Born in 1876, National Hunt jockey Elisha Ward rode 49 winners over jumps in the late 19th and early 20th century. By far the most important of those was his victory on Roman Candle in the 1909 Welsh Grand National.
Elisha came close to making a dream start to his riding career, finishing second, beaten half a length, on his first ride in public on Crystal Palace in the Hastings Handicap Chase at Plumpton on March 23, 1897. He then had to wait more than three and a half years before finally visiting the winner’s enclosure for the first time, when landing the Highway Selling Handicap Hurdle at Hawthorn Hill by 20 lengths on the 7-4 joint-favourite Covent Garden.
In between times, he’d come close to recording a big race win when finishing second on Crystal Palace in the 1898 Stanley Chase at Liverpool. However, in 1904 he gained a measure of compensation when riding a horse named H.B. to victory over the Aintree fences in the Altcar Four-Year-Old Chase at Liverpool’s 1904 Spring meeting. In doing so, they were following up from winning the Hambledon Chase at Portsmouth Park earlier that month.
Elisha enjoyed his most successful years in 1906, 1908 and 1909, riding six winners in each. The last of those years included his greatest success, when bringing the seven-year-old chestnut gelding Roman Candle with a rare late rattle to win the 1909 Welsh Grand National at Cardiff by a head from the favourite Timothy Titus. It was the only occasion on which Elisha rode in the race.
Even in receipt of a stone in weight, it was a good performance by Roman Candle, as the runner-up Timothy Titis, although by then eleven years old, was no mean performer, having won the 1904 National Hunt Chase when ridden by Ivor Anthony.
Elisha rode the last of his 49 winners – eight of which had been gained at the Isle of Wight – aboard Lord James in the Grove Selling Handicap Chase at Hawthorn Hill, the course at which he’d ridden his first winner, on March 25, 1912.
His final mount in public ended in a fall from Silver Jack in the Warren Hurdle at Sandown Park on February 27, 1913.