Harold Russell Maddock
Encyclopedia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
-born Champion jockey who rode in Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
and the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
.
Maddock was born in Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
and began his career as an apprentice in 1934 and in 1936 rode his first winner "Camogean" at only his 2nd ride in a race, in Toowoomba
Toowoomba, Queensland
Toowoomba is a city in Southern Queensland, Australia. It is located west of Queensland's capital city, Brisbane. With an estimated district population of 128,600, Toowoomba is Australia's second largest inland city and its largest non-capital inland city...
, a provincial city about 80 miles west of Brisbane. He was apprenticed to a horsetrainer named Mitchell. He became one of the top Australian jockeys with many jockey's premierships to his name. In 1959 he was named "Jockey of the Century" during the Queensland Centennial. In Australia he rode the great "Sefiona", High Rank", "Timor", Earlwood", "Auction", "Proletaire", to name but a few. Despite regular attempts to tempt him overseas he remained in Brisbane until a short venture to Malaysia in 1960 followed by a contract in the United Kingdom saw him move to horseracing Utopia. He settled into the UK racing scene quickly with a win at his first ride in the UK at Aintree
Aintree Racecourse
Aintree Racecourse is a racecourse in Aintree, Merseyside, England.It was served by Aintree Racecourse railway station until the station closed in the 1960s....
on Mix n Match in the Earl of Sefton Plate on 25 March 1961 and the wins soon mounted up. He was successful in the UK and France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. A few of the horses he was associated with in the UK are "The Pouncer", "Althrey Don", "Mountain Call", "Laureate" and "Park Top". In 1969 he was injured in a racefall at Brighton
Brighton Racecourse
Brighton Racecourse is a horse racing course at Brighton, East Sussex in England, for flat races of up to about one and a half miles. The course is one of three courses in Britain which is not a circuit and forms a figure like three sides of a square, sloping, with wide left-hand turns and an...
. It was the end of his career but he continued to live in the UK at his London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
home. His wife Brenda Pitt Maddock (from a family (Grenier and Pitt) involved in Qld racing since the 1840s) an artist continued her painting career and both daughters were on UK stage and TV and finally in 1981 he returned to Queensland and settled on the Gold Coast, Queensland
Gold Coast, Queensland
Gold Coast is a coastal city of Australia located in South East Queensland, 94km south of the state capital Brisbane. With a population approximately 540,000 in 2010, it is the second most populous city in the state, the sixth most populous city in the country, and also the most populous...
where he still resides.