Farmer’s key role in country’s ‘oldest horse race’
An 80-year-old East Yorkshire farmer is putting the finishing touches to preparations for the 494th running of Britain’s oldest horse race.
The Kiplingcotes Derby, which takes place this year on March 21, was first run in1519.
Guy Stephenson, who has been one of its two trustees for “getting on 20 years now”, can scarcely believe King Henry VIII had been on the throne for 10 years when it first happened.
“My father was involved with the race, and so was my uncle, and it has become part of our family’s history,” he says.
“I’ve never ridden in it, but we won it twice in the 1980s with Baby Rat – one of Frankie Vaughan’s ex-horses – and Bear Lady, who we used to call Streaker.
“I also have two brothers who have won it so it has become special to us as a family, as well as to the area. It’s one good thing Henry VIII didn’t abolish!”
The Yorkshire Wolds Derby is run over four miles of tracks and lanes, a tough, undulating course starting at an old stone post (now adorned with a new horseshoe sign) not far from the old Kiplingcotes railway station near Market Weighton. It finishes at Londesborough Wold Farm, home to one of Guy’s sons.
An amateur race open to horses and riders of all ages, it’s a romantic but demanding event requiring physical strength – and ideally a thoroughbred racehorse if you want to win.
But its long-term future is now in doubt, says Guy: “The race is hanging in the balance now because meeting health and safety requirements mean it’s becoming increasingly expensive to organise.”
“We used to run it on a budget of nothing. We had no income – the race is free to watch – but didn’t need any. But now we have to pay £200 for insurance, £370 for ambulances, and so on.
“One of the problems is that the race crosses a main road and until now we’ve always had the police to control the traffic free of charge.
“But the police have pulled out because of cutbacks and requested that the council work with the organisers to improve traffic and crowd management, stewarding and marshalling, and ensure public safety.
“So this year we’re having to use traffic lights and a private security company. They’re doing it for advertising this year, but if we have to pay them in the future it will be £1,300 – which means next year’s race could cost £2,000.”
“It would be a massive loss to the area if it couldn’t continue,” says Guy, who is appealing for sponsors to help secure its future. “I hope we can reach our 500th anniversary.”
Market Weighton town council has responded to the appeal this year, donating £200 and promising £500 for next year’s race.
“We want to help because the race isn’t just an important event for Market Weighton – it attracts hundreds of visitors from all over the country and beyond, bringing much-needed money into the area,” says mayor Peter Hemmerman.
Despite the headaches, Guy, who lives with his wife Anne in Shiptonthorpe, has no intention of quitting as a trustee and also still farms with two of his sons and a grandson – 647ha at three farms, including Londesborough Wold, the farm just a field across from the Kiplingcotes Derby winning post. “I’ve just turned 80. but I can’t retire,” he says.
“There’s always plenty to do here growing barley, wheat and rape, and raising suckler cows.
“We’re lucky. It’s great land and beautiful countryside. The Yorkshire Wolds Way long-distance footpath is nearby, and the wood David Hockney painted a lot is just next door to us. My daughter saw him there once. I’m not sure about his paintings though. I’ve never seen the wood looking quite like that.
“There’s a hell of a lot more work involved in organising the race now than what there used to be because of all these regulations,” adds Guy.
“We have to tape it off near the winning post to keep the crowd under control, and the day before the race I’ll go down there and clean the course up, and make sure everything’s in order.
“For the first time in 40 years we had a bookmaker come last year and he’s coming again next week, despite losing money last time.
“We don’t know until the morning of the race who’s going to run. You just have to turn up before 11am with your horse and you can take part if our vet clears you.”
Guy is also involved in the pre-race formalities. “Everyone has to get weighed before the race starts to make sure any light riders – like teenage girls – carry weights to take them up to 10 stone,” he says.
“Then when the race starts at noon, I have to be at the winning post to declare the winner. I’m always hoping there’s not going to be a dead heat because I’d have to decide which horse had won. Luckily there’s never been one yet.”
Curiously the rider of the horse that comes second in the Kiplingcotes Derby can sometimes win more than the £50 prize money that goes to the winner.
“It costs £4.25 to enter the race, £4 of which goes into the kitty for the horse that comes second, so if there are more than 12 runners, the second horse gets more than the winner,” Guy explains. “The other 25p goes towards the clerk’s expenses.”
The Kiplingcotes Derby’s strictest rule is that the race has to be run at all costs. “It says in the rules that once it’s not run, that’s the end of it,” says Guy. “So it has to happen, one way or another.
“In 1947 my uncle had to walk a horse around the course because there was too much snow for the race to go ahead,” he says.
“And in 2001 – the year of foot-and-mouth – amateur jockey Stephen Crawford, who lives nearby, walked the course with his horse Memorable to ensure that the race’s record remained intact.”
Guy’s hoping for better weather on 21 March after thick fog delayed the start last year – and resulted in the race finishing about half a mile from the winning post.
Until last year, police would stop traffic on the busy A614 to enable horses to cross en route for the finishing line. But with the pea-souper causing concerns, the 12 riders agreed among themselves that whoever reached the main road first would be the winner.
John Thirsk, a Market Weighton joiner who won the race for a fourth time on his horse Bob, with Emma Herbert-Davies of Otley the runner-up on Blue, said: “It was a cracking compromise. We crossed the road when it was safe and then galloped to the finishing post to give the crowds something to cheer about.”
Guy adds: “I have been coming here for 60 years and I have never seen fog before – or the race being won before the horses reached the winning post. It just goes to show that anything can happen here at the Kiplingcotes Derby.”
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