Bert Woodage

1927 - 2000

Born on May 14, 1927, Bert Hamlen Woodage was apprenticed to George Todd at Manton. He was first seen on a racecourse at Salisbury on Saturday, July 24, 1943, riding a filly named Rose Sterling in the one-mile Apprentice Plate. Carrying just 6st 4lb, she finished last of the 17 runners.

Bert gradually gained race-riding experience and, in 1946, became leading jockey for half an hour when winning the first race of the season, the Apprentices’ Handicap at Lincoln, on the Todd-trained Stipend, the 4-1 favourite. Although he only rode one other winner from 19 mounts that year, a bright future was predicted.

He stayed with George Todd once he’d finished his apprenticeship but race-riding opportunities were scarce. He rode one winner form 16 mounts in 1949, three from 19 in 1950, all of them trained by Todd, then none at all for the next five years.

In 1956 Bert joined Sir Gordon Richards as a trial jockey with occasional rides on the Flat. Being able to ride at 7st, he partnered some of the stable’s lightweights and young horses who required racing experience. He rode his first winner for Sir Gordon on White Nun at Windsor in June 1956, one of 15 rides that year. He had the same number of rides in 1957, his sole success coming on Sir Gordon’s three-year-old Quel Diable in a Worcester maiden handicap. That would turn out to be his final winner. He came within a short-head of victory on 20-1 shot Desert Love at Bath in September 1958, losing out in the photo-finish to Jimmy Lindley on the 5-4 favourite Grey Topper.

He had his final ride on Sir Gordon’s three-year-old filly Sash of Honour at Bath on May 12, 1960, finishing second, beaten three lengths. Soon afterwards, he found himself under arrest.

On October 25, 1960, along with four other men, comprising three stable lads and a chemist’s dispenser, Bert Woodage appeared before the court at Gloucester Assizes charged with conspiracy to administer drugs to horses over a period of three years from 1958 to 1960. There was also a second count alleging conspiracy to defraud the owners and trainers of those horses and to injure their reputation. Each of the five defendants pleaded not guilty to the two charges.

The ‘hub’ in the conspiracy, it was alleged, was Bertie ‘Bandy’ Rogers, who had died by the time of the trial. It was he who had supposedly distributed the dope, in the form of powders containing caffeine, a banned stimulant, aimed at making horses run faster, rather than doping them to lose.

Woodage acknowledged that he had received powders from Rogers and, when interviewed by police earlier in the year, had admitted to giving one or two to stable lads, but said he did not know they were powders to make the horse win.

Sir Gordon Richards was called as a witness and confirmed he had employed Woodage as a stable lad and as a jockey since 1956. He was then asked about the horses he trained and the races in which they ran. He said that Woodage never had authority from him or on his behalf to go give any sort of drug or powder such as caffeine to any of the horses, adding that he had known nothing about it until the case came to light.

He described Woodage as “an absolutely first-class worker” and said that he was still working for him. He added that there was nothing to make him think that Woodage wanted to damage his employer’s reputation as a trainer.

On Monday, October 25, 1960, four of the men were found guilty of conspiracy to dope racehorses, one of the stable lads having been acquitted. Bert Woodage, aged 33, was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment, as was chemist’s assistant Harry Tuck. Sentences of six months and nine months respectively were imposed on stable lads Robert Mason and James Boyce. The Judge said that Woodage had given powders, either innocently or with fraudulent intent, on a bigger scale than Mason or Boyce, hence the longer sentence.

The jury formally returned a verdict of not guilty on the second charge, to defraud owners and trainers and to injure their reputation.

Sir Gordon had earlier in the day returned to the witness box and pleaded for leniency for Woodage. He said he had known him for 20 years and had ridden alongside him in public, adding he was “amazed when this thing happened.

“When this thing started,” Sir Gordon continued, “wages in stables were very bad. He had his own family to keep, and living with him were his father-in-law, who has not worked for years, and mother-in-law, who has been bedridden for over 15 years.

“I am sure he has learned his lesson,” he told the Judge. “He still has to keep them. He is the only one who can keep them – so I appeal to you to be as lenient with him as you can. While I am training horses, he has always got a job.”

Passing sentence, the Judge, Mr Justice Barry, said all four men were of excellent character and that it was “a disaster” that they had allowed themselves to become involved in a fraudulent scheme.

He observed: “It is a most painful thing to impose prison sentences on men such as you, but I have to uphold my duty to the public and I have to make it clear to all those who might be tempted to indulge in these sort of practices that they cannot go unpunished.”

It was a sad end to a career that at one time had promised a bright future.

Bert Woodage died in 2000, aged 73.

His winners as a professional (non-apprentice) jockey were, in chronological order.

Bright Faith, Salisbury, July 6, 1949

Nicran, Sandown Park, May 3, 1950

The Eunuch, Windsor, June 1, 1950

Lamplighter II, Lingfield Park, November 11, 1950

White Nun, Windsor, June 30, 1956

Quel Diable, Worcester, June 29, 1957