Harry Tales

Harry Tales

Article by Alan Trout

Harry Tales rode regularly in Britain either side of the First World War, from 1908 to 1915 and from 1919 to 1927, winning 14 races in total. 

Born in 1885, his first ride was at the Belvoir Hunt meeting on March 19, 1908, when his mount Galieppe failed to finish in the Light-weight Farmers’ Chase. It would be just over two years before he rode a winner, that coming at the Quorn Hunt meeting at Loughborough on April 18, 1910, when an eleven-year-old gelding named Outsider beat five rivals to land the Charnwood Handicap Hurdle, beating Hugh Jackson on Beautiful Eve by six lengths. . 

The winner was owned, like most of Harty’s winners, by the amateur jockey E. S. Tomlinson and had run disappointingly in his two previous stats that year, both with Harry aboard. Outsider was to provide Harry with three more victories in a career that never saw him ride more than two winners in a calendar year. 

He did have the misfortune of winning a race only to lose it in the stewards’ room. This came at Southwell on May 6, 1912, when Knowledge Box won the Harrington Optional Selling Hurdle, beating the 6/5 on favourite Adorn by a length. However, Harvey Leader, rider of the runner-up, objected to the winner on grounds of ‘crossing and boring’ and this was sustained. 

Two years later, at Nottingham on October 26, 1914, Harry lined up aboard Lincoln Lundum in a match for the Willford Chase. Both his mount and sole opponent Fealbert repeatedly refused, the race eventually being declared void. 

Returning to action after the war, Harry went on to ride five more winners, the last of them at Uttoxeter on March 3, 1924, when Huic Holloa scored by four lengths in the Longport Selling Handicap Chase. 

He continued riding until having his final mount at Market Rasen’s Easter Monday meeting on April 18, 1927. He had been successful at the corresponding fixture four times in the past, but on this occasion his mount Fortunino was unplaced in the Try Again Hurdle. 

Harry Tales’ winners were, in chronological order:

1. Outsider, Quorn Hunt (Loughborough), April 18, 1910

2. Outsider, Uttoxeter, May 23, 1910

3. Outsider, Doncaster, February 21, 1911

4. Cashier, Retford Hunt, March 20, 1912

5. Outsider, Market Rasen, April 8, 1912

6. Result II, Market Rasen, March 24, 1913

7. Result II, Melton Hunt, April 9, 1913

8. Pentonville, Market Rasen, April 13, 1914

9. Mimbar, Uttoxeter, May 12, 1914

10. Hukm, Nottingham, February 3, 1920

11. Irish Agnes, Huntingdon, November 19, 1920

12. Rouge Dragon, Market Rasen, March 28, 1921

12. Baumber, Brocklesby Hunt, April 19, 1923

14. Huic Holloa, Uttoxeter, March 3, 1924