Gold Cup winner Stan is Cheltenham VIP

Mar 13 2008 by Dan Warburton, The Journal

RETIRED jockey Stan Hayhurst finds it hard to watch professional horse racing.

More than 55 years of participation in the sport have made him an agitated spectator. But tomorrow he will celebrate the 50th anniversary of his winning the Gold Cup in Cheltenham – by attending this year’s classic event.

Mr Hayhurst, 74, from Low Park, West Woodburn, Hexham, Northumberland, has been invited to attend the event as a VIP.

In 1958 he rode Kerstin, an eight-year-old mare owned by Henry Moore and trained by Major Verly Bewicke at Close House, in Wylam, Northumberland.

He was only 24 when he lifted the coveted cup but half a century later Mr Hayhurst is excited about returning to his old stomping ground.

He said: “It was very exciting for a mare from this part of the country to win the cup.

“She had finished second the year before, but in those days you only had three or four big races, and this was one of the biggest. We won £5,700 which was a substantial amount of money back then, but not compared to what they earn now.

“I won lots of bits and pieces after that, but nothing in the same league.

“Its a highlight of my career. Kerstin was one of only four mares to win the cup in its history.”

Mr Hayhurst and his wife Patricia Joan, 69, will travel to Cheltenham tomorrow.

And it will be only their third visit to the course since his victory. He said: “It’s not my scene. I’m a really bad spectator.

“I’ve been involved for so long and done so many years that I’m really not the best person to sit back and watch.

“But I’m especially pleased this year, because I get to go back and see all my old colleagues who have retired from racing.”

Mr Hayhurst, who has two daughters, Justine, 40, and Claire, 39, was involved in horse racing for a combined total of 58 years.

Between 1949 and 1973 he enjoyed 24 seasons of racing, and in 1974 he became an official judge. In 1982 he became a steward at the Newcastle, Hexham and Sedgefield racecourses. He retired last year.

He said: “A lot has changed in racing. Cheltenham is not the same place that we know now. Back then you used to get big crowds, but now they are just massive.

“Jockeys had a very minor existence. It was the small number of races that were participating in then, it was so few it made it hard to earn a lot of money.

“But I know times have changed.”