Summerveld trainer Mark Dixon has come a long way since the day as a schoolboy he sent a letter to his hero Lester Piggot, addressed simply to “Lester Piggott, Newmarket”, telling him of his desire to become a jockey.
He has the reply, signed by Piggott, framed.
He consequently spent his school holidays doing stable work for Piggott’s brother-in-law, Robert Armstrong, and recalls being the butt of the stable lads’ jokes as he regularly fell off the grey pony he used to ride out with the string and spent much of his time chasing it around Newmarket’s vast heath.
The day after he finished school, Dixon, who grew up in Leicester, joined the yard of one the top National Hunt trainers in England, Josh Gifford.
In England a jockey gains a license on the recommendation of a trainer and he acquired his about four years after joining the yard.
He remembers the camaraderie among the “jumps” jockeys fondly as such are the dangers in the sport that each ride could be your last. He rode a couple of winners and after three seasons emerged relatively unscathed before deciding he wasn’t good enough to make it. But the experience has left him staggered by what South African jockeys view as “bad conditions”.
His fondest memory of his time with Gifford was when Aldaniti won the Grand National with Bob Champion up and he later played a small part in the movie that was made about Champion’s epic fight against cancer.
After leaving Gifford, Dixon had a three or four year stint with David Oughton, ending up as assistant trainer, before landing a job at Epsom as a private trainer to Geoff Daniels.
He was given an “open” license by the Jockey Club and it was during this time that he met his great friend Robin Whittaker, who was later instrumental in bringing him to South Africa, a place he loved immediately.
Dixon had an unhappy three-month stint in the USA before arriving in South Africa where his first job here was with Vaughan Marshall.
“I have great respect for Vaughan. My five years as his assistant were what really established me here because, of course, you meet a lot of people in this game.”
Robin Whittaker then bought a farm near Summerveld and installed Dixon as the trainer of about 20 or 30 of his horses.
The best of these was Dancal whom Whittaker brought from Ireland. She won eight races here before winning once in Dubai and once in the USA.
Whittaker moved to Thailand at the same time as another big owner of Dixon’s, Ian Veldman, died.
These were massive blows to the yard but he had soon built up his numbers again and enjoyed consistent success.
His best runners were the like of Umngazi (Muhtafal), Surfin’ USA (Modern Day), Showmetheway (Muhtafal), London Call (Kahal), Inverroche (Ideal World), News Stream (Byword) and others.
He has gone through a lean spell by his standards recently due to a lack of numbers brought about by Covid-19 but has bounced back before.
Picture: Mark Dixon (Hollywoodbets).
