Yahoo Finance Joe Mercer, riding great in Flat’s golden era for jockeys, dies aged 86
Joe Mercer, jockey of the legendary racehorse Brigadier Gerard and one of the riding greats during a golden era in Flat racing, has died at the age of 86.
The popular rider enjoyed a lengthy career at the top of the game after becoming champion apprentice in 1953, riding over 2,800 winners in a remarkable 36 seasons in the saddle. He partnered his last winner in 1985 and was made an OBE in 1980 for his services to the sport.
He will also forever be associated with what many turf commentators even at the time labelled the single greatest race on British soil – the 1975 King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes clash at Ascot won by Grundy in which Mercer rode the runner-up Bustino. No race since has seriously challenged the epic duel for that title.
The laid-back Mercer, who earned the nickname Smokin’ Joe due to his habit of relaxing between races with his customary pipe, was champion jockey in 1979 and rode eight British Classic winners during a period when Lester Piggott, Willie Carson and Pat Eddery were in their pomp.
Carson himself was quick to pay tribute and told Sky Sports Racing: “It’s a very, very sad day to lose my great mate Joe, I know he was a fair age but it’s the end of an era.
“He was a real stylist in the saddle and rode a lot of good horses. I took his job, unfortunately, from Dick Hern, and he walked into Henry Cecil’s yard and he made him a champion. Although I took his job, we were great friends until today, basically. It’s so sad.
“You look at these jockeys today bouncing in the saddle, please get the films out of Joe Mercer. Now there’s the ultimate jockey, that’s how jockeys should look. He was a really stylish jockey and he rode in a manner that was easy on the eye.
“Joe was the ultimate jockey, he was regarded in my time as the ultimate professional. He was liked by everyone, he wasn’t aggressive in any way. In the weighing room he was everybody’s friend, you could see Joe sitting in the corner with a pipe in his mouth, puffing away.”
Prior to Frankel, who ended his stellar career with a rating of 147, Timeform rated Brigadier Gerard joint-top with Tudor Minstrel on 144 in their rankings of all-time British Flat horses. “The Brigadier” won 17 of his 18 starts, successful in the St James’s Palace Stakes, Eclipse, Sussex Stakes, Queen Elizabeth II Stakes and the Champion Stakes.
The 1971 running of the 2,000 Guineas brought Brigadier Gerard to public prominence after he beat both My Swallow and the future Derby and Arc winner Mill Reef. The horse’s only defeat came when a shock runner-up to Roberto in the 1972 Benson and Hedges Gold Cup at York when Mercer later said he was sick on the day and “mucus poured out of him”.
Mercer said of Brigadier Gerard: “He was a freak horse with tremendous enthusiasm and speed the class to win beyond his distance. He was a horse you never thought about getting beat on.”
Mercer was beaten on Bustino at Ascot in a race for the ages after a long sustained battle up the home straight with the 1975 Derby winner Grundy. The former Guardian racing correspondent Chris Hawkins wrote a book on that King George, stating: “So emotionally riveting had been the battle, that women were breaking down in tears and men meandered in a daze, muttering ‘What a race? Did you ever see such a contest?’”
Racing rejoices after crowds return to tracks
Grangeclare View was a well-backed winner of the first race run in front of a crowd at Redcar for over a year as racegoers returned on Monday.
Under the latest easing of the government’s lockdown measures, up to 4,000 racegoers or 50% capacity – whichever is lower – are permitted on course. Aside from a couple of trial events and a handful of meetings before Christmas, racing has been taking place behind closed doors since the coronavirus pandemic took hold last March.
Related: Talking Horses: tracks on alert as racecourses open their doors again
Richard Fahey’s three-year-old was sent off the 11-4 joint-favourite and prevailed by half a length under Tony Hamilton from fellow market leader Trevolli and Hollie Doyle.
“It’s a bit funny seeing everybody here, but it’s great and significantly great for racing,” said Hamilton. “You honestly wouldn’t know in the race if there’s nobody there or if there’s a crowd, but before and after it’s the difference.
“Walking back in after the race, getting a round of applause, these are all the things we’ve missed. It’s great, it really is, having an atmosphere back on course – we’ve all missed it.”
Clerk of the course Jonjo Sanderson said: “It’s strange, but it’s good and exciting. I think we’ll be close to 800 [in attendance]. They are all pre-sales and when I got here this morning, we had about 70 left. It’s taking a little bit of reacclimatising to see people being here and walking round, but I think it’s fantastic and the weather is playing ball. I think there is pent-up demand, which will probably wear off after two or three weeks, but then hopefully it will be steady away.
Brighton 12.30 Wiff Waff 1.00 Neminos 1.35 Attaboy Roy 2.10 Holdenhurst 2.45 Lankaran 3.20 Widaad 3.55 Send In The Clouds 4.25 Raihaan
Nottingham 1.10 Tyson 1.45 King Of Clubs 2.20 Legendary Day 2.55 Horsefly 3.30 Call My Bluff 4.00 Annie Rose 4.30 The Thin Blue Line
Wolverhampton 1.20 Clifftop Heaven 1.55 Nacho 2.30 Doc Sportello 3.05 Boomshalaa 3.40 Lofty 4.10 Great King 4.45 Kayfast Warrior 5.,15 The Tide Turns
Huntingdon 4.55 Finistere 5.25 Karannelle 5.55 Iconic Muddle 6.25 Kloud Gate 6.55 Joly Maker (nap) 7.25 Coeur Serein (nb) 7.55 Dolphin Square
Hexham 5.05 Brickadank 5.35 First Revolution 6.05 Lalochezia 6.35 Lawtop Legend 7.05 Wor Verge 7.35 Holme Abbey 8.05 Tommie Beau
“It’s not normal and they are going to have to adapt to how things work, like going to a bar and going outside with a drink, but they can queue and collect rather than it being table service, as we can do that at stadiums, and obviously we try to encourage face masks as much as we can, but it’s not law so we can’t force that.” PA Media
