Amateur Gold Cup-winner Jim Wilson dies at 72 after long cancer battle

Amateur Gold Cup-winner Jim Wilson dies at 72 after long cancer battle… with the jockey taking Peter Easterby’s Little Owl to glory in the 1981 Cheltenham feature race

  • History making jockey Jim Wilson has died at 72 after a long cancer battle
  • Wilson is one of only three amateur jockeys to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup
  • He was on board Peter Easterby’s Little Owl during his 1981 feature race victory 

Jim Wilson, one of only three amateur jockeys to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup, has died after a long battle with cancer at the age of 72.

Wilson partnered Peter Easterby-trained Little Owl, which he owned jointly with his brother Robin, to win the 1981 Gold Cup.

But Wilson’s massive association with jump racing’s biggest meeting extended way beyond winning its feature race.

Jim Wilson was one of only three jockeys to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup as an amateur

Wilson rode Little Owl to glory in the 1981 Cheltenham Gold Cup, trained by Peter Easterby

In all he rode the winners of seven races there, being crowned the Festival’s leading jockey in 1980 when he won three of a then 18-race meeting. No amateur jockey has been top rider at the meeting since.

Among those 1980 wins was one on punters’ favourite Willie Wumpkins. Trained by Wilson’s mother-in-law Jane Pilkington, Willie Wumpkins landed the fiercely competitive Coral Golden Hurdle Final — now known as the Pertemps Hurdle — three seasons running from 1979, the final time when he was 13 years old.

Appropriately, after he set up as a trainer close to the track, that was the Festival race Wilson managed to win with the Luke Harvey-ridden Taberna Lord in 1987. Harvey, now a TV pundit for ITV and Sky, said: ‘The race was very special to Jim and meant so much to him because of Willie Wumpkins. The planning of Taberna Lord’s run was pretty meticulous.

After leading Little Owl to glory in the early 80s, Wilson became a successful racehorse trainer

‘There was a few quid on him when he won at Sandown before Cheltenham and there he absolutely bolted up. I don’t think any horse would have beaten him that day.

‘Jim was great to ride for. He always had a good story and was very amusing. He didn’t train many horses but he liked to be really hands-on and having been a good jockey himself he knew what he was doing.’

Wilson also trained Glenbrook D’Or to win the 1994 Midlands National in the hands of Brian Clifford.

Minzaal, centre, is the favourite among 19 runners for the Haydock Sprint Cup on Saturday

Minzaal, trained by Owen Burrows, is the 7-2 favourite for Saturday’s Group One Haydock Sprint Cup after a bumper 19 runners were left entered at the penultimate forfeit stage.

Minzaal is bidding for a first top-level win after finishing second to Nunthorpe Stakes winner Highfield Princess in the Prix Maurice de Gheest at Deauville. Opposition is headed by last year’s winner Emaraaty Ana, trained by Kevin Ryan, and Charlie Appleby’s Royal Ascot winner Naval Crown.




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