Willie Carson
THE 200th Derby Stakes could have produced several winners where the
equine half of the partnership was universally popular, but with the jockeys there could
have been none more so than the effervescent Scot, Willie Carson.
 At 36 years of age Willie responded to Julian Wilson's post-race interview
with such youthful exuberance that one could imagine he would still have this quality when
he is 76. Having attained his ambition, Willie was entitled to bubble like a mountain
spring, but I can assure you that this totally genuine rider would have given a similar
interview had his rejected partner, Milford, beaten him to the post.
In a game of highs and lows the tiny Scot is head and shoulders in front
of any of the top jockeys, with the exception of Kipper Lynch, in his acceptance of the
inevitable disappointments that racing provides. However, as a youngster at school, he
definitely needed blinkers, doing only the minimum amount of work necessary to keep him
from the headmaster's study. His mother, May, told me that he was always gifted with his
hands and she still has many of the usual knick knacks that boys make in the early stages
of joinery, but being tiny he was also forced on many occasions to use his hands to defend
himself. A tall, tearful classmate once related his encounter with Carson to the
headmaster, who immediately sent for the victor for punishment, but on seeing the relative
size of the two boys smothered his mirth and let the matter rest.
Born and reared in Stirling, the Gateway to the Highlands, Willie, aged
12, was taught to ride at Mrs. Thea Macfarlane's riding school, taking weekly lessons at a
cost of 50p per hour. Although a good rider then, he had no inclination to ride in shows
or gymkhanas, purely riding for his own enjoyment.Nevertheless, Willie did persuade his
mother, who only stands 4ft 9in high, to take private lessons at Mrs. Macfarlane's stables
at the age of 58. She told me "I've had quite a few falls since then which has made
me not too keen on jumping, but I am very hard to beat in the sack race."
Unlike his Mum, Willie loves jumping, as television viewers saw in October
when he steered one of Ted Edgar's horses to victory in the Jockey's Jumping Competition
at Wembley. Just like a good Aintree jockey, Willie managed to find the buckle end of the
rein on quite a few occasions that time, but my friends in the Quorn country tell me that
when hunting he is a hard man to follow. Because of his riding commitments abroad in the
winter the Flying Scotsman only manages 10 days each season in Leicestershire, and so
makes every one of them count.
Usually Flat jockeys of Willie's calibre are forbidden by their retainers
to risk themselves in the hunting field, but as Dick Hern spends his winters chasing Ouorn
foxes he could hardly stop Willie doing likewise. Carson's love of hunting is quite
coincidental as he was christened William Fisher Hunter Carson after his Great Uncle who
was a missionary in America, though as yet Willie has not lived up to his second name by
taking up the rod himself.
Winning the Derby is every rider's burning ambition, with only the chosen
few ever attaining it, but now that he has won the 200th running Willie Carson he is
looking further ahead to not simply winning the race again but doing so for particular
owners, and there could be no greater thrill than to triumph at Epsom on a horse owned by
Her Majesty the Queen. Never one to forget a helping hand, Willie dearly wants to ride a
Derby winner for Lord Derby, the man who retained him in 1969 as his first jockey.
Yet another produce of Sam Armstrong's stable, Willie was riding 25
winners a season by the time he finished his apprenticeship, although there had been many
times during those early years when, if given any encouragement from home, he would have
returned to Stirling. Without doubt the most amazing attribute "Wee Willie"
possesses is his work rate, both in securing rides and then in his efforts to make them
win or finish as close to the winner as possible. Completely at home on a lazy animal, his
inexhaustible stamina has enabled many an owner to lead in his triumphant horse when only
seconds before at the furlong marker there had seemed little chance of a place, let alone
a win.
Such is the hustle and bustle of the Lambourn-based jockey's' life that
several times during the season when the runners are at the start he will ask of his
fellow jockeys - "does anyone know what horse I'm riding?" In 1978 riding only
14 times short of the 1,000 mark meant that he almost automatically made the journey to
the parade ring for every race - and on one occasion he had gone to the paddock for a race
in which he had no ride! Willie slid quietly back to the weighing room but was well and
truly spotted in the process.However, instead of a blush, the famous warm smile spread
across hi: face - and this smile has the power to melt the attitude of even the most
disgruntled losing punter; but at his winner-to-ride ratio over the pas decade Willie
hasn't made many punters disgruntled.
RICHARD PITMAN ~ Horse and Hound, 1979
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