From the Blaydon Races to Cheltenham - the boy from Newcastle who went on to ride Sea Pigeon and Night Nurse
Nick Watts talks to Alan Brown, a former jump jockey who is training winners on the Flat
This interview with Alan Brown was first published in the Racing Post Weekender. The Weekender is out every Wednesday and is available in all good newsagents, or you can subscribe here.
Valentine's Day 2025, and Alan Brown was out for the evening at Newcastle races, saddling two horses, Blackjack and Jems Bond – both of whom won.
Rewind to Valentine’s Day 44 years ago, and the young Brown was gearing up for another equine-related date, this time with Night Nurse in the 1981 Gold Cup.
Night Nurse remains one of the best horses ever to grace Cheltenham’s turf. A double Champion Hurdle winner in the midst of a golden era, he was also deemed to be the best hurdler ever according to Timeform (achieved a figure of 182), following his dead-heat with Monksfield in the 1977 Aintree Hurdle, conceding 6lb.
The race itself would have garnered more column inches at the time but for the fact it happened a short while before Red Rum won his third Grand National.
Not many brilliant hurdlers go on to be brilliant chasers, but once Night Nurse went over fences in the 1978-79 season he was a pretty instant hit, even taking part in the Gold Cup as a novice in the hands of Graham Thorner. He didn’t win that day, but his trainer Peter Easterby still carried off the big prize with Alverton.
Brown and Night Nurse really came to the fore as a combination in the 1980-81 season, when Easterby’s first jockey, Jonjo O’Neill, was out injured.
Their first big date came on Boxing Day at Kempton in the traditional showpiece event, the King George, and it is a race they perhaps should have won. “I fell off him at the last,” says Brown.
“He was finishing really well but made a bad mistake three out. We had to regroup a bit but he had got past Anaglog’s Daughter and was challenging Silver Buck when he put in a short stride at the last and I couldn’t stay with him.
“It would have been close, but the one thing about Night Nurse is that he would never give up, so you never know.”
Silver Buck was subsequently sent off favourite for the Gold Cup, which also contained Jack Of Trumps, Diamond Edge, Midnight Court, Tied Cottage – and a young whippersnapper from Easterby’s yard in Little Owl.
The latter, a seven-year-old and thus three years younger than Night Nurse, had been on a roll that winter under his amateur jockey, Jim Wilson. Did Easterby have any preference who won?
“I think deep down he would have loved Night Nurse to win. He was the horse of a lifetime – he had a long career and the public loved him.
“He would always try his hardest, he was unbelievably tough and Peter was understandably very fond of him.”
The first circuit of that race passed by pretty uneventfully, except for Tied Cottage exiting early, and passing the stands Brown was happy.
“We hadn’t gone a mad gallop early on, but he was jumping really well and going out on to the second circuit I thought it was time to stretch them a little bit.”
Stretch them he did, and after a series of superb leaps it quickly became clear that Night Nurse might become the first horse to complete the Champion Hurdle-Gold Cup double.
Silver Buck was still a danger, but so too was his stablemate Little Owl, who was a strong stayer and hadn’t been shaken off.
“The race had gone pretty much like clockwork all the way through, but then turning in Night Nurse became unbalanced.
“He went from being in the lead to dropping back to third place and it just took a while to get him organised and balanced again.
"I knew he would never give up, and we passed Silver Buck after the last, but as hard as he tried I knew he just didn’t have enough time to get to Little Owl and we got beaten a length and a half.
“I was gutted afterwards. But if we were beaten by anyone I would have wanted it to be Little Owl and Jim [Wilson] was an absolute gent about it.
“I’m sure Peter was equally thrilled too, but then again if it had been the other way round he wouldn’t have minded either.”
It’s generally accepted that winning Gold Cups is for youngsters, so even though Night Nurse reappeared in the 1982 running – he went off favourite under O’Neill – he failed to complete and Cheltenham had to wait another four years for Dawn Run to do the double Night Nurse so nearly achieved.
According to our own historian John Randall, “being second jockey to Peter Easterby was better than being first jockey to almost any other trainer”.
That’s the coveted position Brown held at the Easterby yard during a period of massive success for the stable.
There was not only Night Nurse, but also Sea Pigeon, whom Brown rode rarely, but he did win the 1980 Fighting Fifth on him following the disqualification of Birds Nest. Thus he is almost uniquely qualified to talk about two unbelievably talented but very different horses.
“They were chalk and cheese really. Night Nurse was a great galloper but Sea Pigeon just had so much class and toe – he was a machine. You just had to make sure he switched off as he could be a bit keen.
“The time I won on him at Newcastle Birds Nest came across us and we got the race in the stewards’ room afterwards.
“It was bottomless ground that day and it took him a while to get going, but he was flying after the last.
“Peter was a true sportsman and didn’t like winning it in the way we did.
“But there were many great days with Sea Pigeon – and I think everyone remembers the ride John Francome gave him in the 1981 Champion Hurdle when he took it up halfway up the run-in.”
That year’s Ashes series between England and Australia has forever become known as Botham’s Ashes – due to the impact one person had on the pitch.
The 1981 Cheltenham Festival could easily have been dubbed ‘Easterby’s Festival’ – as the Yorkshire maestro annexed the Champion Hurdle and the Gold Cup as well as the Arkle with Clayside, ridden by Brown to an extraordinary win.
At the fourth-last, Clayside made a catastrophic mistake that dropped him from second to seventh in a matter of strides, prompting commentator Peter O’Sullevan to say: “Clayside was very nearly gone there, he’s almost out of it as a result.”
But Brown thought differently. “The mistake actually woke him up. It was lucky I stayed on him but he made up ground again so quickly – he freewheeled down the hill, took it up two out and won easily.
“That was my first festival winner – it was a fantastic feeling coming back into the winner’s enclosure.”
It wasn’t the last Arkle of Brown’s career either, as he repeated the feat two years later on the Easterby-trained Ryeman, a win which cemented in his mind the fact that he was working for a training genius.
“Ryeman was a bit of a villain and I kept saying to Peter, ‘this horse needs blinkers over fences’, but he would never put them on.
"He would listen to what I was saying, but when I got on him again there were no blinkers.
“Anyway, we went for the Arkle and he was in blinkers – and it absolutely transformed him.
“He was lathered in sweat, really wired and switched on, and he took it up going away from the stands and never saw another horse in the race. He won easily and he was 16-1, so it wasn’t expected according to the betting.
“Peter knew just what he was doing – he wanted the blinkers on for the day that really mattered and it worked out perfectly.”
In a link to the present day, the Easterby-trained Starfen also took part in that Arkle, finishing fourth, and was ridden by the trainer’s son, Tim – a Cheltenham Festival and Classic-winning trainer himself.
So, what was Brown’s best moment in the saddle? “I’d probably have to say Night Nurse in the Gold Cup – but just getting on so many good horses was great.
“Jonjo [O’Neill] was after the championship in those days, so I used to pick up so many good rides wherever he didn’t go.
“Being involved in the yard at that time was just magic. I won a Massey Ferguson on Father Delaney – and I had a treble one day at Newbury where I picked up a spare on Bachelor’s Hall, who won the Hennessy in 1977 – that gave me a lot of pleasure.”
Brown didn’t have so much luck at Aintree, never completing in the Grand National, with Jimmy Miff giving him his best spin in 1980 – falling at Becher’s second time when in contention.
But he was lucky with injuries. He never had any to speak of, a very unusual feat for a National Hunt jockey.
“If horses were very tired I would rather pull them up than carry on and risk them injuring themselves.
“So if I was out of contention and the horse had nothing left I would call it a day.”
So what does Brown make of jockeys, then and now? “I always think in my era we were a bit untidy in the saddle.
“Francome changed the mould when he came along – he was just different class at getting horses to settle and jump.
“The standard of jump jockey these days, I think, is very good. Sean Bowen has hands to die for – he is excellent.
“But I think in my era the jockeys would have had more of a laugh and camaraderie than they have now.
“We only used to see the Irish jockeys once or twice a year in those days at the spring festivals and it was always a good craic. Francome always used to be up for a laugh too and I am still in touch with a few of them.
“Dave Dutton – who won the Scottish National on Cockle Strand – I’ve been friends with him for a good 50 years.”
Another point of difference between Brown’s era and the present day is geography. The powerhouses in the jumping game are largely in Ireland, the West Country and Lambourn these days, but it wasn’t always so.
“The north was the place to be in the early 80s – there was WA Stephenson, Gordon Richards, Michael Dickinson, Jimmy FitzGerald and Ken Oliver in the Borders. That’s on top of Peter. It’s changed completely now, which is a shame.
“Brian Ellison is a good pal of mine and a brilliant trainer on the Flat and the jumps, but he just doesn’t get the ammunition he deserves.”
After hanging up his riding boots, Brown went into training but not for long as a horse transport business became increasingly successful.
However, he never left the game and was lured back to the training ranks in 2005, originally as a dual-purpose handler.
Malko De Beaumont was possibly his best horse in the jumping sphere – taking the 2008 Tommy Whittle Chase – but maybe having witnessed first hand the injury risks inherent in training jumpers, Brown has now successfully reinvented himself as a trainer of Flat horses – mostly sprinters.
“Meandmyshadow would have been one of my most recognisable Flat horses. She raced well over 100 times, winning 17 of them. But my most successful horse ability-wise was probably Lady Ibrox.
“She only won three times but two of those came at Chester and she took me to some big meetings. She ran in the Molecomb at Glorious Goodwood one year and was a regular in Listed-class events.
“I haven’t turned my back on the jumps completely. If someone gave me one to train I would do – we have all the facilities on site – but it’s just the way it’s gone.”
There’s more than a nod to MH Easterby, as well, in the way he trains his horses.
“With Peter, it was like he had eyes in the back of his head. He always knew what was going on and he never missed a horse cantering in all the time I was riding there. I’m a bit the same and have definitely picked up some of his habits in my training.
“I like to train all of my horses as individuals – if a horse wants to go out on its own it can, and I like to pick jockeys who suit the horses.
“I like Tom Eaves if a horse needs someone strong in the saddle. But I also use David Nolan and Simon Walker is very good if we need an amateur.
“We’re good at keeping owners too. Some of them have been with us for a long time now, which is nice.”
Brown’s son, Matthew, is an integral part of the operation and results have been consistently good over the last few seasons.
In 2023 Brown hit 27 winners for the season and this winter there have been eight – five of which have come in February. Not bad when there are only 16 horses in the yard.
It’s kept him busy, so busy in fact that there’s not the time to be studying the modern-day jumpers.
“I’m too busy looking at what’s happening on the all-weather – particularly Southwell and Newcastle – where my horses might bump into one of the runners at some point.
“I couldn’t even tell you what’s running at Cheltenham this year – although I know just about enough to tell you Constitution Hill and Galopin Des Champs will probably win the two big races.
“I wouldn’t even want to go as a spectator. It’s very busy and very expensive these days. Plus they do such a good job on the television – the coverage is so good.”
Brown has his memories of the meeting though, and two Arkle victories plus a second place in the Gold Cup on one of the most instantly recognisable names in the history of jump racing represents an excellent return. Not bad for a boy brought up on a council estate in Newcastle.
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