Cecil Young

National Hunt jockey Alfred Cecil Young, who rode under his second christian name, rode 40 winners in a career hindered by World War One.   

He rode for the first time when finishing third on Henry Winkfield in the January Handicap Hurdle at Hurst Park on January 13, 1912. Two weeks later, Henry Winkfield provided Cecil with his first success when winning the Hanworth Park Handicap Hurdle at Kempton Park on January 27, 1912.

Cecil rode seven winners in 1913 and nine in 1914. He was just getting going when war was declared. He managed to keep riding, albeit on a much-curtailed scale, notching two wins in 1915, five in 1916, three in 1917 and, as the war neared its end, six in the abbreviated 1918 campaign, placing him joint ninth in that year’s jockey table. 

Sadly, his career did not endure much longer. He rode what proved to be his last winner aboard 6-5 on favourite Swinerton in the Thames Hurdle at Sandown Park on March 20, 1919. He finished fourth on Chicago in that year’s Liverpool Hurdle, probably the closest he came to a big race success,

His final mount, Neophyte in the Berkshire Maiden Hurdle at Newbury on January 22, 1920, ended in a fall. Whether that fall was serious enough to end his career in the saddle is not known, but he did not ride thereafter. Instead, he became a trainer.

Cecil Young died at Royal Hampshire County Hospital on May 26, 1963. He left £369. 17s