Ralph Watson

1893-1960

Article by Alan Trout

Ralph Watson rode 43 winners on the Flat during a career that was disrupted by World War One. He was twice placed in the Derby and achieved his biggest success in Ascot’s Hardwicke Stakes.

Born on October 2, 1893, Ralph Wilford Watson was apprenticed to Frank Hartigan who trained under both Flat and National Hunt rules for more than 50 years at Weyhill, in Hampshire, winning both the 1,000 Guineas and the Grand National during his long and successful career.

Ralph’s first ride in public was at the end of the 1909 season when Bertillion ran unplaced in the Apprentice Plate at Liverpool on November 10. His first win came at Bath on May 25, 1910 when an unnamed two-year-old gelding, subsequently – and appropriately – named Bath, trained by Frank Hartigan and owned by his brother Hubert, won the Kelston Selling Handicap.

There were three more victories that year but none in 1911 despite plenty of opportunities. However, 1912 was far more successful with 21 wins, by far his best score for a season. They included a double at Hurst Park, the only one of his career.

Sadly, this rate of progress was not maintained and by 1914 he managed just five wins, but one of these was on Peter the Hermit in the Hardwicke Stakes at Ascot on June 19. Only 23 days earlier, Peter the Hermit had given Ralph his first experience of riding in the Derby when finishing third to the French-trained Durbar II. Peter the Hermit had started a rank outsider that day, having only managed one third place in ten previous outings, and it was the first time Ralph had ridden him. He kept the ride when the horse ran unplaced in the St Leger.

He did not ride in 1915, and only managed two wins in 1916. He rode what proved to his last winner on April 19, 1917 but it was at least an important victory, when Dansellon, trained by the legendary Atty Persse, won Newmarket’s Craven Stakes by a head. Back at Newmarket on July 31 (owing to wartime restrictions) Dansellon, again ridden by Ralph, finished second in the Derby, beaten four lengths by Gay Crusader, the mount of Steve Donoghue. The next time Dansellon ran, Fred Rickaby was the man on board.

After seven years out of the saddle in England, Ralph made a brief comeback in 1924. His last ride was on an unnamed filly by Polyphonic out of Hemisphere who finished second in the Maiden Two-Year-Old Selling Plate at Folkestone on September 6, 1924. The winner was another unnamed filly, this one ridden by Gordon Richards, who triumphed by three-quarters of a length.

Ralph Watson died on August 20, 1960, aged 66.