Champion jockey, Freddie Fox (Frederick Sidney Fox, 1888-1945), lived at Lawton around 1900, as a teenager, and worked as the local butcher’s boy. By 1911 he was training as a jockey in Berkshire and that year won the 1,000 Guineas. He went on to win the Derby twice, riding for the Aga Khan.
Fox was born in Berrington, Shropshire, England,became an apprentice at the age of eighteen, and had his first winner a year later. In 1911, he had his first Classic winner, taking the 1,000 Guineas on James de Rothschild’s filly Atmah. He then took some time out to go to Germany where he spent two seasons riding for the von Weinberg stable,but returned to England prior to World War I.
He spent the next decade or more as a journeyman jockey. He was not to win another classic until he was in his forties, and his career at this time was punctuated by only the occasional big race success, such as Irish Elegance in the 1918 July Cup.
Things began to change by the end of the 1920s, and in 1930 he was involved in a neck-and-neck battle with reigning champion Gordon Richards for the Jockeys’ Championship. The battle went down to the last day of the season, when Fox rode two winners to Richards’ one to win the title 129 winners to 128. He added a further Classic in 1930, winning the 2000 Guineas on Diolite, followed by the 1932 St.Leger on Ferdaussi.
In 1934, now towards the end of his career, he formed his most famous partnership with Barham owned by the Aga Khan, and trained by Frank Butters. On Bahram, he won the 2,000 Guineas and the Derby “comfortably” and then, at odds of 1/8, he won the St. James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot. With the 2,000 Guineas and Derby won, and Bahram in form, an attempt on the Triple Crown in the St.Leger was a clear possibility. Bahram was set to go off a strong favourite for the race. However, the day before the race, Fox was seriously injured in a fall and the ride taken by Charlie Smirke. In the event, Bahram won “an easy victory” by 3 lengths, meaning Fox had narrowly been denied one of the rarest achievements in racing. Fox retired to Letcombe Regis, near Wantage in 1936, having given up on an initial plan to train. His successes for the Aga Khan were said to be what he would always be remembered for.