the biography of one of the great 'guv'nors'.

​I doubt if there are as many ‘Guv’nors’ as there once were. I suspect trainers nowadays are more likely to be referred to by their Christian names or as ‘The Boss’. The late Gordon W. Richards was referred to by his staff as ‘Boss’ and I suspect his son is spoken of similarly. Of course, there was a time when the ranks of trainers held a great number of ex-Army officers who could not bear to part with their military title and there were a multitude of Captains and Majors, most of whom were more capable of imposing discipline than training racehorses – with exceptional exceptions, of course.
Noel Murless was referred to by his staff, it seems, as ‘The Guv’nor’. I make the assumption as Tim Fitzgeorge-Parker titles his biography of Sir Noel Murless, as he became, ‘The Guv’nor’. It is a racing book of its time. The disappointment of the book is that though it runs to 248 pages, only 151 of those pages are dedicated to the racehorse trainer himself, with over 90-pages used for a comprehensive record of Murless’ winners from 1935 to his retirement in 1976. I suspect, though I may be incorrect, that the author was commissioned to write a 250-page detailed study of Murless’ career and though Sir Noel started the project with the enthusiasm of someone rightly honoured, he grew weary of the project and the author was forced to pad out his manuscript with the racing record of a trainer who during my formative years was the John Gosden of his day.
Sir Noel Murless was the foremost trainer in Britain for the majority of his career and remains a legend to this day. It was his emphatic belief that four greats bestrode his life, Abernant, Crepello, Petite Etoile and Gordon Richards. The last name on the list demonstrates that the Murless training career took in a good proportion of the careers of both Gordon Richards and Lester Piggott, with Murless, though he defended Piggott with fierce loyalty whenever Lester got into trouble with the stewards, believing Richards was the true great of the two.
His first winner as a trainer was ridden by an even earlier great jockey of the flat, Charlie Smirke, a rider more in the mould of Lester than Gordon, having also served a long ban from the sport, his lasting 3-years. On September 2nd Murless trained Rubin Wood, owned by Mr.J.T. Rogers to win the Lee Plate at Lanark, with a first prize of £103. It was one of 63 winners for Smirke, though not notable enough to be worthy of a mention in his autobiography. If only he knew he had set a young trainer off on what was to become a glorious training career.
Rubin Wood was the only winner for Murless in 1935 and he didn’t manage to surpass the total in 1936, with the success of Outlaw at Ayr on the June 27nd being the only highlight. His career picked up afterwards, though, and what is noticeable is that though he only managed 4, 7, and 9-winners in the succeeding years his winners went on to win again and again. Sea Fever won twice in 37, once in 38 and twice again in 39. Second Pop won once in 37, three-times in 38 and once again in 39.
It wasn’t until 1946 that Murless began to be noticed, notching 34 winners, only 6 short of his career total to that point, mainly handicaps but increasingly at the top racecourses, Liverpool, York, Epsom, Doncaster and Newmarket. By 1948 the big owner/breeders were becoming his clients, Colonel Hornung, the Macdonald-Buchanan’s, J.A. Dewar, Giles Loder and more importantly The Queen and the man who rode all but two of his winners in 1948 was Gordon Richards. When you are attracting the top owner/breeders and the greatest jockey it can be said you have arrived at the top table. In 1948 Murless won the Dewhurst with Major Macdonald-Buchanan’s Royal Forest, ridden by Richards.
The photographs in the biography just skims the total of wonderful horses Murless trained in his career. Carrozza, the Queen’s Oaks winner in 1957, Crepello, Petite Etoile, St.Paddy, Pinturischio, the potential Derby winner nobbled by unscrupulous ‘bookmakers’, Aurelius, Royal Palace, Hopeful Venture, Aunt Edith, Fleet, Sucaryl, Caegwrle, Connaught, Welsh Pageant, Lupe, Altesse Royale, Owen Dudley, Mysterious, and the list goes on.
‘The Guv’nor’ is a tribute to Sir Noel Murless more than it is a biography. There is an attempt at displaying the man’s humour, though it falls flat as the anecdote, the only anecdote as I recall, is the sort where you had to be there to appreciate the humour. Anyone who wishes to possess a library incorporating all the great trainers down the decades must have this book as Murless was undoubtedly one of the greats of his profession. It is not, though, a work of distinction and I can’t help but reflect that the career of Murless deserved better. Whether the man deserved better I cannot possibly know from what is preserved within the covers of ‘The Guv’nor’.
I have read extensively during my life. Nowadays, though my interests are varied, I keep my literary intake to daily editions of the Racing Post and racing books old and modern. Occasionally I have the impression on finishing a biography that the story of the book, the gathering of the printed word and the relationship between author and subject, may have revealed more, would have provided a more interesting narrative, than the story actually told. This book may be such an illustration.