Dick Pike and David Rogers, who have died recently in their 80s, were well-known and popular figures in their point-to-point regions.
Pike, who had been a major contributor to administration in the former Welsh Borders Area, died on Friday at the age of 87, while Rogers, who farmed and trained in Devon, died late last month at the age of 88.
A determination to be at his post on race days meant Pike would step up even in the face of adversity. Twelve years ago, while reflecting on his time as secretary of the Welsh Borders’ Association, a role he held from 1988 to 2013, Pike said: “On one occasion I was declarations clerk at a meeting, but rode in the first race, got buried at the third fence and broke my collarbone. I spent the rest of the meeting taking declarations with a soggy arm.”
Dissuaded from attempts to become a jockey by his parents, Pike went into farming, taking a job in Somerset where he had the bonus of riding his boss’s “very big hunter”.
He said: “Eventually I did National Service, and came out hoping to buy a farm, but without any wealthy maiden aunts that was never realistic, so I entered the agriculture trade.”
A man whose inscrutable smile was an ever-present feature, Pike proved self-effacing about his riding talents when saying of his early spins on a horse called Dudor: “I ran him six times and fell off every time, including twice in one afternoon. I never rode a winner, but I was second in the Pentyrch four-miler, which was the highlight.” He rode in races until he was 64.
From taking declarations he moved on to become chairman of stewards in the Welsh Borders and he also stewarded at local racecourses such as Ludlow and Hereford.
Pike received two awards for his contribution to the sport, a national one from Cynthia Higgon, the then chair of the Point-to-Point Secretaries’ Association, and one from his local association presented by its chairman, Frank Morgan. The two men had formed a long and successful partnership of wisdom and reasoned thinking about the sport they so enjoyed.
Dick Pike (left) receives a bronze in gratitude for his years of service from his chairman, Frank Morgan (photo Stella Havard)
Stella Havard, who was press officer in the region for 30 years, said: “Dick had a calm and reasoned solution for every eventuality, and was usually on hand to be consulted even when his age eventually barred him from stewarding.”
Pike leaves his widow Jean, four children – Richard, Monette, Chris and Matthew – six grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. His friends are welcome to attend a memorial at the Kilpeck Inn, Kilpeck near Hereford on Monday, March 31 between 11.30am and 4pm.
Through horses and farming Philip ‘David’ Rogers made countless friends across the Devon & Cornwall region. He trained predominantly in an era when the sport was very parochial and farmers rarely raced their horses far from home, yet he applied skill and thinking to his hobby.
His son Phil said: “Dad rode horses from a very young age and would tell the story of how, as a boy of eight, when his family moved from Modbury to Worswell Farm, they drove the cattle on horseback, stopping overnight in a drovers’ field near Flete Park racecourse.
“In addition to point-to-pointing he was big into agricultural shows, gymkhanas, rodeos and hunting, and became chairman of the Dartmoor Hunt. Because he lived in an area of coastal and cliff he got his horses fit by working them up a hill from the River Yealm and up past the farm. Twenty years ago, when in his late 60s, he moved farms yet built a new seven-furlongs gallop.
David Rogers, rarely happier than when holding a horse
“He trained his first horse, Fragonard, at the age of 21 and went on to saddle 68 winners, including the mare Spartan Mariner who won nine races. He also gave at least 18 people rides in races before he retired from training in 2019. After Dad’s last horse had been put down by the vet they buried him on the farm and Dad picked up his saddle, placed it in the same hole, and said ‘that’s it’ I won’t ride again.”
Darren Edwards, who rode for Rogers, said: “David was a real character and although he didn’t make it to the races as much in recent seasons, prior to that he was very much a stalwart of the Westcountry point-to-point scene and most notably his local track at Flete Park. He was a wise man who thought deeply about how to get his horses to perform better in their races. We often had long, reflective conversations both about racing and farming.
“He once had two winners in a season so insisted on having an end-of-season party. As I was travelling a long way to be there he suggested my girlfriend (now wife) and I should stay the night so the next day he could show us around the farm. At nearly 80 he drove us along cliffs looking out over the English Channel, telling us how he used to lose stock over the edge as a result of ramblers and uncontrollable dogs. It is an experience I won’t forget because we were on such an angle at one point I nearly pulled the door lining off the inside of the vehicle I was gripping so tight!
Darren Edwards riding the David Rogers-trained Brandy And Red (Photo by Neale Blackburn)
“He will be a real loss to point-to-pointing but leaves many a great story behind him.”
Fittingly, Rogers will be taken to his final resting place in a horse-drawn carriage when his funeral service is held on Thursday week (March 20) at Noss Mayo Church. A wake will then take place at Worswell Farm, PL8 1HD.
Rogers is survived by his former wife Jean, their four children, Phil, Scott, Becky and Matthew, and by five grandchildren.