Joe Wanless 1914 -1989

Joseph Arthur (Joe) Wanless rode a total of 19 winners over jumps during a career that had

just reached its peak at the outbreak of World War Two.

He served his time with the famous Doncaster trainer Melton Vasey and rode his first winner

on President Wilfred, trained by Vasey, in the Risby Handicap Hurdle at Market Rasen on

Easter Monday, April 17, 1933. His second came on Easter Monday the following year, again

at Market Rasen, this time on another Vasey-trained horse, Friar’s Belle.

Four years elapsed before winner number three, Two Ways, again trained by Melton Vasey,

at Southwell in March 1938. However, he then rode six the following season, four of them

trained by former National Hunt jockey Arthur Reader, who, like Vasey, was based at

Doncaster.

The other two winners of that 1938/39 campaign were owned and trained by Lincolnshire

permit holder George Oxtoby, and it was he who would provide Joe with most of his post-

war success courtesy of hurdler The Kernel, on whom he won seven races, six of them at

Market Rasen. The Kernel was a great favourite at Market Rasen, running there fourteen

times there between April 1946 and September 1949, winning seven times altogether.

The Kernel was also Joe’s last winner, in the Long Distance Hurdle at Market Rasen on

Boxing Day 1947. Somewhat surprisingly, he lost the ride after finishing sixth in a 16-runner

field of handicap hurdlers at Nottingham on February 2, 1948. His career ended soon after.

He had what appears to have been his final ride when seventh of eleven on Bokhari in the

Great Yorkshire Handicap Hurdle at Doncaster on March 11, 1948. To rub salt into the

wound, the race was won by his old ally The Kernel, partnered on this occasion by the great

Martin Molony.

Joe Wanless’s wins were, in chronological order:

1. President Wilfred, Market Rasen, April 17, 1933

2. Friar’s Belle, Market Rasen, April 2, 1934

3. Two Ways, Southwell, March 19, 1938

4. African Flight, Market Rasen, September 17, 1938

5. Fourth Of June, Haydock Park, December 2, 1938

6. Fourth Of June, Haydock Park, February 11, 1939

7. Tragic Venture, Sedgefield, April 5, 1939

8. Tragic Venture, Southwell, May 27, 1939

9. Hussar, Wetherby, May 29, 1939

10. Greek Pie, Wetherby, December 9, 1939

11. The Tattler, Market Rasen, October 19, 1946

12. The Kernel, Wetherby, November 25, 1946

13. The Kernel, Market Rasen, December 26, 1946

14. The Kernel, Market Rasen, April 7, 1947

15. The Kernel, Market Rasen, April 26, 1947

16. Bokhari, Southwell, May 24, 1947

17. The Kernel, Market Rasen, September 20, 1947

18. The Kernel, Market Rasen, October 18, 1947

19. The Kernel, Market Rasen, December 26, 1947