The sixth child of 13 born to a family in Talgarth, on the edge of the Brecon Beacons, Geoff Lewis is famous for being the only Welshman to have won the Derby and the jockey who rode Mill Reef to seven major victories in the early Seventies.
In 1945, with four brothers off fighting in WW2, Geoff and the rest of his family moved to Shepherds Bush where his father had work as a painter and decorator. Five years later, at the age of 14, he went by bus with a few other ‘urchins’ to Epsom Downs on what turned out to be Derby Day. He didn’t get into the race track, but a man picked him up outside so that he could just catch a glimpse of Rae Johnstone aboard the French horse Galcador win by a neck.
Fast forward eight months and Lewis was working as a page-boy at the Waldorf Hotel. A chance meeting with the famous jump jockey Tim Molony, who told him he was the ideal size for racing, got him thinking. He wrote to some trainers and was eventually taken on by Ron Smyth. He had never before sat on a horse but after completing a month’s trial he was given a five year apprenticeship. It started at 10/- shillings a week and rose to £3 by the time he finished.
As well as a budding jockey, he was also pretty handy in the boxing ring and went on to win 15 Stable Lads Boxing Cups. Despite a stammer, he also had a great signing voice true to his Welsh roots. He married an Australian, Noelene, whose father was a double Melbourne Cup winner, so racing really ran through the Lewis household
He rode his first winner in April, 1953, bu which time he had bulked up to 5st 10 lbs. There were a further 15 winners in that first season, another 37 the next and by 1957 he had impressed enough to be appointed first jockey to Peter Hastings Bass’ powerful stable at Kingsclere. He promptly won Royal Ascot’s Coronation Stakes for them on Lord Sefton’s St Lucia in 1958.He triumphed in that race once again in 1971 on Magic Flute.
Lewis enjoyed success riding for some of the nations top names. He won the 1959 Stewards Cup on Tudor Monarch for Sir Winston Churchill and did the double of the Ascot Stakes and Doncaster Cup in 1970 for The Queen. In 1969 he rode both Right Tack to win the English and Irish 2,000 Guineas and St James Palace Stakes and Jimmy Reppin to take the Sussex Stakes at Goodwood and the QE II at Ascot. In 1971 he made a clean-sweep of Epsom’s top prizes, winning the Derby on Mill Reef, the Oaks on Altesse Royale and the Coronation Cup on Lupe. He also won the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe on Mill Reef and won the Ascot Gold Cup in the same year on Random Shot.
Two more classics followed in 1973 when he won the 1,000 Guineas and Oaks on Mysterious. He retired in 1979 and then became a highly successful trainer. Over two decades he trained nearly 500 winners, including Silver Wisp, who was third in the Derby in 1992.
Geoff Lewis (Jockey & Trainer) Born in Talgarth on 21 December, 1935
