Peter Scudamore MBE (born 29 June 1958), often known as 'Scu', is a former

jockey A jockey is someone who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing. The word "jockey" originated from England and was used to describe the individual ...

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 an eight-time Champion Jockey (including one title shared with

John Francome John Francome (born 13 December 1952) is a retired 7 time British Champion Jump Jockey. In addition to being a successful jockey, Francome was previously a racing trainer, broadcaster with Channel 4 and an author. Racing career Francome fir ...

), riding 1,678 winning horses in his career. He received an MBE for his services to the sport of horse racing.

Early life

Scudamore was born in June 1958 to jockey

Michael Scudamore Michael Scudamore (17 July 1932 – 7 July 2014) was an English National Hunt racing jockey in the 1950s and 1960s. He rode in 16 consecutive Grand Nationals, with one win on Oxo in 1959. He also rode Linwell, the winner of the 1957 Gold Cup ...

and his wife Mary. Michael Scudamore won the 1959

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 st ...

on Oxo, when his son was still a baby. Scudamore remembers little about his father's career, except for the fall that ended it. He has, however, spoken of his father's toughness as a jockey and of wanting to live up to him.

Racing career

Scudamore's first competitive ride came in 1978, the start of a 15-year career which would see him break many jumps racing records. He benefited particularly from being a stable jockey for the record breaking trainer

Martin Pipe Martin Charles Pipe (born 29 May 1945), is an English former racehorse trainer credited with professionalising the British racehorse training industry, and as of 2021 the most successful trainer in British jump racing. The son of a West-Coun ...

and the partnership was an extremely successful one throughout the 1980s and early 1990s. As well as setting the then all-time career record of 1,678 winners, he also set the record for most winners in a season (221) in 1988–89, surpassing

Jonjo O'Neill John Joseph "Jonjo" O'Neill (born 13 April 1952) is an Irish National Hunt racehorse trainer and former jockey. He is a native of Castletownroche, County Cork in Ireland. Based at the Jackdaws Castle training establishment in England. O'Neill ...

's mark to become the first jockey to exceed 150 in one season. Although both records have since been surpassed, Scudamore's records were set before the advent of year-round National Hunt racing. In all, he was champion eight times. He won 13 times at the

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 ...

including two

Champion Hurdle The Champion Hurdle is a Grade 1 National Hunt hurdle race in Great Britain which is open to horses aged four years or older. It is run on the Old Course at Cheltenham over a d ...

s - Celtic Shot in 1988 and

Granville Again Granville Again (20 June 1986 – August 2003) was an Irish-bred racehorse who competed in National Hunt races and recorded his most important win in the 1993 Champion Hurdle. In his early career he won two of his three National Hunt Flat ...

in 1993 - and a

Queen Mother Champion Chase The Queen Mother Champion Chase is a Grade 1 National Hunt steeplechase in Great Britain which is open to horses aged five years or older. As part of a sponsorship agreement with the onl ...

on Pearlyman. Other major victories included the

Hennessy Cognac 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 ru ...

(twice), Mackeson Gold Cup, four Welsh Nationals (including two on Bonanza Boy) and two Scottish Nationals. Horses with which he was associated during his racing career included Grand National winners

Miinnehoma Miinnehoma (1983 – July 2012) was an Irish bred and British trained Thoroughbred racehorse most famous for his victory in the 1994 Grand National at Aintree, ridden by Richard Dunwoody, trained by Martin Pipe and owned by Freddie Starr. ...

and

Little Polveir Little Polveir (1977–1999) was a race horse. He won the 1989 Grand National steeplechase ridden by Jimmy Frost, beating West Tip by seven lengths. The horse had previously finished ninth in 1986 and did not finish in 1987 and 1988 (where he f ...

although he himself won neither a National nor a

Cheltenham Gold Cup The Cheltenham Gold Cup is a Grade 1 National Hunt horse race run on the New Course at Cheltenham Racecourse in England, over a distance of about 3 miles 2½ furlongs (3 ...

nor a King George. He retired on 7 April 1993 with a winning ride on Sweet Duke at Ascot, his 1,678th winner.

Post-retirement

Immediately after retirement, Scudamore became an assistant trainer to his business partner

Nigel Twiston-Davies Nigel Twiston-Davies (born 16 May 1957, Crickhowell) is a British racehorse trainer specialising in National Hunt racing. He is based at stables at Naunton, Gloucestershire. He began training in 1981 and sent out his first winner, Last of the Fo ...

. He now lives with, and is assistant trainer to, Scottish jumps trainer,

Lucinda Russell Lucinda Russell (born 24 June 1966) is a Scottish horse trainer. She trained 2017 Grand National winner One For Arthur and the 2023 Grand National winner Corach Rambler. She is the partner of the former National Hunt jockey Peter Scudamore. Ru ...

at Arlary House Stables near

Milnathort Milnathort is a small town in the parish of Orwell in the county of Kinross-shire, Scotland and since 1996, the local council area of Perth and Kinross. The smaller neighbour of nearby Kinross, Milnathort has a population of around 2,000 peopl ...

. He has also pursued a career in media, featuring regularly as a pundit on BBC racing coverage and writing a racing column for the

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper and news websitePeter Wilb"Paul Dacre of the Daily Mail: The man who hates liberal Britain", ''New Statesman'', 19 December 2013 (online version: 2 January 2014) publish ...

. He is involved with his son Michael's yard in Herefordshire and his other son Tom Scudamore is also now a professional jockey. Peter is second cousin to former Chief Executive of the F.A. Premier League,

Richard Scudamore Richard Craig Scudamore CBE (born 11 August 1959) is an English sports executive. He was the Executive Chairman of the English Premier League from June 2014 until his retirement in November 2018. He had previously served as chief executive sinc ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scudamore, Peter 1958 births Living people British jockeys British horse racing writers and broadcasters British Champion jumps jockeys Members of the Order of the British Empire