Sydney Tindall

Sydney Tindall

Article by Alan Trout

Sydney Tindall made little impact on the racing scene during the First World War despite riding for three seasons. He served his apprenticeship with Tom Cannon Junior, who, having shone briefly as a jockey, trained nearly 300 winners during a career that spanned 40 years.

Sydney’s first ride in public was at Folkestone on June 25, 1914, when finishing unplaced on a two-year-old filly named Lucky 13, trained by Cannon, in the Deal Selling Plate. The race was won Lusca, ridden by Thomas Costello, but it appears to have been an unsatisfactory affair, with seven of the 16 runners recording comments of ‘dwelt’, ‘slowly away’ or ‘badly off’ in the Sporting Chronicle’s Racing-up-to-Date form book.

Despite having more mounts in the months that followed, Sydney did not come close to riding that all-important first winner.

Having completed his apprenticeship at the end of 1915 meant that he started the 1916 season unable to claim an allowance. Being obliged to compete with fully-fledged professional terms did not help his cause.

The closest he came to winning a race was when finishing fourth of ten runners on a three-year-old colt named Giant Stride in the Paddock Plate at Windsor on May 13, 1916. Giant Stride was also Sydney’s final ride the following month when finishing down the field in the Forest Handicap at Windsor on June 28. Victory in that race went to Iron Duke, the mount of Vic Smyth.

As well as being Sydney’s Tindall’s last ride, it was also Giant Stride’s farewell to British racing, for he was shortly afterward exported to South Africa.