THE issue of The Irish Field from a decade ago carried the news of the death of Bunny Cox, arguably the greatest amateur rider in the history of Irish racing. Indeed, Francis Flood, went further in paying tribute to him, saying “he was easily the best around when I was there – amateur or professional.”

What made him so special? Perhaps that is revealed by Bill McLernon, a man of considerable ability himself in the saddle. “He was a beautiful rider and a lovely horseman. The way he was built, he had great upper body strength and horses ran and jumped very well for him. He was very hard to beat.”

A measure of his success and ability was that he rode until 1973, well into his late forties, having visited the winner’s enclosure for the first time on April 27th, 1939. The venue was Naas and the race was the Maudlins Plate, which carried a winner’s prize of £44. The horse was Little More, owned by Bunny’s father John, and the partnership won by two lengths from Lord Queenborough’s Sir Sen. Paddy Sleator was on the third-placed Stratosphere Girl.

This was a red-letter day on which to have your first winner. The feature race on the card was the Champion Plate, a chase with a substantial first prize of £293. The Galway Plate the same year was worth £369! The race was won by The Gripper, ridden by Edward O’Grady’s father Willie. Morny Wing won the Fishery Plate, a maiden for thee-year-olds on Joe McGrath’s Steadlis, trained by J.J. Parkinson.

By a nice twist of fate, Bunny’s winning ride was in the second last race on the card, the last being a three-mile handicap chase that was won by Carriganore, ridden by Dan Moore and with whom Bunny was to successfully team up in the years to come.

Born on February 13th, 1924, Bunny was christened John Richard Morris Cox and the initials JR Cox were to become synonymous with style and class in the years ahead, whether in the saddle or when putting others into the saddle. Bunny was the yardstick by which other riders were measured. Ted Walsh explained that “he was held up as the barometer for all amateur jockeys, and if you could even be mentioned in the same breath as him, you had arrived.”

He was the champion amateur for the first time in 1944, denying P.P. Hogan three in a row. Winner again in 1945, he had to wait until 1952 to regain the crown. In the intervening years the titles were shared between Waring Willis, P.P. Hogan and Phonsie O’Brien. The year 1956 saw a fourth crown for Bunny and then he shared the title with Francis Flood in 1958, the pair riding 17 winners each. This was Flood’s second title and he would go on to win five more.

As a jockey it is possible that Quita Que’s triumph in the inaugural running of the Two-Mile Champion Chase in 1959 was the standout win for Bunny Cox. He combined with Dan Moore to win this coveted race, a year after the same horse had landed the Cathcart Chase at the Cheltenham Festival. The versatile Quita Que was also placed twice in the Champion Hurdle.

Cheltenham success also came Bunny’s way when in consecutive years he won the four-mile National Hunt Chase, firstly for Dan Moore on Pontage in 1953 and the next year for Vincent O’Brien on Quare Times, a subsequent Grand National winner.

In 1949, on the second day of the Punchestown Festival, Bunny had four rides and won on all of them. This was surely a piece of history making and his other principal successes in Ireland included the amateur handicap at Galway on Willie O’Grady’s Old Mull in 1961, in the third running of the race. He had to wait two years to win it again, this time aboard Maigret.

Back in 1940 he partnered his father’s Drumbilla to victory in the Troytown Chase, while at the beginning of the next decade, in 1951, he rode Little Trix, a mare who was to mean so much to the family, to win the Conyngham Cup. He won that race on two other occasions, as a rider on Loyal Antrim in 1949 and as a trainer in 1975 with Over Charge.

In each decade from the 1970s to the 1990s there was a big race – or more – to be won. Atone was his last big winner, capturing the Ladbroke Hurdle at Leopardstown in 1994, then the most valuable hurdle race in Ireland, and the same gelding added the Arkle Chase a fortnight later.

Fort Fox and Highway View ensured that 1975 would never be forgotten at Lisnawilly. The former won what is now the Punchestown Gold Cup and the Paddy Power Chase in that year, both races known by different names at the time. Furthermore Highway View captured the Leopardstown Chase, a race Bunny was to win twice again, with Fortune Seeker in 1983 and Sicilian Answer 12 months later. The latter also won the Troytown Chase during his career.

Two years prior to that great racing year of 1975, Bunny married Sally Brabazon, daughter of the legendary Aubrey Brabazon. What is often forgotten is that Bunny Cox was also a veterinary surgeon and that he and Sally operated Blackrock Stud where, in addition to breeding many excellent winners, they stood the stallion Peacock.