Edwin Spooner

Edwin Spooner

c1879-1917

Article by Alan Trout

Edwin Arthur Spooner rode five winners under National Hunt rules in the early years of the 20th century.

Born around 1879, he started riding under both codes in the autumn of 1902. On October 24 he finished third on Honeycomb in the Thirsk Autumn Handicap at that Yorkshire venue, beaten a long way by Elijah Wheatley on Baton Rouge. On November 1 his mount, Laagte, was unplaced in the Selling Overnight Handicap Hurdle at Folkestone. 

Although he had a few more rides on the Flat, all his five wins came over jumps, beginning with the four-year-old Atholcroft in the Portsea Selling Hurdle at Portsmouth Park on Easter Monday, April 24, 1905. On what appears to have been his only ride of the season, he steered Atholcroft to beat Bill Dollery on Matchboard by three lengths. Ironically, Dollery had been in the saddle for all of Atholcroft’s three previous unplaced starts that year. 

Edwin did not ride at all in 1906 and endured a winless 1907, but he fared better in 1908 with four victories, starting with another Easter Monday success, this time on Dalgany in the Wincanton Open Handicap Chase. Once again, Bill Dollery filled the runner-up spot, with his mount Wisdom finishing two lengths behind the winner. 

At the Hambledon Hunt meeting on May 5, Edwin gained his third success when Prodigy scored in the Exton Selling Hurdle, and the four-year-old also provided him with the second half of a double at Aldershot just eight days later. Sprinkle Me initiated the double when winning the Spring Handicap Chase, beating leading amateur rider Percy Whitaker on Deltric by a length and a half, then in the next race Prodigy had the same distance to spare over Ormer, partnered by another good amateur, Walter Bulteel, in the Frimley Selling Handicap Hurdle. 

Sadly, Edwin did not keep the ride on Sprinkle Me while Prodigy never ran again, so his success was short-lived. He rode for the final time when pulling up on Sheerness in the Bridgnorth Selling Chase at that course on April 19, 1910. 

Ernest Spooner died in 1917. Although he would have only been in his late thirties, fellow historian Derek Gay has no record of him falling in action during World War I, hence it is possible that his death was due to illness or to an accident at home on the gallops. 

Edwin Spooner’s winners were, in chronological order

1. Atholcroft, Portsmouth Park, April 24, 1905

2. Dalgany, Wincanton, April 20, 1908

3. Prodigy, Hambledon Hunt, May 5, 1908

4. Sprinkle Me, Aldershot, May 13, 1908

5. Prodigy, Aldershot, May 13, 1908