20 Facts About Harry Wragg

Harry Wragg was a British jockey and racehorse trainer, who gained the nickname "The Head Waiter" due to his "come from behind" riding style.

Harry Wragg then embarked on a successful 36-year training career, in which he trained many important winners including five more classics.

Harry Wragg retired in 1982 and died three years later.

Harry Wragg was born on 10 June 1902 at Sheffield in Yorkshire.

Harry Wragg took up riding in his early teens and moved to Newmarket where he was apprenticed to the trainer George Colling.

Harry Wragg attracted the attention of important figures including the trainer Richard Marsh and the owner Solomon Joel, and in 1925 he had his first major success when he won the Eclipse Stakes on Polyphontes.

Harry Wragg developed a riding style which relied strongly on timing, intelligence and tactical skill.

Harry Wragg preferred to restrain or "hold up" horses, preserving their speed for a late challenge.

Harry Wragg held up the outsider before producing him with a challenge inside the final furlong to win easily in record time.

Harry Wragg subsequently became stable jockey to Felstead's trainer Oswald "Ossie" Bell at Newmarket.

Harry Wragg had won his second Derby in 1930 riding Blenheim to victory after the horse had been rejected by the Aga Khan III's retained jockey Michael Beary.

Harry Wragg rode 71 winners including the wartime substitute Oaks on Commotion, to claim his only championship.

In 1942 Harry Wragg won a third Derby on Watling Street: he again employed exaggerated waiting tactics, taking the lead on Lord Derby's temperamental colt fifty yards from the finish and winning by a neck.

Harry Wragg retired from riding at the end of 1946, a year in which he won the Oaks on Steady Aim.

Harry Wragg began training in 1947 at Abington Place in Newmarket, sending out the winners of 25 races in his first season.

Abermaid won the 1000 Guineas in 1962 and at the end of the decade, Harry Wragg completed a classic double when Full Dress won the 1000 Guineas and Intermezzo won the St Leger in 1969.

Harry Wragg was keen to exploit international opportunities: in the 1950s and 1960s he won the Gran Premio del Jockey Club twice and the Grosser Preis von Baden on four occasions.

Harry Wragg trained many winners in Ireland including Fidalgo, who won the 1959 Irish Derby after finishing second in the English equivalent.

Harry Wragg retired from training in 1982, passing on the Abington Place stable to his son Geoff.

In rhyming slang Harry Wragg was widely used to mean "fag" and it still has usage amongst the small Protestant community of south County Dublin despite his death in 1985.