National Hunt jockey Mervyn Graham George Wilkins rode ten winners in the 1950s before he lost his life in a racing fall.
He was based with trainer Frank Cundell at Aston Tirrold and achieved his first two winners within the space of five days on Jim’s The Boy, trained by Cundell, in chases at Fontwell Park and Stratford in May 1951.
Mervyn rode four winners the following season, three of them trained by Cundell. He scored three times during the 1952/53 campaign, once for Cundell and twice on selling hurdler Teddy Tail for Blewbury trainer Michael Pope.
Having drawn a blank in the 1953/54 season he had what was to be his final success on Chalk End for trainer Ken Bailey in a selling handicap hurdle at Manchester on December 4, 1954. That was his tenth winner and resulted in his claim being reduced to 5lb.
On Whit Monday, May 21, 1956, Mervyn journeyed to Hereford for two rides. His first mount, 20-1 outsider Light Sussex in the handicap hurdle, fell but the jockey emerged unscathed. An hour later he partnered another longshot, Fitzi Corona, in the Novices’ Hurdle, worth £102 to the winner. He’d ridden him at Stratford earlier in the month and completed the course safely. This time, however, Fitzi Corona fell and Mervyn, aged 35, fractured his skull, resulting in his death the same day.
Mervyn Wilkins’ winners were, in chronological order:
1. Jim’s The Boy, Fontwell Park, May 14, 1951
2. Jim’s The Boy, Stratford-on-Avon, May 19, 1951
3. Skyliner, Warwick, December 6, 1951
4. Seravix II, Warwick, December 13, 1951
5. Jim’s The Boy, Newbury, December 29, 1951
6. Crinivit, Chepstow, March 22, 1952
7. Wigby, Kempton Park, November 29, 1952
8. Teddy Tail, Sandown Park, January 17, 1953
9. Teddy Tail, Stratford-on-Avon, January 31, 1953
10. Chalk End Manchester, December 4, 1954