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Greville Starkey, leading jockey through 1970s and 80s, dies at 70
Greville Starkey aboard 2,000 Guineas winner Entrepreneur in his “retirement” role as work rider for Sir Michael Stoute
Second term as chairman for Roy Paul Roy is to serve as chairman of the British Horseracing Authority for a second three-year term. Roy became chairman of the Authority on July 31, 2007 after a brief period as chairman of its predecessor, The British Horseracing Board. He said: “Looking ahead to the next three years as chairman, I will continue to address two major challenges British racing faces. The first is funding – we have to generate the right level of income through a modernised Levy to meet racing’s needs. “Secondly, we must promote change, broadening the sport’s appeal to a wider and greater audience. I am confident that Racing for Change has built a significant foundation from which to do this, with many initiatives to be trialled and launched in the near future. “As we move forward, British racing must continue to be of the highest quality and regarded as the most attractive racing experience for racegoers through the world.”
Greville Starkey, who rode nearly 2,000 winners on the Flat in a 34-year-long career, died of cancer last month. He was 70. He won five English Classics: the Oaks on Homeward Bound (1964) and Fair Salinia (1978) as well as the 2,000 Guineas on ToAgori-Mou (1981) and Dancing Brave (1986). In 1978 he claimed a notable Classic double when landing the Derby and Irish Derby on Shirley Heights and the Oaks and Irish Oaks on Fair Salinia, but unfortunately his loss on Dancing Brave,
when many said that he held the horse up for too long, in the 1986 Derby will perhaps be his longest-lasting legacy. Other big race victories for the jockey, who was crowned champion apprentice in 1957 after winning 45 races, also included three renewals of the Eclipse Stakes (1975, 1982 and 1986), the Lockinge Stakes on one occasion, the 1975 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe on Star Appeal, the 1982 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, the 1985 Prix du Moulin as well as
back-to-back Jockey Club Stakes in 1986 and 1987. On four occasions he rode over 100 winners in a season and had a 14-year long association with Pulborough trainer Guy Harwood through the late 1970s and 1980s, which yielded him the best period of his riding career. He retired from racing at the end of the 1989 season, a year in which his successes included the Nassau Stakes, the Henry II Stakes and the Lingfield Derby Trial.
Pollard’s Vision to South America
Pollard’s Vision, the sire of Kentucky Oaks (G1) winner Blind Luck, is to shuttle for the first time to La Mission Stallion Station in Buenos Aires. Currently second to Roman Ruler on the US second-crop sire list, Pollard’s Vision has sired 28 winners from 55 starters that earned $2,518,620. Blind Luck is one of his five stakes winners and she was winning her fourth Grade 1 race when successful in the Kentucky Oaks. A nine-year-old Carson City stallion out of Etats Unis, by Dixieland Band, Pollard’s Vision stands at Wintergreen Stallion Station in Midway, Kentucky, for $10,000. A four-time graded stakes winner of $1,430,311, Pollard’s Vision won six of 23 career starts, topped by his win in the 2004 Illinois Derby (G2) at Hawthorne racecourse. Other notable stallions currently under negotiations to shuttle to South America include Coolmore’s Dunkirk, Gilded Time and Macho Uno.
Quest For Fame retires from stud duty
DERBY winner and Group 1 sire Quest For Fame, who has been standing at Woodlands Stud, Australia under the Darley banner, has been retired from stud duty at the age of 23. The stallion covered 53 mares last year at an advertised fee of A$6,600 (£3,990, €4,590). Quest For Fame, a son of Rainbow Quest, was bred by Juddmonte farms. Trained by Roger Charlton, he won the Epsom Derby in 1990. At the end of his four-year-old career, after finishing third in the Breeders’ Cup Turf, he transferred to the US and trainer Bobby Frankel for whom he won the Hollywood Turf Handicap in 1992. He was originally retired to stud in 1993 at Juddmonte Farms in America and was transferred permanently to Woodlands Stud in New South Wales, Australia, in 2000. He has sired eight Group/Grade 1 winners to date and is also damsire of Haydock Sprint Cup winner African Rose and dual New Zealand Group 1 scorer Tavistock. From the first crop of Rainbow Quest, Quest For Fame is out of the French 1,000 Guineaswinning Green Dancer mare Aryenne.
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