Avon, September 30, 1989

10. Le Grand Maitre, Uttoxeter, October 7, 1989

11. Up The Ladder, Hereford, December 28, 1989

12. Gamesmanship, Edinburgh, January 12, 1990

13. Arable Land, Leicester, January 22, 1990

14. Mudahim, Catterick Bridge, February 22, 1990

15. Arable Land, Plumpton, April 14, 1990

16. Sonoma Mission, Southwell, August 27, 1990

17. Randama, Huntingdon, May 25, 1992

18. It’s Not My Fault, Ludlow, April 7, 1993

19. It’s Not My Fault, Southwell, January 5, 1994

20. Nalysari, Newton Abbot, October 4, 1994