“BERT” ELLIS RODE FIVE GRAND NATIONAL HURDLES WINNERS

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32679, 7 August 1971, Page 21

“BERT” ELLIS RODE FIVE GRAND NATIONAL HURDLES WINNERS

Two Grand National Steeplechases and five Grand National Hurdle Races made A. E. “Bert” Ellis the rider of more winners than losers in the big Riccarton August races.

This, feat was the more notable because Ellis had to consider his many flat commitments, and consequently declined many of • the jumping mounts offered him.

Weight was his biggest problem. Twelve months after his first ride he was 9st. He did not walk lighter than that at any stage of a career of more than 20 years, during which he was a leading rider of two-year-olds, classic winners,

weight-forjage horses, and handicappersA day at -Riccarton he will never forget was Easter Monday,' i#B3. 'when he rode the first four wjnners —Rocket, Fracas, Zeebrugee and Trivet—and was placed second in the next three races. s It was at Riccarton that Ellis had his first hurdle ride. ■ - ■ “I had never schooled a hqrsfe ' when Bert; ‘ Keeper asked me. to. ride Bellrock in n two-mile hurdle race,” he said. “I went out on the horse’s ears at the first fence, but when I had the feel of him everything went well, and my first hurdle ride was a winning one.” His first: Grand National Hurdles winner was Penury Rose in 1925. Penury Rose would hot jump properly unless next to the running rail, and the. only time Ellis moved him out was near the last hurdle, when he went past the leader to win. His second win was on the “slowest beginner” he had ridden. It took Whamcliffe a mile to warm up. With' a round to go, Whamcliffe had just cleared the stand hurdle when the others were leaving' the straight, but with five furlongs to run he was in the lead. In 1934 he rode Padishah, which was of good class on the flat, but which had fallen in the Trial Hurdles on the first day. "I said to a mate that I could afford to lose a couple of lengths at every fence and still win,” Ellis said. “But Padishah made ground at every hurdle. He was in front with a little more than five furlongs to travel, and he was not going faster than three-quarter pace. He could have won by a round.” A year later Padishah had just won the Grand National Steeplechase and was handicapped at 11.7. Careful tactics were needed. “I nursed him all the way and he won, but he was ‘flat’ at the post.” Two years later he was given the ride on The

Dozer by the trainer, Hector Gray, a former horseman 'considered by Efiia to be the best in the world. “Hector wanted me to ride The Dozer in behind, as he thought . that the ' horse would find it difficult to get the distance,” Ellis said. “In my own mind I had The Dozer a couple of lengths in front at the first hurdle. The Dozer did that, . but was a dozen lengths infront with a round to go. After jumping the hurdle . near Cutts’s he' dropped the : bit of his own accord, and from there it was easy. “On returning to the birdcage I said, ‘Were you worried Hector?’ he replied: ‘By Gad, I was—right until you jumped the last hurdle.’ ” In 1934 Bert Ellis suffered severe injuries when Make Up fell with him in the Grand National Hurdles. This cost him a winning ride in the Epsom Handicap at Randwick the next spring, as he had been engaged for Silver Ring. The first win for Ellis in the Grand National Steeplechase was on Snowfall in 1931. Snowfall ran on a perfect day and the track was dry. “I had an armchair ride, did not shift an inch throughout, and did not lose ground at any stage.” The next year Snowfall was ridden by Jim Ellis, a younger brother, and finished fifth, after Bert Ellis had had a spill on the flat in the third race. Jim Ellis had also had a fall in the second race, but recovered the sooner, and took Bert Ellis’s mount on Snowfall. Later at the same meeting Snowfall was killed in the Lincoln Steeplechase when he fell at the sod wall by the five ? furlongs. A remark, passed by Bert Ellis to W. J. Doyle, a recently retired trotting driver, resulted in his gaining his second steeplechase win. Ellis said that. Thurina was “a dashed good jumper going to waste? The horse had been getting into bad

habits through inexperienced handling. Later /Thurina was bought by Mr ; Ddyle, hnd when Thurina' had improved and was able to take his place in a Grand National field Ellis -was asked to ride him. In the big steeplechase in 1933 Thurina did not “put a foot wrong,” and his rider djd not even have to take a'.fresh grip of the reins. Callamart, which had fallen at Cutts’s the first time proved more of a help 'than a, hindrance. Callamart loomed up alongside' Thurina approaching the sod wall, and Ellis gave Thurina her head. The hotse went away to such a legd that, .he: was many lengths ih front with a round to. go; He was given a -breather, and was not afterwards troubled. . Thurina ran again at the meeting under another I rider, but reverted to his former tricks. At a champagne dinner at tile White Hart Hotel on the Saturday night after this race,' -with- Mr Doyle the host, Ellis fell easy prey to- the persuasiveness of Mr Doyle, who wanted the horse schooled after the meeting. ? ‘.‘l -don’t want to turn him out while he is getting away With' Ms old tricks,” Mr poyle .said. “Will .you school 1 him again before . the'fences are taken down, Bertt”\\:'-’ A promise, is a promise, and. the schooling was done the morning after a prewedding celebration given to ,Mr Doyle at Leeston. “I-had a head as big as some of those fences, but everything went well. Thurina jumped like a stag, the owner was pleased—and so was I when it was over.” Among other big jumping successes by Bert Ellis was the Great Northern steeples on Survoy, 10 years after he had won the Great Northern Hurdles on Mister Gamp in 1929. He also won the 1939 Wellington steeplechase on Survoy, after which, having been tailed off and having struck

fences, jumped the fast six fertces brilliantly. A galling experience for the' rider in the Wellington Steeplechase of 1924 was when Pamplona was beaten by a head by Omahu,.ridden by the present Wellington starter, L. G. “Snow” Morris. . ; Pamplona approached the last fence in front, but there was a gap in it, and Pamplona found that a'new experience. “I should 'have made him jump. Instead we went for the gap, and by the time I had coaxed’ him through, Omahu had jumped into the lead.” Among the riders in that race were Hectof Anderton the present Wingatui trainer, Alex McMullan, who is in semi-retiremejit

f at’,. Trentham, and Jack .Kaan, ,who may stjll be ! seen at the rapes any Sati'urday. ' ” : Asked to name the best < steeplechaser he rode, Ellis without hesitation: “Pamplona. He won two \ Great Westerns, two Otago and was unlucky■' not to Win a Well-: ington Steeplechase. : “The. best hurdler was Padishah/and the best flat horse Kindergarten,—and I have ridden such as Limerick, Amythas, Nightmarch, Song, Silver Scorn, Royal Chief and Beau Wite." '.' ’ Bert- Ellis’s career as a jockey ended when injuries ’suffered in a fall from Evans- Head in the Great Northern Hurdles of 1943 forced. his retirement...