A LEGENDARY jockey who rose from humble electrician to Royal Ascot hero has sadly died aged 85 after battling Alzheimer’s.
English rider Brian Rouse won the 1,000 Guineas on Quick As Lightning in 1980 but it was with the awesome Stanerra he will be forever remembered.
The pair won twice at the same Royal Ascot in 1983, winning the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes and breaking the track record in the Hardwicke.
They then conquered the Flat racing world together with another victory in the Irish Champion Stakes that same summer.
Even bigger thrills were to come in Japan later that year when Stanerra, who also won the Brigadier Gerard, became the first European-trained horse to win the mega-money Japan Cup under Rouse.
Recalling their incredible bond, Rouse previously said: “She was very good, but she was a right cow.
“That was the difference and that is why she was good.
“She was a very big built mare, she was enormous.
“She never ran out of gas, even at home she took so much work.
“After her work she would go on the walker for hours and she just never tired.
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“She was extraordinary, a bit of a freak of nature and you don’t get many like that.”
Amazingly, Rouse’s success came after he had originally given up racing to be an electrician.
He was brought back into the sport as a late bloomer but it proved his true calling – his second win coming some 15 years after his first.
Rouse had more than 900 winners in Britain alone and his last one came in May 1995 before he retired the following year.
His daughter Deborah told the Racing Post: “After being an electrician, he was in his late 20s before he went back to racing, and he rode over hurdles for a while.
“John Francome and others used to tease him, asking him ‘how are you still claiming?’
“The kindness shown and good wishes people have sent have been unbelievable.
“I’ve received messages from all over the world because he rode in so many countries. People have been so kind.”
Rouse, whose wife Doreen died 24 years ago, is survived by daughters Deborah and Pamela.
He lived the final six years of his life with them in Newmarket as he bravely fought Alzheimer’s.
More to follow.
