Joseph Mercer, OBE (25 October 1934 – 17 May 2021) was an English thoroughbred race horse jockey. He was active from 1947 to 1985, riding 2,810 winners in Britain. Mercer's nickname was "Smokin' Joe.”
He was apprenticed to trainer Frederick Sneyd, and he won his first British Classic race on Ambiguity in the 1953 Epsom Oaks as an apprentice. He was British flat racing Champion Apprentice in 1952 and 1953.
He subsequently worked as stable jockey for Jack Colling, Dick Hern, Henry Cecil and Peter Walwyn. While at Cecil's yard, he won his only British flat racing Champion Jockey's title in 1979. Mercer's most successful ride was Brigadier Gerard, who won all but one of 18 races between 1970 and 1972. Mercer won every British Classic except the Derby, although he twice was runner-up.
He retired as a jockey in November 1985, worked briefly as a jockey's agent, and then became racing manager for Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum in 1987. He retired in January 2006.
Early life Joseph Mercer was born in Bradford, West Yorkshire, to Emmanuel Mercer, a coach painter, and his wife Jessie. He was one of eight children (four boys, four girls).
He rode donkeys on summer holidays at the seaside with his elder brother, Manny, who became a jockey and died tragically in an accident at Ascot in 1959. Manny recommended Joe to the trainer, Fred Sneyd, to whom he was apprenticed.
Career
1950s Mercer rode his first winner for Sneyd on Eldoret in a handicap race at Bath in September 1950. He was British flat racing Champion Apprentice jockey in 1952, when he rode 26 winners, and 1953, when he rode 61. One of his 1953 victories was at Oaks, his first English Classic win. He rode Ambiguity, owned by Lord Astor (William Waldorf Astor, 3rd Viscount Astor) and trained by Jack Colling.
Mercer was stable jockey at the Colling-owned West Ilsley stable, having succeeded Gordon Richards. Mercer and Collins had a successful partnership with a number of fine horses, including: Hornbeam, who won 11 races (including first at the Great Voltigeur Stakes and second in the St Leger, Ascot Gold Cup and Doncaster Cup); Rosalba, who won 6 races (winner of the Coronation Stakes, Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, and Fred Darling Stakes, and 2nd in Petite Etoile's 1000 Guineas); and Counsel, who won 10 races (a top class handicapper and winner of the Greenham Stakes).
Mercer often rode for other stables. A prominent example includes Festoon, the 1000 Guineas winner, which he rode in an unsuccessful bid at the Oaks but later gave him his first Royal Ascot victory in the Coronation Stakes. Mercer also rode a number of Harry Wragg-trained horses, notably Nagami, who came in third in all the colts Classic races of 1958; and Fidalgo, who in 1959 came in second in the Derby and St Leger and won the Irish Derby.
1960s Despite winning his jockey championship with Henry Cecil, it was his relationship with the West Ilsley stable under Dick Hern for which he is most famous. Hern took over as trainer at West Ilsley at the end of 1962 on the retirement of Jack Colling, and there was no question he would remain in place on Hern's takeover. The stable was endowed with several top owner-breeders and was now owned by John Jacob Astor (then known as Jakie Astor, and later as Sir John Astor), who with his brother Lord Astor provided most of the horse firepower.
During the early years of the Hern/Mercer partnership they won races with a series of stayers, including Grey of Falloden who won several stakes races (the Doncaster Cup and Henry II Stakes) but also won the 1964 Cesarewitch Handicap with a then record weight of 9stone 6pounds. The following year the stable hit top form and won both the English St. Leger Stakes and Irish St. Leger Stakes with Provoke (owned by Jakie) and Craighouse (owned by Lord Astor: William Astor, 3rd Viscount Astor) respectively. In both 1964 and 1965 Mercer rode 108 winners in Britain.
In 1966, an equine virus hit the stable, affecting the horses' performance. In 1967 there appeared to be some remission and the stable won 60 races. With this support from his own yard Mercer looked set to gain his first Jockey Championship. However having a comfortable lead mid-August he broke several vertebrae in a fall on a spare ride at Folkestone Racecourse. He was sidelined for the last two and a half months of the season. 1967 saw two future Classic possibles emerge in Remand and La Mome, but more importantly the Queen (Elizabeth II) first began to send horses to be trained by Dick Hern, thus initiating Mercer's tenure as a Royal Jockey. (However, for a few years another Royal Trainer Ian Balding did continue to use in addition Geoff Lewis and Lester Piggott). At the end of the 1967 season another important owner-breeder Brook Holliday began to send his horses to Hern, who had previously been the private trainer to his father (Major Lionel Holliday) at Newmarket.
1968 promised much and Mercer scored two early victories in Classic Trials when Heathen (owned by Holliday) won the Greenham Stakes and La Mome (owned by Jakie Astor) won the Princess Elizabeth Stakes. Early in May, Remand (owned also by Astor) beat Connaught in the Chester Vase, a recognised Epsom Derby trial, whilst giving the Noel Murless trained colt weight. Soon afterwards the horses appeared to lose form and Dick Hern described Remand's appearance in the paddock at Epsom prior to the Derby as being 'horrible, his coat was standing up like a hedgehog'. Beaten by both Sir Ivor and the Chester Vase second, Connaught, Remand finished fourth. Through the equine virus in the stables, Mercer missed a good chance of winning the Derby, a race he was ultimately never to win. Remand was very ill after the race, not appearing again that season and the stable went into decline. Despite shutting down completely for months on end, the virus did not leave the stable until the end of the 1969 season. However Mercer did manage to win the Doncaster Cup, a leading late-season Group race for his stable with The Accuser.
Despite these setbacks Mercer remained loyal to Major Hern and West Ilsley. He did ride for many other stables and was particularly supported by Derrick Candy, for whom he rode horses such as Parbury (Ascot Gold Cup), Song (1968 Champion Sprinter and winner of the New Stakes, Temple Stakes, King's Stand Stakes and Diadem Stakes) and Fair Winter (Nassau Stakes), and Peter Walwyn, who was just developing a string of horses that became prominent in the 1970s. In 1969 he formed a successful partnership with Candy's staying horse High Line, taking many Group races. He also rode for the trainer John Sutcliffe, winning on such horses as Right Tack and Jimmy Reppin early in their careers.
By the end of the 1960s, he was one of the top jockeys in the country. His main rival at this time was Lester Piggott, who is reported to have said "There are only two real jockeys and the other one is Joe Mercer." When Piggott declined the ride on Petingo in order to ride Sir Ivor in the 1968 2,000 Guineas Stakes, Mercer was booked to ride Petingo by Piggott's father-in-law, Sam Armstrong. On Petingo he won the Craven Stakes and then finished second in the 2000 Guineas. Similarly when Piggott was unavailable for Ribofilio's 2,000 Guineas Trial in early 1969, Mercer took the ride and won on this Johnson-Houghton trained colt, already favourite for the 2000 Guineas.
1970s Mercer's loyalty was repaid in 1970, but the year started inauspiciously. He had spent the winter riding in India, could not bring home his earnings due to exchange control issues and decided to buy jewels to export instead. He failed to declare possession of two diamonds and was imprisoned for several weeks by the Indian authorities, missing the first month of the flat season.
He received letters from West Ilsley, praising a talented two-year-old - Brigadier Gerard.
On his return at the end of April, Jimmy Lindley retained the ride on the then stable star Highest Hopes in the One Thousand Guineas. He also missed the maiden win of the Queen's first good horse Charlton. He did ride him to his second win in the Predominate Stakes (now the Cocked Hat Stakes) at Goodwood in May. Unfortunately injury to the colt prevented his taking part in that year's Epsom Derby. Mercer may never have won The Derby but he gave a fine ride on Great Wall in Nijinsky's 1970 Derby. Great Wall had run very wide when he'd run in his Derby Trial and it seemed unwise for Scobie Breasley, his trainer, to declare him for Epsom and expect him to get round Tattenham Corner. Mercer got the ride for the first time and the colt's odds of 80 to 1 seemed ungenerous. Mercer kept his horse at the back of the field and going into Tattenham Corner had only one horse behind him. Entering the corner he set the colt alight on the rails to such effect that he passed the whole field in about a furlong and was leading the field with about two furlongs to go. He was then squeezed up by the giant French colt Gyr and was just run out of third place by Stintino.
By the end of June 1970 the noted Brigadier Gerard had made his debut for Major Hern. There is little doubt that the Brigadier provided an enormous boost to the stable winning his four races in 1970, including the Group 1 Middle Park Stakes. In addition, Highest Hopes (owned by Holliday) came back from her disappointing run in the 1000 Guineas and won the Prix Eugène Adam and the Prix Vermeille, beating Caro and Lupe. The stable sustained its form until end of the season with Charlton proving to be slightly below the best, fourth in the St Leger; Heavenly Thought (owned by Lord Rotherwick, who purchased many of the now-deceased Lord Astor's horses) winning a handful of good races; and Fine Blade who at that time did not appear far behind Brigadier Gerard in ability. The end of the season saw a lot of activity as the last named was removed from the stable, together with the rest of Brook Holliday's horses following a payment disagreement with Hern. At the same time news arrived that following the retirement from training of Gordon Richards, his owners Sir Michael Sobell and Lady Beaverbrook would be transferring their horses to Dick Hern.
Jakie Astor negotiated to sell West Ilsley to Sobell and his son-in-law Arnold Weinstock on the understanding that both Hern and Mercer were kept in place as trainer and stable jockey respectively. Before the 1971 flat season started most interest was on the Lady Beaverbrook-owned pair of Seaepic and Seaswan (both sired by Sea Bird II). Both disappointed in their trial races and later, whilst Brigadier Gerard, without a prep race, won what would in hindsight be regarded as the best Two Thousand Guineas since 1947. A Sobell/Weinstock-owned colt, Homeric, won the Lingfield Derby Trial ridden by Mercer. Homeric was the stable's first Derby runner since 1968 when running at Epsom but was outclassed by Mill Reef, finishing fifth. Later in the year Homeric finished second in the St. Leger under Mercer's ride. Brigadier Gerard finished the year the unbeaten winner of six races (five of them Group One). The new power to appear was in the two-year-old ranks, where three smart colts ran at Royal Ascot, all ridden by Mercer. Sun Prince, as a maiden, won the Coventry Stakes and later followed up by winning the Prix Robert Papin in France then finishing third in the Middle Park Stakes. Fellow maiden Sallust was made favourite for the Windsor Castle Stakes but finished unplaced. However he won his next race before ending his season with a win in the Richmond Stakes at Goodwood Racecourse. The third colt, Rampage, having won his maiden decisively attempted the Norfolk Stakes despite the presence of good horses such as Deep Diver and Philipp of Spain. Unfortunately Rampage died of a heart attack during the race.