Fred Roach

Fred Roach

Article by Alan Trout

Frederick Roach rode eight winners under National Hunt rules in the first half of the 1920s.

He was unplaced on his first ride when Cinzano was among the ‘also rans’ in the Three Years Old Hurdle at Hawthorn Hill on November 13, 1920. Fred regularly rode the gelding during that season, being placed in all five starts. 

The sequence was broken with an unplaced effort in the Optional Selling Hurdle on the first day of the annual two-day Totnes & Bridgetown fixture on September 7, 1921, but the following day at the same course the pair won the Grand South Hams Handicap Chase, beating the 7/4 on favourite The Last, ridden by the great Jack Anthony, by half a length. 

Cinzano gave Fred the second leg of a double at Uttoxeter on October 17, then won again for him when turned out there the next day.

Despite those four wins within a six-week period, Fred did not have many rides and only recorded four more wins, the last two of those coming Clifden Lass, firstly at Towcester, known in those days as Grafton Hunt, on Easter Monday 1925, then at the Isle of Wight’s meeting on May 7, when the mare easily won the Brading Chase by 15 lengths. 

His final ride, Chain Hill, was a faller in the Land o’ Plums Chase at Pershore on May 4, 1930. It is not known whether his career ended as a direct result of that fall. 

Fred Roach’s winners were, in chronological order:

1. Cinzano, Totnes, September 8, 1921

2. Cresley, Uttoxeter, October 17, 1921

3. Cinzano, Uttoxeter, October 17, 1921

4. Cinzano, Uttoxeter, October 18, 1921

5. Ballybarney, Beaufort Hunt, April 6, 1922

6. Lochar, Ludlow, February 6, 1924

7. Clifden Lass, Grafton Hunt (Towcester), April 13, 1925

8. Clifden Lass, Isle of Wight, May 7, 1925