Walter Sibbritt

1885 - 1963

Walter John Sibbitt was born in Korumburra, Victoria, Australia. In 1896, he moved with his family from Victoria to Boulder, a historic gold-rush town forming part of Kalgoorlie–Boulder, some 595 km east of Perth. It was a family with racing in its blood — his younger brother Albert would go on to become a jockey in Mauritius, while his older brother, Tom Huxley Sibbritt, became a trainer in France. Albert died on February 14 1942, when his ship was bombed in Singapore. Tom died in Kulin, Western Australia on September 2, 1964.

Wally, as he was always known, began his racing career at just 12½, weighing a mere four stone, when he rode his first mount — a mare named Lady Love — at Lakeside, Boulder City, near Kalgoorlie. That afternoon he had pleaded with his mother to let him take the ride rather than go to school, and she had relented. It was hardly a surprise that racing had captured him so completely; he had long since shown his passion for horses by rising early each morning to ride to work before lessons.

There was one small problem, however — no riding boots could be found small enough for young Wally's feet. His mother solved it with characteristic ingenuity, fashioning tops from black linoleum to imitate the ankle boots worn by the other jockeys.

Wally and Lady Love - owned by Messrs. R. McKay and J. Gibbett - stormed to victory, but suffered an automatic disqualification, as Lakeside was an unregistered racecourse. Rather than kicking his heels waiting it out, Wally returned to the unregistered tracks — Bicton among them — where he continued to learn his trade, riding 84 winners in eight months. At 14, with his disqualification spent, Wally joined the stable of Paddy Bolger — the leading trainer at Belmont — and was soon riding winners for him. His first important victory was on Roserial in the 1912 Sires' Produce Stakes.

Wally went on to become a prolific winner on the Perth tracks, including the 1918 Perth Cup aboard the chestnut Macadam, carrying 7 st 11 lb. Run on 28 December at Ascot Racecourse as part of the traditional Boxing Day meeting, the race drew a record crowd — likely reflecting the wave of excitement surrounding post-war racing. Macadam's victory placed him in distinguished company, the Perth Cup having previously been won by the likes of Blue Spec (1904), who later took the Melbourne Cup, and Eurythmic (1919). 

A post-race article noted Wally's calm, understated demeanour in the aftermath of his first big win, remarking that his composure had itself been a contributing factor in the victory.

Wally won the Western Australian Turf Club St Leger on four consecutive occasions in the early 1920s — Eurythmic (1920), Susarion (1921), Jolly Cosy (1922) and Jolly Odd (1923). These were state-level classics, not the national Australian St Leger.

In 1925, the Western Australian Turf Club stewards handed him a two-year disqualification for a minor riding offence — a penalty widely regarded as unduly harsh, and one that was subsequently lifted by the committee. Even so, Wally was sufficiently outraged to look beyond Western Australia, and at the urging of local vet Angus McIntosh, he headed for France, where he would remain based for the next ten years.

Wally's wanderings outside Australia began in 1923 when he went to Mauritius to train and ride for Mr Gujadhur, and there he won 19 races on eight horses at 11 meetings. He then rode several winners at the August meeting in Colombo, Sri Lanka, before, in 1927, making his way to England.