Fred Simmons

Fred Simmons

Article by Alan Trout

Fred Simmons rode 13 winners under National Hunt rules in the years before the First World War.

He had just a single ride in 1905 but it was a winning one, for at Bogside on April 13 his mount Bottlestown beat three rivals to land the Eglinton Farmers’ Chase by 25 lengths. 

Over the next few years Fred did well on Scottish courses. In fact, all bar one of his career wins were gained at Scottish tracks, including a double at Hamilton Park. His final victory was at Perth on September 27, 1912, when Yarboro’ narrowly beat Bay Fox, the mount of David McGuigan, by a head to take the Stewards’ Selling Handicap Chase.

He had his last ride at Hexham on Whit Monday, June 1, 1914, when Billy Bass was unplaced in the Shire Selling Handicap Hurdle. 

Fred Simmons’s winners were, in chronological order:

1. Bottlestown, Bogside, April 13, 1905

2. Chit Chat, Hamilton Park, April 16, 1906

3. Plain Polly, Hamilton Park, April 1, 1907

4. Chit Chat, Hamilton Park, April 1, 1907

5. Divination, Paisley, August 8, 1907

6. Divination, Hamilton Park, September 30, 1907

7. Not Proven, Kelso, April 27, 1908

8. Little Tom, Perth, September 22, 1910

9. Little Tom, Perth, September 23, 1910

10. Bay Fox, Bogside, October 28, 1910

11. Gone Away, Carlisle, April 17, 1911

12. Macgregor, Kelso, April 24, 1911

13. Yarboro’, Perth, September 27, 1912