Final furlong for horse race stalwart
Daughter of Kiplingcotes Derby trustee to follow family tradition of involvement in 500-year-old event
IT HAS been part of his life since he was a boy, but after 35 years as a trustee of England’s oldest horse race, Guy Stephenson is finally retiring.
Mr Stephenson, 86, is handing over the reins to his daughter, Clare Waring, and continuing a family tradition, which saw his father William and uncle Fred twice win the Kiplingcotes Derby, which this year celebrates its 500th year.
“All I’ve done it for is to keep the tradition going and the family tradition going,” he said.
For the organisers, it is far from the stress-free event of yesteryear when a handful of people – there was no need for stewards – would watch the riders roar up the final stretch to the finishing post off the A614 in East Yorkshire.
As many as 500 were at the finish in 2017 and there are worries that this year’s event, which runs across four miles of rugged tracks and lanes on the third Thursday of March, may be swamped with riders. The rules dictate they only need turn up on the day and weigh-in by 11am, and it has to be run before 2pm.
There are rising costs to contend with, along with keeping onlookers safe and satisfying health and safety rules.
Mr Stephenson, who trained a Kiplingcotes winner in 1985, admits that he has sleepless nights in the run-up to the race.
He said: “These last few years it has got really hard. We have a lot of money to find. Ten years back, we had £50 to find for the winner.
“We had some money in trust in the building society and the interest paid that and that was it.
“Now we have to get insurance which costs £240, an ambulance is going to cost £600 to £700, and now the council has decided to charge us £250 for a licence to close the road.
“My first memories were going with my father when I was still going to school. I’ve been involved for 60 years or more.
“It was a lot different, if you got 20 people you were doing very well. It is only these last 15 to 20 years that the crowds are getting a lot bigger.
“We are a bit worried with all the publicity about 500 years that we are going to get more horses than we can cope with.
“I have a few sleepless nights beforehand – but we’ve managed well enough up to now.” Mrs Waring, who has been helping out with the race for many years, said: “I’m doing it for my dad. It’s been in the family a long time and you have to keep it going. It gets harder and harder every year, with all your risk assessments and this and that.
“We are going to have some buckets this time. Philip Guest (a trustee, along with William Bethell and Lord Manton) has had some badges made with a horseshoe with ‘Kiplingcotes Derby 500 years’ – and whoever gives a donation can have a badge.
“We are just relieved when everything is finished – which is sad, really – and everybody is back and all right.”
Normally, the winner does not take the trophy home – but this year there will be a plate to keep.
All I’ve done it for is to keep the tradition going and the family tradition.
Guy Stephenson, Kiplingcotes Derby trustee.