Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Racing mourns Smokin’ Joe - the ‘ultimate’ jockey
FORMER champion Flat jockey Joe Mercer enjoyed 38 years in the saddle from 1947 to 1985 and rode 2,810 domestic winners.
He won eight English Classics, with only the Derby eluding him, and was the man who rode the mighty Brigadier Gerard.
Bradford-born Mercer, who died last week aged 86, got into racing through his elder brother, Manny, and joined Jack Colling’s stable, where he worked hard to establish himself and was rewarded by being champion apprentice in 1952.
The next year he won the Oaks on Ambiguity for Colling and retained his apprentice title.
When Colling retired, Dick Hern took over and the pair developed into one of the top combinations in racing. Their first Classic triumph together came with Provoke in the St Leger in desperate conditions at Doncaster in 1965.
Mercer went on to win the Leger three more times, on Bustino (1974), Light Cavalry (1980) and Cut Above (1981).
Cut Above was a surprise winner, having the odds-on Shergar back in fourth place after Mercer made it a stern stamina test by setting sail for home early in the straight.
Bustino went into racing folklore when just beaten by Grundy in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth
Stakes at Ascot in July 1975, an unforgettable duel that was voted the race of the 20th century.
But it was with Brigadier Gerard that Mercer will be most remembered.
Brilliantly trained by Hern, Brigadier Gerard went into the 2000 Guineas unbeaten and ready to clash with Mill Reef and My Swallow, who had dominated the juvenile division.
‘The Brigadier’ brushed them aside on the way to winning 17 of his 18 starts.
Another highlight was his association with the Queen’s Highclere, the pair winning the 1000 Guineas and French Oaks in 1974.
Mercer was replaced as Hern’s number one at the end of the 1976 season by Willie Carson – but was snapped up by Henry Cecil.
They soon cemented their partnership with Classic success on One In A Million in the 1979 1000 Guineas and with such stars as Kris and Le Moss, while other horses Mercer shone on during his career included Boldboy, Relkino and Gunner B.
He capped that year by being champion jockey.
In 1981, Mercer was replaced at Cecil’s by Lester Piggott, but then had a spell with Peter Walwyn.
He remained in demand and notably steered Time Charter to victory in the 1983 King George VI and
Queen Elizabeth Stakes for Henry Candy. Two years later, Mercer decided to call time in his native Yorkshire when winning the November Handicap at Doncaster on his final ride, Bold Rex, for John Dunlop.
Mercer was affectionately known as ‘Smokin’ Joe as he was usually captured with a pipe when not in the saddle. He was the son of a coach painter and one of nine children. Sadly, Manny was killed in an accident at Ascot in 1959.
After he stopped riding, Mercer became racing manager for the late Sheikh Maktoum Al Maktoum and other top owners, including Saeed Suhail, before retiring in 2006.
Mercer was married to Anne, who was the daughter of jockey Harry Carr.
Multiple champion Willie Carson, who was among those to pay tribute to Mercer this week, described him as the “ultimate jockey”.
He told Sky Sports Racing: “It’s a very, very sad day to lose my great mate Joe. I know he was a fair age, but it’s the end of an era.
“He was a real stylist in the saddle, rode a lot of good horses, was champion jockey. I took his job, unfortunately, from Dick Hern, and he walked into Henry Cecil’s yard and he made him a champion. Although I took his job, we were great friends until today, basically. It’s so sad.
“Of course we’ve got so many great memories of him, especially the one when he won the 2000 Guineas on Brigadier Gerard. That was one of the great races, all the good horses running in that 2000 Guineas, and of course he ended up basically being unbeaten, the Brigadier.
“You look at these jockeys today bouncing in the saddle – please get the films out of Joe Mercer. Now there’s the ultimate jockey, that’s how jockeys should look. He was a really stylish jockey and he rode in a manner that was easy on the eye.
“Joe was the ultimate jockey, he was regarded in my time as the ultimate professional. He was liked by everyone, he wasn’t aggressive in any way. In the weighing room he was everybody’s friend. You could see Joe sitting in the corner with a pipe in his mouth, puffing away at his pipe.
“The King George, when Pat Eddery beat him on Grundy, is the race everybody says is the greatest race they’ve ever seen. There was Joe, who had that day, on Bustino, three pacemakers. Pat, using his brain as he always did, just sat behind and then went ‘pop’ – he beat Bustino on the line. A great race.
“The ultimate professional, it’s a sad day for us old people because he was one of the ultimates. He was up there, he was one of those people that you put on a pedestal, and I will miss him tremendously.”
The ultimate professional , it’s a sad day for us old people because he was one of the ultimates. He was one of those people you put on a pedestal and I will miss him tremendously
WILLIE CARSON