Jun_106_News feature plus obit_Owner 17/05/2013 18:02 Page 13
NEWS
Reg Hollinshead 1924-2013
Remainder Man (above) finished third to Shirley Heights in the 1978 Derby
Reg Hollinshead, at 89 the oldest active racehorse trainer in Britain at the time of his death on May 6, has been fondly remembered by the top jockeys he nurtured. The Staffordshire trainer had first taken out a permit in 1948, which was turned into a full licence a few years later. While the training of 1,970 winners, the majority on the Flat, was a tremendous feat in itself, it was Hollinshead’s schooling of two-legged talent for which he will be chiefly remembered. Kevin Darley, Walter Swinburn, Steve Perks, Paul Eddery and Willie Ryan are just a handful of the jockeys whose successful careers were launched at Lodge Farm in Upper Longdon. Darley, champion apprentice in 1978 and champion jockey in 2000, said: “Reg was not afraid of giving people chances. There must have been ten or a dozen apprentices there when I was there, but we all got rides.” THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER
Swinburn, who went on to win the Derby on Shergar – whom he said he would probably never have ridden were it not for Hollinshead, as he was instrumental in setting him up with Michael Stoute – Shahrastani (likewise trained by Stoute) and Lammtarra, added: “I started with Frenchie Nicholson and when he became unwell he forwarded me to Reg. “It was very much a family operation. His wife Christine, daughter Sarah and sons Tim and Andrew all played a big part, everyone felt included there.” Willie Ryan was another jockey who would later enjoy Derby success, on Benny The Dip in 1997, and he too stressed that Hollinshead would give apprentices a fair crack of the whip. “He gave us all a chance,” Ryan said. “Steve Perks was stable jockey but if Reg put one of the boys up the owners never complained. “His horses were always tough, he could run
them 25 times a year and he kept churning them out. I cannot say enough nice things about him, he was a great guy.” Suluk was Hollinshead’s most prolific winner, with 25 successes from 1989 to 1993, while Time To Go Home won nine times in 1988. Remainder Man was the best horse he trained. He was runner-up to Roland Gardens in the 1978 2,000 Guineas and finished third behind Shirley Heights and Hawaiian Sound in that year’s Derby. Remainder Man was also just one of a number of big handicap winners for his trainer. He won the Free Handicap, while the November Handicap, Old Newton Cup, Portland, Great St Wilfrid and Northumberland Plate – as recently as 2011 with Tominator – were among others to go Hollinshead’s way. The son of a farmer, Hollinshead was a successful jumps jockey and he went on to train decent winners in that sphere too, notably Out Of The Gloom, who was champion juvenile hurdler and went on to lift the Fighting Fifth and Long Walk Hurdle. Colonised was a Cheltenham Festival winner for Hollinshead and Afzal and Bluff Cove other crack hurdlers. His success with equines and humans was recognised with several awards, the latest being the Sir Peter O’Sullevan Award, “for training winners for 60 years and for also being a remarkable trainer of jockeys”. Born on January 3, 1924, Hollinshead passed away in Burton-on-Trent on May 6. His wife Christine predeceased him. “Dad was a legend, one of a kind,” said one of his sons, Andrew, who has taken on the licence and runs the yard along with sister Sarah. Tim runs the stud farm side of a family business whose legacy is far from finished.
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