Willie Snaith

1928-2019

The son of a cobbler, Willie Snaith was born on May 23, 1928, in Gateshead and endured a tough childhood. His father, a shoemaker, died when Willie was just five while his mother cleaned trams between ten at night and six in the morning to make ends meet.

Willie was evacuated during the war and stayed with his uncle, former jockey Charlie Carr, at Hexham. It was from Charlie that he heard his first tales of the turf.

Willie left school at 14 and worked briefly in a wool shop. It was during a chance meeting with former soccer star Bill Bradley that Willie confessed his ambition to become a jockey. Bradley, who had taken a liking to the young lad, put him in touch with Sam Armstrong, who was then training at Middleham, in Yorkshire. That was the first rung on the ladder.

Willie rode his first winner on Chhota Sahib at Newmarket on August 22, 1946 during a seven-year apprenticeship with Armstrong. He stayed with Armstrong for a total of nine years and said of him: “He was a tough man, but he made me a jockey and he made a man of me.”

He became champion apprentice in 1949 with 31 winners.

Riding for Noel Murless and Captain Boyd-Rochfort, he went on to become one of the top jockeys in the fifties, winning the Gimcrack and the Champagne Stakes on Sam Armstong's excellent filly, Bebe Grande.

Other great wins included the Nunthorpe, Dewhurst, July Cup and, for the Queen, the 1954 Sussex Stakes on Landau.

He rode in the Epsom Derby on seven occasions achieving a third, fourth and seventh position.

His proudest moment in the saddle came when riding the Queen Mother’s Bali Hai to victory at Sandown in 1959. His proudest moment out of the saddle was when receiving an MBE from The Queen at Buckingham Palace in 2004. Recalling that day, he said: “It was a great thrill and the greatest day. You get separated from your family as you wait to meet the Queen, and I’m not ashamed to say that I cried my bloody eyes out. I couldn’t help it. It was sheer joy. I was going to meet the Queen and really shake her hand.”

On his mantlepiece, Willie kept a black-and-white photo of himself when he met the Queen for the first time in the paddock at Goodwood in 1954, just before he rode Landau to victory for her in the Sussex Stakes. In total he rode five winners in the royal colours.

He spent nine winters abroad racing in India. He also rode two Derby winners in Scandinavia. His best British season, numerically, came in 1957 when he rode 78 winners.

In 1961, he suffered a punctured lung and spleen when his mount Dean Arabian crashed through the Lingfield rails in the Four Elms Handicap. Which kept him out of action for some time.

Willie rode his last winner on Skyroyben at Newmarket on May 15, 1971. By then he had amassed over 900 winners, 747 of them in Britain.

After he’d finished riding in races, he became a work rider for Sir Noel Murless at Warren Place and when Murless retired he rode out for Henry Cecil for 16 years, when a bad attack of asthma forced him to quit. He rated Diesis the best he rode on the gallops.

Like Nat Flatman, Lester Piggott, Greville Starkey and Doug Smith, he has a Newmarket road named after him.

He was married, for over sixty years, to (Helen) Silvia: they were wed on September 10, 1951. Among their most treasured possessions was the horseshoe which adorned their wedding cup after they made their vows at Newmarket’s All Saints’ Church.

The couple was the toast of Newmarket’s racing community. Silvia, the daughter of well-known town trainer R A (Bobby) Jones, first spotted the up-and-coming young Geordie jockey when they were riding out on the Heath in 1949.

“It was love at first sight,” said Silvia. “I knew there was a dance coming up organised by the Young Conservatives and I bought Willie a ticket so we could go together.”

Their romance blossomed and two years later they tied the knot.

Their honeymoon destination was Doncaster racecourse where Willie had two rides at the St Leger meeting. After that, Silvia returned to Newmarket and Willie went north to Scotland for two weeks’ riding on the Scottish circuit.

“It wasn’t the ideal start to married life but at least I rode ten winners,” joked Willie.

When Willie was no longer able to continue as a work rider, he became a tour guide at Newmarket, taking parties to the gallops, the British Racing School, the National Stud and the horseracing museum. Fellow ex-jockey Eric Eldin was another tour guide there.

Willie’s flat, in Newmarket, was provided by the Injured Jockeys Fund and overlooked the Warren Hill and Side Hill gallops. He often stood at his French door watching the early morning action as horses were put through their paces.

He was not alone there. Jimmy Uttley, who won three champion hurdles on Persian War, lived in a nearby apartment. So, too, did another ex-jockey Colin Casey. Roy Baker was another old-time jockey living in the same block.

Willie, who stood just 4 feet 11 inches, was given The Lifetime Racing Award, presented to him by Princess Anne.

Sadly, Willie’s wife Silvia passed away on August 8, 2012, aged 83. Willie, in intensive care at the time, was unable to attend her funeral, a source of deep regret for him.

Speaking of her, he said: “She was the highlight, God bless her. She was wonderful, a great person. We were pals and we really loved each other. We were married for 61 years.”

Willie had two sons, William John and Derek Andrew and one daughter, Helen Jane. William (always known as John) became a steeplechase jockey, but, aged 28, was horrifically injured at Aintree riding Oaklawn: his skull fractured, he spent six weeks in a coma. His riding days were over.

Like his father, he, too, worked at the National Horseracing Museum.

In later years, Willie relied on a scooter to get about. “The little legs have seized up,” he explained. He used it to visit the stables of Sir Mark Prescott every six months. It was his way of staying in touch with the profession.

He retained many friends from his years in the saddle, notably Lester Piggott, who sent Willie two cards a year, one for his birthday and one at Christmas.

Willie Snaith died in June 2019, aged 91.

Big winners:

1947: Lanark Silver Bell – Tsaoko

1949: Northumberland Plate – Folami

1949: Lanark Silver Bell – Zephyrus

1950: Bessborough Handicap – Rumpelstiltskin

1950: Lanark Silver Bell – Dancing Flame

1951: Stewards Cup – Sugar Bowl

1952: Gimcrack Stakes – Bebe Grande

1952: Champagne Stakes – Bebe Grande

1953: King George V Handicap – Lepidoptic

1953: Stewards Cup – Palpitate

1954: July Cup – Vilmoray

1954: Sussex Stakes – Landau

1954: Nassau Stakes – Key

1954: Royal Lodge Stakes – Solarium

1955: Royal Hunt Cup – Nicholas Nickleby

1955: Nunthorpe Stakes – Royal Palm

1955: Old Newton Cup – Double Bore

1955: Dewhurst Stakes – Dacian

1956: Craven Stakes – Pirate King

1956: Lingfield Oaks Trial – No Pretender

1956: Molecomb Stakes – Pharsalia

1956: Gordon Stakes – Dacian

1956: Portland Handicap – Epaulette

1957: Lingfield Oaks Trial – Crotchet

1957: Nunthorpe Stakes – Gratitude

1958: Chester Vase – Alcide

1959: Victoria Cup – D.T.J (dead-heat)

1960: Great Metropolitan Handicap – Kaffirboom

1960: Queen Anne Stakes – Blast

1961: Great Metropolitan Handicap – Little Buskins

1964: Midland Breeders’ Foal Stakes – Sweet Moss