Fred Walkeden

Fred Walkeden

1887-1940

Article by Alan Trout

Fred Walkeden made little headway as a jockey on the Flat with only three winners in seven years. However, he was doing far better over jumps with 23 winners in four seasons when a bad fall in a hurdle race at Manchester halted his progress.

Frederick Averne Walkeden was born on March 21, 1887 at Queensville, now a suburb of Stafford, and was apprenticed to Laurence. Rooney. His first ride was on Veiled Queen, unplaced in the Shepperton Selling Hurdle at Kempton Park on May 8, 1903.

He scored his first success when the three-year-old Sweet William won the Clewer Handicap at Windsor on June 18, 1904. They followed up six days later when Sweet William again proved too good for his rivals, winning the New Stand Handicap at Sandown Park and surviving an objection by the rider of the runner-up on the grounds of ‘crossing’.

However, this dual success did not mark a breakthrough in Fred’s career. It was to be five years before he won his third, and final, race on the Flat when Connie Ediss took the Forest Selling Handicap at Windsor on August 13, 1909. Fred’s last ride on the Flat was on Stubwood, who finished second to Accisia, the mount of Frank Wootton, in the Doveridge Welter Plate at Derby on November 6, 1910.

Fred had ridden his first winner under National Hunt rules when Ninepins won the Brewood Selling Hurdle at Wolverhampton by three lengths on December 27, 1907. There were five wins in 1908 and also in 1909, including three successes on juvenile hurdler Stubwood.

Things went even better in 1910 with 12 wins, featuring doubles at Birmingham and Uttoxeter. The last of that dozen was when Wingfield won the Himley Steeplechase at Wolverhampton on September 26, scoring by a head from Sachem, the mount of Harry Whiley.

Fred’s career came to a painful end when breaking a thigh in a fall from Thremhall in the New Year Handicap Hurdle at Manchester on January 2, 1911. Sadly, he made the headlines in the Sporting Life for probably the only time in his life for the wrong reasons. He did not ride in England again.

Fred Walkeden died in 1940, aged 53.

Fred Walkeden’s winners under National Hunt rules were, in chronological order:

1. Ninepins, Wolverhampton, December 27, 1907

2. Punch, Southwell, February 24, 1908

3. Ninepins, Gatwick, March 11, 1908

4. Miriam, Ludlow, March 18, 1908

5. Lord Bilbrook, Worcester, May 5, 1908

6. Mill Boy, Worcester, May 6, 1908

7. Templemore, Derby, March 15, 1909

8. Comique, Hooton Park, May 31, 1909

9. Stubwood, Wolverhampton, September 28, 1909

10. Stubwood, Uttoxeter, October 18, 1909

11. Stubwood, Birmingham, November 30, 1909

12. Bohemian Lassie, Birmingham, January 4, 1910

13. Punch, Birmingham, January 4, 1910

14. Minetta, Haydock Park, January 7, 1910

15. Minetta, Wolverhampton, January 10, 1910

16. Punch, Manchester, January 18, 1910

17. Punch, Leicester, February 3, 1910

18. Punch, Birmingham, February 8, 1910

19. Lady Tibby, Warwick, February 17, 1910

20. Little Comrade, Uttoxeter, April 28, 1910

21. Stubwood, Uttoxeter, April 28, 1910

22. Bohemian Lassie, Shirley Park, September 5, 1910

23. Wingfield, Wolverhampton, September 26, 1910