Josh Gifford (3 August 1941 – 9 February 2012) was a jockey and trainer in

National Hunt racing In horse racing in the United Kingdom, France and Republic of Ireland, National Hunt racing requires horses to jump fences and ditches. National Hunt racing in the UK is informally known as "jumps" and is divided into two major distinct branches: ...

. He was a four-time Champion Jockey, riding 642 winners in his career. He retired from training in 2002, aged 60, and his son Nick Gifford took over training duties. Josh's daughter Kristina Cook (née Gifford) is an Olympic medal winning rider who competes in the horse trials sport of

eventing Eventing (also known as three day eventing or horse trials) is an equestrian event where a single horse and rider combine and compete against other competitors across the three disciplines of dressage, cross-country, and show jumping. Thi ...

Biography

Gifford was born in

Huntingdon Huntingdon is a market town in the Huntingdonshire district in Cambridgeshire, England. The town was given its town charter by King John in 1205. It was the county town of the historic county of Huntingdonshire. Oliver Cromwell was born there ...

. At the age of 28, he turned to training racehorses, with Frank Pullen being his first owner, and later trained

Aldaniti Aldaniti (25 June 1970 - 28 March 1997) was a racehorse who won the Grand National on 4 April 1981. His jockey on that day, Bob Champion, had recovered from cancer, while Aldaniti had recovered after suffering a career-threatening injury. The ...

, the winner of the 1981

Grand National The Grand National is a National Hunt horse race held annually at Aintree Racecourse in Liverpool, England. First run in 1839, it is a handicap ...

. He was played by

Edward Woodward Edward Albert Arthur Woodward, OBE (1 June 1930 – 16 November 2009) was an English actor and singer. After graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, he began his career on stage. Throughout his career, he appeared in productions ...

in the 1983 film ''

Champions A champion (from the late Latin ''campio'') is the Victory, victor in a challenge, Competition, contest or competition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional / provincial, state, national, continental and w ...

''. His training stables, which he took over from his former boss, Captain H. Ryan Price, were located in

Findon, West Sussex Findon is a semi-rural clustered village and civil parish in the Arun District of West Sussex, England, 4 miles (6.4 km) north of Worthing. Governance An electoral ward in the same name. This ward stretches south west to Patching with ...

. His daughter,

Kristina Cook Kristina "Tina" Cook (née Gifford, born 31 August 1970), is a British three-day eventing rider. She is the 2009 European Champion and a three-time Olympic medallist, winning individual and team bronze medals in 2008 and team silver in 2012. Sh ...

, won two eventing bronze medals at the

2008 Beijing Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nat ...

, in both the team and individual events, and a silver medal in the team event at the 2012 London Olympics. He died in the early hours of 9 February 2012 at his Findon yard in West Sussex, after suffering a heart attack.

Sandown Park Racecourse Sandown Park is a horse racing course and leisure venue in Esher, Surrey, England, located in the outer suburbs of London. It hosts 5 Grade One National Hunt races and one Group 1 flat race, the Eclipse Stakes. It regularly has horse rac ...

have a race named in his honour at their end of season jumps finale meeting. The Josh Gifford Novices’ Handicap Chase is run over 2 miles furlongs. It was first run in 2014. Previously there had been a Juvenile Hurdle on the same card named after him.

References

1941 births 2012 deaths English jockeys British racehorse trainers British Champion jumps jockeys People from Huntingdon People from Findon, West Sussex {{England-horseracing-bio-stub