Mick & David Easterby

Terry with Dee Pee Tee Cee (centre) and Blessingindisguise (right).

In Memory of Terry Lucas

13.40 | Wed 21 Jun 23 | Jockeys

Today we received the sad news of the passing of our former stable jockey Terry Lucas.

Terence George Lucas was born on 1st July 1950 in Brisbane, Australia.

He had served out his apprenticeship in his homeland and rode over 600 winners before heading to Singapore to work for Ivan Allan. I had trained several horses for Ivan and he knew I was always on the lookout for good jockeys.

Terry had ambition to ride in England and Ivan recommended him to me. Terry originally planned to come for just one season. He hated the British weather and I didn't think he'd see the year out, but in time he grew to love the place and slowly became part of the furniture at New House Farm.

Terry arrived at New House Farm, Sheriff Hutton, before the 1979 flat season.

Quietly spoken with a strong Australian accent it took a while to get to know him, but once you scratched the surface you quickly learned how he was a very smart and clever man.

Terry had only been at the yard for a few days but made it clear that he wanted to ride every horse he could get on.

He had his first ride in England at Newcastle on 14th April on a horse called Piethorne which finished out of the frame in the Holystone Stakes. I liked the way he rode and on 16th April I put him up on four horses at Newcastle, including Bias in the Northern Free Handicap.

It didn't take Terry long to get amongst the winners and his first success came on Wynburry in the Grewelthorpe Plate at Ripon on 18th April 1979, just four days after he'd made his debut in the country. He won by a neck, beating Lindsay Charnock on the even money favourite. It was only the second time that Terry had ridden the track, his first ride being on Cover Girl's Boy in the race before.

A few days later Terry was back amongst the winners when he rode Cottam Rocket to win at 14/1 at Pontefract, again beating Lindsay into second although he had to survive a stewards' enquiry.

Terry simply rode every horse that ran for the stable. He'd ride out in a morning then he'd be off to the races. The man was simply tireless and one of the best jockeys I have ever seen.

"I've got God working for me", I'd tell people.

That’s what I called him.

"God".

Over the years he picked up several nicknames, including 'The Wombat' and 'Cool Hand Luke', but to me Terry was always ‘God’.

Terry left the yard at the end of the 1979 flat season to ride back home but returned in 1980 and again in 1981, a season which saw him ride 26 winners.

Terry was getting noticed and was also picking up rides for other trainers. I particularly liked to hear how Terry had got on when he’d taken rides from outside the yard. He once rode for Geoff Wragg at Redcar. The race was over a mile and afterwards Terry told me that the horse wanted a mile and a quarter.

Terry had been watching and waiting for the horse's next run and one morning he pointed to the name of the horse in the paper, in a ten-furlong race, and said "That'll win today".

Just those few words, nothing more. Terry never used more words than was necessary.

The horse sluiced up and we were all on.

In 1981 notable wins came on Walter Osborne, a sprinter I trained for Robert Sangster, whilst he also recorded two big wins at York for other trainers, taking the David Dixon Sprint Trophy and then the Magnet Cup on Amyndas.

All was going well but at the end of the year Terry went back to Singapore where he stayed for four years. He returned to Britain in 1986, a year in which he won four times on two-year-old sensation Wiganthorpe. In August Terry rode Wiganthorpe in the Heinz 57 Phoenix Stakes at the Curragh.

"This horse will win the Gimcrack", he said after finishing fourth. "But he needs blinkers".

Later that month Wiganthorpe did indeed win the Gimcrack, where he wore a set of blinkers. However, sadly Terry didn't ride as the horse's new owner, Robert Sangster, set out that Willie Carson would be the jockey.

A great Terry Lucas ride winning the 'Coral Sprint Trophy' on Benzoe at York in 1993

Terry's main spell here at Sheriff Hutton began on his return to Britain in 1992 and he rode just about everything. I loved to see him on our horses and every time he got off a horse I wanted to hear what he said. He'd come back after a race and he'd tell me not only about the horse he had ridden, but he'd also have noted down other horses in the race and he could tell me about them too. Terry was a shrewd rider, never stylish, never flashy. He was simply reliable and clever. He had a clock in his head and he it was always right to the split second. He was unflappable. He had a cool head and I never once saw him panic.

Terry didn't make excuses like most jockeys. Flat jockeys whine. They moan. They complain. They make excuses. But if Terry made a mistake he'd hold up his hands and he'd take it on the chin. Not that he made many mistakes!

Terry was a man of few words and he didn't want to sell himself. There's a lot of what you might call 'windy' jockeys who can talk themselves into rides but Terry wasn’t like that.

Terry Lucas rode his final winner for the stable on We'll Meet Again at Wolverhampton in January 2005 and retired as a jockey soon after but he decided to stay on and work at the yard where he was travelling head lad.

In total Terry rode 131 winners for me, more than any other jockey before and aft, with Dee Pee Tee Cee (eight wins), Hasta La Vista (six wins) and Blessingindisguise and amongst the horses many prolific winners with whom he was associated.

In 2009 Terry decided to return to Australia. He'd talked of going home for a while and it wasn't a surprise when he announced that he'd made his decision. He had a grown-up family in Australia and plenty of contacts so even though he didn't have a job in place he knew that there would be plenty of opportunities.

Terry Lucas was one of the most under-rated jockeys to ever get on a horse. He rode around 1,500 winners in his long career and he had an unbelievable racing brain.

Staff come and go in any racing yard, but Terry had been part of the furniture at New House Farm and I couldn't have asked for a better jockey. He was quite simply the best judge of a horse that I have ever known.

In June 2023 we received the sad news of Terry's passing in his homeland of Australia at the age of 72.

It was the loss of another great friend, a unique and much-loved part of the fabric of New House Farm.

Terry taught so much to so many people. Of those to benefit from Terry's wisdom was Serena Brotherton who went on to become one of the country's leading amateur riders.

"He was very kind to me when I was starting out and taught me an enormous amount about race riding," said Serena on Wednesday. "I was so very sad to hear of his passing. He will be sorely missed."

There'll never be another quite like Terry.

Rest in Peace dear friend.