Former top jockey, Derek Morris, enjoys trip down memory lane with visit to Newmarket’s July Course
A former top jockey who retired from the saddle nearly 50 years ago has enjoyed a trip down memory lane with a visit to Newmarket's July Course.
Derek Morris, who is now 93, rode his first winner at Folkestone in 1947 and forged a successful career as a lightweight rider before retiring in 1976.
He made enduring friendships with other jockeys of his era, particularly the late Jimmy Lindley and Joe Mercer, forming a trio known as ‘the three cavaliers’ who, said Derek’s wife Myra were ‘always up to something’.
“They were little horrors,” she said.
Sadly, Derek started to show early signs of dementia about four years ago and Myra finally had to take the heartbreaking decision to seek residential care for her husband of 65 years.
Towards the end of 2023 Derek moved to the Kingfisher House Care Home, in Newmarket, where he has endeared himself to staff and other residents with his larger-tha-life character and his undiluted zest for life.
Derek was one of five residents recently taken on a trip to Newmarket Races where the sights and sounds of the racecourse brought back some of his lost memories and carers were thrilled to see him standing at the rails with a look of sheer joy on his face as the horses galloped past.
Born and bred in Newmarket, Derek followed his father Ernie Morris’s footsteps into the sport when he was apprenticed to Newmarket trainers Reg Day and Bobby Jones.
His first big winner came in the Lincoln Handicap of 1956, riding Three Star II home at 40-1. An indication of Derek's diminutive build was that he weighed in at six stone 13 pounds.
Another claim to fame was in 1967 when he rode the legendary Red Rum to victory in a flat race at Folkestone when the future three-times Grand National winner was a two-year-old.
Other notable wins came in the Portland Handicap, Ladbroke Gold Cup, Newbury Autumn Cup, Queen Anne Stakes and Lockinge Stakes - all in the early 1960s. He was also proud to don the royal silks when riding horses trained by the late Queen Elizabeth II's trainer Captain Cecil Boyd-Rochfort.
“Derek is being very well cared for at Kingfisher House,” said Myra. “It’s sad that he remembers very little now but it was lovely to hear that his trip to the races touched something in his memory that made him happy.”