Joe Mercer (jockey)

Joseph Mercer, (born 21 October, 1934) is a retired English thoroughbred race horse jockey . He was active as a jockey from 1947 to 1985 and rode a total of 2,810 winners, a figure exceeded only by Sir Gordon Richards, Lester Piggott and Doug Smith at the time of Mercer’s retirement, and subsequently only bettered by Pat Eddery and Willie Carson [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/horse_racing/4340979.stm] .

He was apprenticed to trainer Frederick Sneyd and won his first British Classic race while still an apprentice on Ambiguity in the 1953 Epsom Oaks. He was British flat racing Champion Apprentice twice, in 1952 and 1953.

He subsequently worked as stable jockey for Jack Colling, Dick Hern, Henry Cecil and Peter Walwyn. During his spell at Cecil's yard he won his only British flat racing Champion Jockey's title in 1979. The most successful horse Mercer rode during his career was Brigadier Gerard, winner of 17 of his 18 races between 1970 and 1972. He retired in November 1985 and was successful in his final ride as a jockey, winning the 1985 November Handicap on Bold Rex.

Despite winning his jockey championship with Henry Cecil, it was his relationship with the West Ilsley stable of Dick Hern for which he is most famous. Hern took over the reins at West Ilsley at the end of 1962 on the retirement of Jack Colling. Mercer had been stable jockey to Colling from the early-fifties and there was no question he would remain in place on Hern's takeover. The stable was endowed with several top owner breeders and was owned by John Jacob Astor (then known as Jakie), who with his brother Lord Astor provided most of the horse firepower.

During the early years of the Hern/Mercer partnership they had most success with a series of stayers, the best of which was probably Grey of Falloden who won several stakes races but also won the 1964 Cesarewitch Handicap with a then record weight of 9stone 6pounds. The following year the stable hit top form and won both the English and Irish St. Legers with Provoke (owned by Jakie) and Craighouse (owned by Lord Astor). Everything looked set for a wonderful 1966 when an equine virus hit the stable and the horses were just not well enough to be competitive. In 1967 there appeared to be some remission and the stable won 60 races. Mercer with this support from his own yard looked about to gain his first Jockey Championship. However having a comfortable lead mid-August he broke several vertebrae in a fall on a spare ride at Folkestone. He was sidelined for the last two and a half months of the season. But 1967 did see two classic possibles for 1968 emerge in Remand and La Mome, but more important the Queen first sent horses to be trained by Dick Hern, so initiating Mercer's tenure as Royal Jockey (although for a few years Ian Balding continued to use Geoff Lewis and Lester Pigott). In addition at the end of the 1967 season the important owner-breeder Brook Holliday sent his horses to Hern ( Hern had previously been Brook's late father's (Major Lionel B Holliday) private trainer in Newmarket).

1968 promised much and Mercer scored two early victories in Classic Trials when Heathen (Holliday owned) won the Greenham Stakes and La Mome (J J Astor) won the Princess Elizabeth Stakes. Early in May Remand (J J Astor) beat Connaught in his Derby Trial, the Chester Vase, giving the Noel Murless trained colt weight, and everything seemed to be going to plan. However soon afterwards the horses appeared to lose form and Dick Hern described Remand's appearance in the paddock at Epsom as being horrible, 'his coat was standing up like a hedgehog'. Remand finished 4th in the Derby being beaten by both Sir Ivor and the Chester second, Connaught. Through the virus Mercer missed out on a great chance to win the Derby, a race he was never to win. Remand was so ill after the race he did not appear again that season and the stable went into decline. Despite shutting down completely for months at a time the virus appears not to have left the stable until the end of the 1969 season.

Despite these setbacks with his stable Mercer remained loyal to West Ilsley. He did ride for many other stables and was particularly supported by Derrick Candy, for whom he rode horses such as Parbury (Ascot Gold Cup winner), Song (Champion Sprinter) and Fair Winter. In 1969 he formed a lucrative partnership with Candy's High Line, winning many group races. He also rode for John Sutcliffe winning on such horses as Right Tack and Jimmy Reppin. The foremost jockey of this period was Lester Piggott and he was reported to have said ' There are only two real jockeys and the other one is Joe Mercer'. When Pigott declined the ride on Petingo in order to ride Sir Ivor in the 1968 2000Guineas Mercer was booked to ride Petingo by Piggott's father-in-law Sam Armstrong. Similarly when Piggott was unavailable for Ribofilio's 2000Guineas Trial in early 1969 Mercer took the ride on this Johnson-Houghton trained colt. Mercer also rode a great deal for Peter Walwyn.

Mercer's loyalty was repaid in 1970, but the year started inauspiciously. Joe had spent the winter riding in India. When it came time to come home he couldn't bring out his money because of exchange control issues and so decided to buy jewels to export. He fell foul of the Indian authorities and ended up in jail for several weeks missing the first month of the flat season. He returned at the end of April but Jimmy Lindley retained the ride on the then stable star Highest Hopes in the 1000 Guineas. He'd also missed the maiden win of the Queen's first really good horse at West Ilsley, Charlton. He rode this colt to his second win in the Predominate Stakes at Goodwood in May but due to injury the colt did not take his chance in that years Derby. At this stage it was impossible to say if the stable had got over the virus, but by the end of June it appeared they had and Brigadier Gerard had also appeared on the scene (his story is covered extensively elsewhere on Wikipedia). There is little doubt that the Brigadier provided an enormous boost to the stable winning his 4 races including the now Group 1 Middle Park Stakes. In addition Highest Hopes (Holliday owned)came back strongly after her disappointing Guineas run and won the Prix Eugene Adam and the Prix Vermeille, beating horses such as Caro and Lupe in the process and proving herself top class. The stable sustained its form to end of the season with Charlton proving to be just off top-class with a 3rd in the St Leger, Heathenly Thought (Lord Rotherwick owned: who purchased many of the now dead Lord Astor) winning a handful of good races and Fine Blade who then did not appear far behingd the Brigadier in ability. The end of the season saw a lot of activity as the last named was removed from the stable with the rest of Brook Holliday's horses following a payment disagreement with Hern and Astor. However at the same time was the announcement that with the retirement from training of Gordon Richards his owners Sir Michael Sobell and Lady Beaverbrook would be transferring their horses to Dick Hern.

Jakie Astor negotiated to sell West Ilsley to Sobell and his son-in-law Arnold Weinstock, on the understanding that both Hern and Mercer were kept in place.

His nickname was 'Smokin' Joe' and shortly after his retirement he was the subject of a biography by Richard Baerlein. Joe Mercer The Pictorial Biography Queen Ann Press 1987

On retiring as a jockey Joe Mercer worked initially as a jockey’s agent for Brent Thomson and Tony McGlone before accepting a job as racing manager for Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s Gainsborough racing operation in 1987. He retired in January 2006.

Joe Mercer's brother, Manny Mercer, was also a jockey who was killed in a racing accident in 1959, and his niece Carolyn is married to Pat Eddery. Joe is married to Anne Carr, the daughter of an earlier Royal Jockey, Harry Carr.

British Classic wins

* 1,000 Guineas - (2) - "Highclere (1974), One in a Million (1979)"
* 2,000 Guineas - (1) - "Brigadier Gerard (1971) "
* Epsom Oaks - (1) - "Ambiguity (1953)"
* St Leger - (4) - "Provoke (1965), Bustino (1974), Light Cavalry (1980), Cut Above (1981), "

References

*cite book |last=Wright|first=Howard|title=The Encyclopedia of Flat Racing|year=1986|publisher=Robert Hale|isbn=0709026390|pages=p181
*cite book |last=Baerlein|first=Richard|title=Joe Mercer: The Pictorial Biography|year=1987|publisher=Queen Ann Press|isbn=0356120007
*cite book |last=Willett|first=Peter|title=Dick Hern: The Authorised Biography|year=2000|publisher=Hodder & Stoughton|isbn=0340 79263 9