Fred Templeman
1892 - 1973
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Frederick George Templeman was born in Hertfordshire on 10th February 1892 and, in 1901, aged nine, was living with his sister and his father, recently widowed, at Fox Farm, next to the Fox Inn, in Great Bradley, where they had lived since 1889.
In 1904, determined to become a jockey, he left home for Lambourn in Berkshire and became apprenticed to John Hallick. His great-grandfather Simeon Templeman had won the Derby three times, a considerable legacy for any young rider to inherit.
Aged 13, Fred had his first ride on September 22, 1905, at Windsor, finishing unplaced on the Alice Maud filly.
Gatwick July Meeting 1906.
An early shot of Fred In action.
Riding Black Lace (on the right) he wins the Gatwick Selling Handicap.
March 1915
Fifinella beats Kwang Su by a neck with Nassovian in third and Valais fourth.
Fred's most famous achievement came in the 1919 Epsom Derby (often called the "Peace Derby" as the first running at Epsom after the war). He rode Grand Parade, a 33-1 outsider owned by the 1st Baron Glanely (Richard Croker) and trained by Frank Barling at Newmarket. The stable's first-choice jockey, Arthur Smith, opted for the better-fancied Dominion instead, leaving Fred to take the mount on Grand Parade. In a field of 13 runners, Fred kept the colt (a black horse, notably the first of that colour to win the Derby in over a century) in a prominent position, turning into the straight in second behind Paper Money. He launched a strong late challenge, holding off Buchan (who veered left) by half a length, with Paper Money third. The victory was a major upset and brought Fred significant recognition amid the postwar celebrations, with huge crowds attending. Incredibly, the very next season, Arthur Smith made the same mistake again, choosing to ride another horse instead of the winner. Fred finished seventh in the jockeys' championship this season.
The Curragh. June 23, 1920. An English victory in the Irish Derby: He Goes (Fred Templeman) beats Wily Attorney (Joe Canty) and Prince Herod (Steve Donoghue).
The 1920 Irish Derby
The winner was He Goes, a brown colt foaled in 1917. He was sired by Prince Palatine (a notable stallion who won major races like the St. Leger) out of the mare Feronia (by Fariman). He Goes was bred and owned in Ireland by Captain Henry Whitworth, trained by Joseph Butters, and ridden by jockey Fred Templeman. Interestingly, He Goes had run in the Epsom Derby earlier that year (1920), where he was unplaced behind the winner Spion Kop. Jockey Fred Templeman rode him in both races—his only appearance in the Irish Derby proved successful, turning around his Classic season form. He Goes doesn't rank among the all-time legends of the race (unlike later winners such as Nijinsky, Shergar, or Galileo), but his victory came in the post-World War I era when Irish racing was rebuilding, and the Curragh remained a key venue for the Classics.
Racing at Ascot had been suspended throughout the war years from 1915 to 1918, so when the Royal Ascot Meeting returned in 1919, it drew enormous crowds eager to celebrate the revival of the sport. The race that year produced a memorable champion in Irish Elegance, a horse bred from the sire Sir Archibald out of the mare Sweet Clorane. He was owned by the financier James White, trained by Harry Cottrill, and partnered by jockey Fred Templeman, going to post as the 7/1 joint-favourite.
What elevated this victory beyond the ordinary was the burden Irish Elegance carried to win. At 9 stone 11 pounds, he set a record for the heaviest weight ever carried to victory in the Royal Hunt Cup, a feat that contemporary reports went so far as to call a turf record. Rather than being unsettled by that weight, Irish Elegance answered every question asked of him, with Fred Templeman sending him to the front and simply never relinquishing the lead — a front-running display that underlined just how exceptional a horse he was.
For this sterling effort he was given 100 shares in the Beecham Trust, which owned valuable property in Covent Garden, by the horse’s owner, financier Mr James White. Soon afterwards Fred – struggling to make ends met – sold them. He was reprimanded by White’s regular rider, Steve Donoghue, for his ingratitude. Fred remarked ‘I’m hard up and need the money!’
Fred turned to training in 1921 and enjoyed considerable success, winning the 2,000 Guineas on two occasions — with Diolite in 1930, a horse he had purchased for just 480 guineas, and again with Lambert Simnel in 1941. Among the horses he trained, his personal favourite was Cotoneaster, who won 14 races for the stable, including the Hardwicke Stakes and the Great Jubilee Handicap.
Fred Templeman died of cancer at Lambourn on Thursday 17 May 1973, aged 83, leaving an estate valued at £416,062. Following his death, the Faring Road gallop at Lambourn, which he had privately owned, was put up for auction at the Red Lion Hotel. The gallops stretched across 47 acres and covered distances of up to a mile. An initial bid of £14,000 was rejected before Lambourn trainer Major Peter Nelson secured them for £22,500.
In 1919, some 300 Lambourn stable lads went on strike for better pay, seeking a rise from 40 shillings a week to 50 shillings. At the time, Fred Templeman was paying his stable lads five shillings a week in wages, with 30 shillings toward their keep and £12 per year for clothing. Work was scarce, and the strikers' cause was weakened when outside stablemen and girls volunteered to fill their places. Fred, by then training, was characteristically blunt about the situation: "The strike will not make any difference. With these girls we could get along until Doomsday. If the Newmarket lads come out in sympathy, as has been proposed, it will alter things, but if the strike is confined to Lambourn we will continue without trouble."
The replacement girls were housed in a village a few miles away and escorted by police to the stables each morning at six o'clock. The striking lads claimed that transport workers would support them by preventing horses from reaching Epsom, while the trainers made arrangements to use non-union lorry drivers. When the Epsom stable lads joined the action, demanding the same 50 shillings a week, a meeting was arranged through the National Union of General Workers, to which the lads belonged, and a compromise was eventually reached.
Fred Templeman held second claim on the talented jockey George Nicoll, with Sir Abe Bailey holding first claim. Nicoll had ridden Sir Abe Bailey's Raymond to win the 1933 Cambridgeshire, but his life came to a tragic end in January 1938 when he was found dead at his home, The Studio, in Newmarket. At the inquest, his father-in-law testified that he had entered the house to find Nicoll in an armchair wearing a gas mask, one end of which had been connected to a gas pipe. A verdict of suicide while the balance of his mind was disturbed was recorded.
May 1973
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