FRANK WOOTTON

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 173, 17 April 1940, Page 13

FRANK WOOTTON

One Of The Greatest Jockeys SERVED IN THE WORLD WAR Frank Wootton, whose death occurred last week in Sydney, was rated one of the best jockeys of all time. He was born at Glebe on December 14, 1893. As a small boy, Frank Woolton went to South Africa with bis father, and there rode his first winner at. the age of 10 years. He displayed great promise, and immediately caught the attention of English racing men when the family moved to England in 1906. In that year Frank rode his first English winner at Folkestone —his father’s horse Retrieve —when still only 12 years of age. His record for the 1906 English season was 16 wins from 67 mounts. In the following year, lie had 39 wins from 282 mounts. In 1908, he was second on the list of winning jockeys with 129 wins from 602 mounts. Then, in four successive years, he headed the list with 165 wins‘(l9o9), 137 (1910), 187 (1911), and 118 (1912). He dropped back to second place in 1913. as increasing weight limited his opportunities. “Wootton reached the peak of his form in 1911, when his mounts totalled 747, and his-winning percentage was slightly better than 25. His only classic winners in his brief and brilliant riding career were Perola, in the Oaks of 1909, and Swynford. in the St. Leger of 1910. His last winning mount on the flat was on Sir E. Holton’s Fairy King in the Autumn Plate at Warwick in 1914. On the outbreak of war in 1914, Wootton went to the East as a soldier, and it was there that he gained a liking for riding over obstacles. At Bagdad, on November 20, 1920, he rode several winners. and in the following year had his first mount iu an English. hurdle race, at Birmingham, finishing third. The same afternoon he won the Burton Hurdle on Bobbydazzler. In 1921 he headed the list of winning jockeys under National Hunt Club rules, and the performance is said to be without peer for such a successful flat rider. He continued to ride under National Hunt rules until 1923, and a few years later came to Australia to live permanently. The noted English journalist, Mr Fairfax Blakeborough, himself an accomplished rider,' formed a high opinion of Frank Wootton when he first met him at Hie age of 12 years. Tn ids diary at the time, Mr. Fairfax Blakeborough wrote; “Tie was deeply interested on the course in everything which went on, nnd is obviously a boy who wants to learn, and doesn’t know it all at the start.”