James Kenneth Murray Oliver OBE (1 February 1914 – 17 June 1999) was a Scottish racehorse trainer, breeder and jockey. In a career spanning over fifty years he trained over 1,000 winners.

Life & times

Oliver was educated at Warriston School,

Moffat Moffat ( gd, Mofad) is a burgh and parish in Dumfriesshire, now part of the Dumfries and Galloway local authority area in Scotland. It lies on the River Annan, with a population of around 2,500. It was a centre of the wool trade and a spa town. ...

and

Merchiston Castle School Merchiston Castle School is an independent boarding school for boys in the suburb of Colinton in Edinburgh, Scotland. It has around 470 pupils and is open to boys between the ages of 7 and 18 as either boarding or day pupils; it was modelled ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

. After school he joined the family livestock auctioneering business of Andrew Oliver & Son in

Hawick Hawick ( ; sco, Haaick; gd, Hamhaig) is a town in the Scottish Borders council area and historic county of Roxburghshire in the east Southern Uplands of Scotland. It is south-west of Jedburgh and south-south-east of Selkirk. It is one ...

, the oldest such firm in the UK having been founded in 1817. He made his winning point-to-point debut in the spring of 1935 on a one-eyed horse called Delman. In September 1937 he held his first bloodstock sales at Kelso. During World War Two, Oliver served with the

Yorkshire Hussars The Yorkshire Hussars (Alexandra, Princess of Wales's Own) was an auxiliary unit of the British Army formed in 1794. The regiment was formed as volunteer cavalry (Yeomanry) in 1794 during the French Revolutionary Wars and served in the Second Boe ...

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

and

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

. He was invalided back to the Scottish Borders and decided the family firm should set up an estate agency. The firm was soon selling farms all over Great Britain and occasionally livestock to the new owners as well. In 1950 he won the

Scottish Grand National The Scottish Grand National is a Grade 3 National Hunt steeplechase in Great Britain which is open to horses aged five years or older. It is run at Ayr, Scotland, over a distance of about 4 miles ( ...

as a jockey on a horse called Sanvina. In the early 1950s he received a permit to train; his first victory in 1953 at

Rothbury Rothbury is a market town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, on the River Coquet. It is northwest of Morpeth and of Newcastle upon Tyne. At the 2001 Census, it had a population of 2,107. Rothbury emerged as an important town be ...

was also one of his final wins as a jockey. In the

1959 Grand National The 1959 Grand National was the 113th renewal of the Grand National Horse racing, horse race that took place at Aintree Racecourse near Liverpool, on 21 March 1959. The race was won by the 8/1 second-favourite Oxo (horse), Oxo, ridden by Micha ...

the Oliver trained Wyndburgh finished second. The horse would repeat the same result in the

1962 Grand National The 1962 Grand National was the 116th renewal of the Grand National horse race that took place at Aintree Racecourse near Liverpool, England, on 31 March 1962. The race was won by Kilmore, a 28/1 shot ridden by jockey Fred Winter. The 12-year ...

, the only horse to ever finish second three times without winning. Oliver was also second in the 1958 Grand National with Moidore's Token. Oliver won his first Scottish Grand National in 1963 with Pappageno's Cottage. He would win a record five Scottish Grand Nationals with further wins in 1970, 1971, 1979 and 1982. In November 1968 he won five races in a day at

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunians ...

. At the peak of his career he was winning around 50 races a season. In 1962 Oliver and Willie Stephenson resurrected the Doncaster Bloodstock Sales. Oliver was appointed an OBE in the

1997 Queen's Birthday Honours The 1997 Birthday Honours were announced on 14 June 1997 for the United Kingdom and on 2 June 1997 for New Zealand.New Zealand list: Queen's Birthday Honours are announced on or around the date of the Queen's Official Birthday in the United King ...

list for services to farming and the local community.

Notable wins

, 1963, 1970, 1971, 1979 and 1982. *

Grand Annual Chase Grand may refer to: People with the name * Grand (surname) * Grand L. Bush (born 1955), American actor * Grand Mixer DXT, American turntablist * Grand Puba (born 1966), American rapper Places * Grand, Oklahoma * Grand, Vosges, village and co ...

Cheltenham Festival The Cheltenham Festival is a horse racing-based meeting in the National Hunt racing calendar in the United Kingdom, with race prize money second only to the Grand National. The four-day festival takes place annually in March at Cheltenham Ra ...

, 1965, 1977. *

County Handicap Hurdle The County Handicap Hurdle is a Premier Handicap National Hunt hurdle race in Great Britain which is open to horses aged five years or older. It is run on the New Course at Cheltenham over a distan ...

, Cheltenham Festival, 1966. * Arkle Challenge Trophy, Cheltenham Festival, 1966. *

Hennessy Gold Cup /Ladbrokes Trophy The Coral Gold Cup is a Premier Handicap National Hunt steeplechase in Great Britain which is open to horses aged four years or older. It is run ...

, 1979. *

Greenall Whitley Gold Cup The Greenall Whitley Gold Cup was a National Hunt Listed handicap chase in England. It was run at Haydock Park over a distance of 3 miles (4,828 metres), and it was scheduled to take place each year in February or early March. The event was est ...

, 1972, 1973, 1975. *

Charlie Hall Chase The Charlie Hall Chase is a Grade 2 National Hunt steeplechase in England which is open to horses aged five years or older. It is run at Wetherby over a distance of about 3 miles (3 miles and 45 y ...

, 1988. *

ASW Handicap Chase The ASW Handicap Chase was a National Hunt handicap chase in England which was open to horses aged five years and older. It was run at Cheltenham over a distance of 4 miles and 1 furlong (6,637 metres), and was scheduled to take place each yea ...

, 1964, 1965, 1974.

Biography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oliver, Ken 1914 births 1999 deaths People educated at Warriston School People educated at Merchiston Castle School Scottish jockeys British racehorse trainers Yorkshire Hussars officers British Army personnel of World War II Officers of the Order of the British Empire