Terry Biddlecombe - obituaries

Terry Biddlecombe who has died aged 72, was a hard-living, good-looking, plain-talking, three-times National Hunt champion jockey known as the Blond Bomber; in retirement he formed an unlikely partnership with the trainer Henrietta Knight to send Best Mate out a winner in three successive Cheltenham Gold Cups.

Biddlecombe’s marriage to Knight was one of the most romantic stories in racing: he the bluff West Country farmer’s son; she the well-spoken former schoolmistress. But they were linked by the fact that when they began their relationship, after a fortuitous meeting at a bloodstock sale in Malvern in 1992, they were both at a very low ebb.

Henrietta Knight’s stables had been struck by an outbreak of equine flu, with the result that some owners had taken their horses elsewhere and she was drinking heavily. Meanwhile Biddlecombe had just returned from Australia, where alcoholism had led to the end of his second marriage. The damage inflicted by the bottle, on top of the injuries accumulated during his career in the saddle (or out of it – he suffered 47 broken bones) was fast catching up with him, despite his rugby player’s physique and toughness.

_{Terry Biddlecombe (right) and Woodland Venture clear the last fence ahead of Stan Mellor and Stalbridge Colonist at the 1967 Cheltenham Gold Cup (S&G and BARRATTS/EMPICS SPORT)}

Yet however unlikely, their partnership proved hugely successful, both personally and professionally. At Henrietta Knight’s stables at West Lockinge, near Wantage in Oxfordshire, they combined her knowledge of horses with his tactical head for races. But undoubtedly Biddlecombe’s greatest contribution came in February 1999, at a rain-sodden point-to-point in Lismore, Co Waterford, when he spotted a novice with what he called “this presence”. Two months later the horse, Best Mate, was at West Lockinge.

The gelding won the Mersey Novice’s Hurdle the following year, and two years later the famously superstitious Henrietta Knight watched through her fingers as it won the first of three successive Gold Cups, matching the record of Arkle from 1964 to 1966. In the last of the three, Best Mate, under Jim Culloty in the claret-and-blue colours of owner and Aston Villa fan Jim Lewis, seemed boxed in on the run-in. But showing characteristic strength and determination, it pulled off the rail and at the second last jumped clear. As their great horse crossed the line, Terry Biddlecombe ran into the arms of Henrietta Knight. Both were in tears.

_{Terry Biddlecombe with the Queen Mother at his stables (ITV/REX)}

Terry Walter Biddlecombe was born in Gloucester on February 2 1941. It was clear from an early age that his career would centre around the farm that his father, Walter, ran on the banks of the river Severn, and around horses. Terry’s elder brother, Tony, also rode and was amateur champion in 1961-62. But shortly afterwards Walter Biddlecombe demanded that one of his sons give up riding to help him on the farm. “As Terry was going better at the time I thought I would volunteer,” Tony Biddlecombe told the Racing Post.

Terry Biddlecombe’s first win had come in 1958, on Burnella, a 20-1 outsider in a novice hurdle at Wincanton. Just 17, Biddlecombe had inspired his mount, which had refused at an early hurdle, to recover and beat the favourite, ridden by champion jockey Fred Winter. Over a career lasting 17 seasons, Biddlecombe would eventually amass a total of 908 winners, most for the trainer Fred Rimell.

His strength was both a great asset and an enduring problem, as his sturdy physique required him to spend hours sweating off excess weight. When fluids were replaced, they were usually of the alcoholic variety, brandy and Babycham being a favourite. He did, however, see the upside in the endless sessions in the Turkish baths, notably because he was such a regular that he was allowed in on ladies-only day.

_{Terry Biddlecombe at Cheltenham in 1974 (COLORSPORT/REX)}

Stories about Biddlecombe in his Sixties heyday, usually revolving around booze and women, are legion. He was famous for his performance at one Ludlow meeting where, having ridden the first winner of the day, and having nothing to do until the last race, he was seen disappearing off course with an admirer. After returning to the weighing room in the nick of time, he was first past the post again, but there was some banter among fellow jockeys that it was in fact his third winner of the day.

His good humour and determination to enjoy life were well-tested by falls which came despite a wonderful balance in the saddle. Early in his career, for example, he broke both wrists so badly that he was forced afterwards to ride with gauntlets. And several of his greatest victories came against the odds, with Biddlecombe in enormous pain.

His victory in the 1967 Gold Cup came after a fall the previous day which had left him with serious knee ligament damage. Only a painkilling injection enabled him to steer Woodland Venture to victory past the great Mill House. His other major wins included the Sweeps Hurdle, two Mackeson Gold Cups, the Victor Ludorum and the Welsh National, the Grand Sefton at Aintree and the Triumph Hurdle.

He did not win the Grand National, being deprived of what might have been his best chance, on eventual winner Gay Trip in 1970, by a kidney split in a fall so brutal that some feared it had killed him. He was to ride Gay Trip to second in the National in 1972. He did win the Welsh National in 1970, however, in what is regarded as the greatest ride of his career.

It was a race which he had begun seriously weakened after shedding 9lbs in two hours in his sweat room and failing to rehydrate. Feeling faint, Biddlecombe considered pulling up when his horse, French Excuse, came to a near standstill after misjudging the water jump. But when the horse proved willing to start running again, Biddlecombe nursed it through back markers, eventually pipping Astbury to win. As he passed the winning post, Biddlecombe was almost unconscious. The course doctor prescribed a pint of Guinness with a tablespoon of salt.

He retired in 1974, having ridden the last two years of his career primarily for Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. But he did not adapt well to life out of the saddle. Though he proved an able tipster for ATV, other television engagements came to nothing and increasingly he turned to drink. His first marriage, to Bridget, ended, and it was with his second wife, the former Ann Hodgson, that he emigrated to Australia.

Just before he left he filmed a piece for Central Television about Henrietta Knight. Unbeknown to him, she had harboured a fancy for him since his riding days. “I used to stand down at the last fence and look at him, the blond bomber. He was wonderful.” Setting out to impress him, she exchanged her usual yard clothes for “a little blue dress, it looked like a bloody nurse’s uniform for heaven’s sake, with high-heeled shoes”. The encounter was not a success.

But nor was his seven-year spell on a farm outside Perth. In 1992 he returned and, with the help of the Injured Jockeys Fund, dried out. A few months later he met Henrietta Knight again. This time they hit it off. They married in 1995, and she survives him.

Terry Biddlecombe had two children with his first wife, and three children with his second, including Robert, who was himself a successful jockey.

Terry Biddlecombe, born February 2 1941, died January 5 2014