# Billy Nevett > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Billy_Nevett > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Billy_Nevett.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Nevett > Source revision: 1232634150 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{short description|English flat racing jockey}} {{Use British English|date=November 2020}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2020}} {{Infobox horseracing personality |name = Billy Nevett |image = |caption = |occupation = [Jockey](/source/Jockey) |birth_place = [Chorlton-cum-Hardy](/source/Chorlton-cum-Hardy), Manchester |birth_date = 26 May 1906 |death_place = [Northallerton](/source/Northallerton), North Yorkshire |death_date = 9 May 1992 (aged 85) |height = |career wins = |race = '''Major race wins:'''
Oaks Stakes (1948)
Derby Stakes (1941, 1944, 1945)
Champion Stakes (1944)
July Cup (1941)
Middle Park Stakes (1944) |awards = |honours = |horses = [Comatas](/source/Comatas), [Dante](/source/Dante_(horse)), [Hycilla](/source/Hycilla), [Masaka](/source/Masaka), [Ocean Swell](/source/Ocean_Swell), [Owen Tudor](/source/Owen_Tudor) |weight = }} '''William Nevett''' (26 May 1906 – 9 May 1992) was an English [flat racing](/source/flat_racing) [jockey](/source/jockey), who won three wartime [Derbies](/source/Epsom_Derby) and formed a famous partnership with [Dante](/source/Dante_(horse)), one of the horses of the century. ==Career== Nevett was born in [Chorlton-cum-Hardy](/source/Chorlton-cum-Hardy), Manchester and rode for three generations of the Peacock family - Dobson, Matthew and Richard. His first winner was Stockwood at [Carlisle](/source/Carlisle_Racecourse) in 1924 and by the 1930s, he had become the leading rider in the North of England, known as "Cock of the North".{{sfn|Mortimer|Onslow|Willett|1978|p=414}} He was runner-up, to [Gordon Richards](/source/Gordon_Richards_(jockey)), in the jockeys' championships of 1933 (73 winners), 1936 (108 winners), 1937 (110 winners) and 1938 (122 winners). During the war, he served as a private, but continued to ride, winning his 1000th race on Thixendale at [Thirsk](/source/Thirsk_Racecourse) in 1940 and then three Derbies - on [Owen Tudor](/source/Owen_Tudor) for Fred Darling in 1941, [Ocean Swell](/source/Ocean_Swell) for [Lord Rosebery](/source/Lord_Rosebery) and then, most famously, on [Dante](/source/Dante_(horse)), for Matthew Peacock. Dante was Nevett's most famous ride. He went unbeaten at two-years-old and when he reappeared for the first race of his three-year-old season in [Stockton](/source/Stockton_Racecourse)'s Roseberry Stakes he won by four lengths at odds of 1/10. Nevett then called him "the finest horse I have ever ridden". He started the [2,000 Guineas](/source/2%2C000_Guineas_Stakes) as even money favourite of twenty but was beaten a neck by [Court Martial](/source/Court_Martial_(horse)). He was favourite for the [Derby Stakes](/source/Epsom_Derby) too (at 100/30) and won by two lengths from Midas, with Court Martial a head behind in third. This made Dante the first Northern horse to win the Derby since [Pretender](/source/Pretender_(horse)) in 1869. He was again favourite for the [St Leger](/source/St_Leger) but by then a degenerative eye condition had taken hold. He never ran again. His only non wartime Classic came in the [Oaks](/source/Epsom_Oaks) on Masaka in 1948. A late career success came in the 1952 [Cesarewitch](/source/Cesarewitch_Handicap) on Flush Royal. His final winner was in the final race of the 1956 season at [Manchester](/source/Manchester_Racecourse). After retirement, he began training in [Ripon](/source/Ripon) without much success. He lived in a Queen Anne house in Bedale and died in Northallerton in 1992. A handicap race is run in his name at [Ripon Racecourse](/source/Ripon_Racecourse). ==Major wins== {{flagicon|UK}} '''[Great Britain](/source/United_Kingdom)''' * [Oaks Stakes](/source/Oaks_Stakes) – ''Masaka'' (1948) * [Derby Stakes](/source/Derby_Stakes) – ''Owen Tudor'' (1941), ''Ocean Swell'' (1944), ''Dante'' (1945) * [July Cup](/source/July_Cup) – ''Comatas'' (1941) * [Middle Park Stakes](/source/Middle_Park_Stakes) – ''Dante'' (1944) * [Champion Stakes](/source/Champion_Stakes) – ''Hycilla'' (1944) ==See also== *[List of jockeys](/source/List_of_jockeys) ==References== {{reflist|2|refs= {{cite book |last1=Morris |first1=Tony |last2=Randall |first2=John |title=A Century of Champions |publisher=Portway Press |date=1999 |isbn=1-901570-15-0}} {{cite web |url=https://www.dalesendcottages.co.uk/press/ |publisher=Dalesend Cottages |title=Press |access-date=14 November 2020}} {{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=V74tAAAAIBAJ&sjid=npgFAAAAIBAJ&pg=5920,1988347&dq=dante+court-martial+guineas&hl=en |title=Court Martial wins VE Day 2000 Guineas |publisher=Montreal Gazette |date=10 May 1945 |access-date=2012-06-18}} {{cite news |url=https://www.racingpost.com/results/49/ripon/2020-08-31/765501 |newspaper=Racing Post |title=2.20 Ripon: Billy Nevett Memorial Handicap |date=31 August 2020 |access-date=14 November 2020}} {{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=UyFVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=6JMDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4588,630201&dq=dante+derby+nevett&hl=en |title=English Derby favourite still unbeaten |publisher=Sydney Morning Herald |date=10 April 1945 |access-date=2012-06-18}} }} == Bibliography == *{{cite book |title=Biographical Encyclopaedia of British Racing |last1=Mortimer |first1=Roger |last2=Onslow |first2=Richard |last3=Willett |first3=Peter |year=1978 |publisher=Macdonald and Jane's |location=[London](/source/London) |isbn=0-354-08536-0 }} *{{cite book |title=Great Jockeys of the Flat |last1=Tanner |first1=Michael |last2=Cranham |first2=Gerry |year= 1992 |publisher=Guinness Publishing |location=[Enfield](/source/London_Borough_of_Enfield), [Middlesex](/source/Middlesex) |isbn=0-85112-989-7 }} {{DEFAULTSORT:Nevett, Billy}} Category:English jockeys Category:1906 births Category:1992 deaths Category:Sportspeople from Chorlton-cum-Hardy --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Billy Nevett](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Nevett) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Nevett?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.