Frank Saunders

Frank Saunders

Article by Alan Trout

After a promising start with seven winners in 1914 as an apprentice, the career of Frank William Saunders on the Flat petered out with only one further success. However, he fared better over jumps with 19 wins, including 11 in 1923 alone. 

Born around 1895, he was apprenticed to Lambourn trainer John Hallick and had his first ride in 1912. Two years later he recorded his first win when Vebena, trained like all his other winners on the Flat by John Hallick, won the Billesden Handicap at Croxton Park’s annual fixture on April 2, 1914. Four more wins followed in the next 23 days and he ended the year with a tally of seven, four of them gained on the three-year-old Longfellow. 

Frank had well over 100 rides that year and still did quite well in terms of mounts in the curtailed 1915 campaign, but he only had one success, his last on the Flat, when, in a tight finish, his mount Clicquot prevailed by a neck on the Zetland Two-Year-Old Plate at Catterick Bridge on April 8, beating Brown Moor, ridden by Reg Stokes. 

Frank was not seen on a racecourse between 1916 and 1918 but then came back as a National Hunt jockey with a first outing at Derby on December 15, 1919, when the five-year-old Joffrette finished fifth of 13 starters in the Duffield Selling Hurdle. However, his next ride on Joffrette went much better as they took the lead three flights from home and landed the Stockwell Selling Hurdle at Wolverhampton on December 27 by eight lengths. 

There were no more wins until Frank landed the corresponding race on Boxing Day 1922 on the six-year-old Snake Ash, but it was in 1923 that he had what might have been his breakthrough year. His 11 wins included three each on the hurdlers Glenfarg and Muz. 

He did not ride in any major races and his winning tally slumped to just four in 1924. His final win was his sixth on Muz when the seven-year-old mare beat ten rivals to land the Stewards’ Handicap Hurdle at Cardiff on May 28, 1925. His final ride was on Garrett, fourth and last to finish in the City Selling Handicap Hurdle at Manchester on April 10, 1928.