Tony Ives, classic-winning jockey and successful in the Arlington Million Stakes (G1T) on Teleprompter in 1985, died in Thailand over the weekend at the age of 74.
Ives, whose first winner was Moor Court at Hamilton in 1970, went on to ride about 1,500 winners worldwide during a career that lasted more than a quarter of a century.
His greatest—and richest—success came on Teleprompter in the Arlington Million in Chicago in 1985 despite being kicked in the head by a horse in Britain earlier in the week. He delivered a tactical masterclass on the Bill Watts-trained miler, who was not certain to get the mile-and-a-quarter trip on rain-softened ground.
Born in Westow, near Malton in Yorkshire, Ives was first apprenticed to Willie Stephenson at Royston, Hertfordshire, then Snowy Wainwright at Malton, before joining Reg Hollinshead as stable jockey in 1974.
The closest he came to a British classic success was on the Hollinshead-trained Remainder Man, runner-up to Roland Gardens in the Two Thousand Guineas (G1) and third to Shirley Heights in the Epsom Derby (G1) in 1978.
After moving to Newmarket to become stable jockey to Bill O'Gorman, he won the Irish One Thousand Guineas (G1) for Ian Balding on Forest Flower in 1987. She had been the champion 2-year-old filly despite being disqualified in the Cheveley Park Stakes (G1).
His best season numerically was 1984, when he won 90 races including 16 on the O'Gorman-trained Provideo, who equaled the British record for the most wins by a 2-year-old.
Ives won York's Magnet Cup three times, and rode in Hong Kong and Macau from 1989 to 1993. When forced into retirement with a back problem in 1996, he became assistant trainer to Australian Geoff Allendorf in Macau and later Jose Corrales.
Ives moved to Thailand a few years ago with his second wife, Jiraporn, with whom he had three children. He also had three children from his first marriage.
Chief executive of the Injured Jockeys Fund Lisa Hancock said: "We're all deeply saddened to hear of Tony's death. We have been supporting Tony's family and our thoughts are with them at this difficult time. Tony was able to spend his final days at home with his family."
Ives's former colleague Philip Robinson said: "It's a sad day as Tony was one of my best pals in the weighing room back in the day and we used to travel to the races quite a bit.
"He went to Hong Kong at the same time as me and I think he was runner-up in the jockeys' championship there one year. I sometimes used to bump into him when I was out in Macau."
Ray Cochrane also rode alongside Ives and said: "I know Tony had a rough time of it over the past couple of years. He was a good lad, always good to watch, always good to follow, and great crack to be around. He was always full of fun and mischief. He'll be sadly missed."
Of one particular episode, he recalled: "I remember after he won on Teleprompter he came back and kept telling everyone, 'I've conquered America.' After a few weeks of this, Lindsay Charnock had had enough and said, 'You only had one ride and that ran off with you!' We didn't hear much about it after that."
