VETERAN Malton jockey Lionel Brown and his wife, Pauline, have ridden to one of their biggest successes – their golden wedding.

The couple, of Welham Road, Norton, have spent a lifetime in the racing world, Lionel starting his career as a teenager at stables in Newmarket where he rode 17 winners – a figure which was to eventually rocket to over 500.

He became an apprentice for George Collin and proudly boasts how he even beat the legendary Sir Gordon Richards in a race at Worcester.

“I’d never been on a horse until I went to Newmarket, but I was encouraged to become an apprentice jockey because of my size – I was just 4ft 7in,” said Lionel.

Their romance blossomed after Lionel and two fellow jockey friends, Jimmy Etherington and Jacky Willett, began courting three sisters whom they all later married.

He moved to the Norton stables of Ernie Davey at Star Cottage and became a freelance jockey riding for such big names as Peter and Mick Easterby and Mark Johnson at Middleham.

Pauline was working in the John Frankish Record Shop in Malton when she met Lionel.

His brother-in-law, Jimmy Etherington, also became a leading jockey, and Lionel clocked up a massive 518 winners in his 40-year career, the most memorable being the Gold Tankard Race at Redcar.

Tongue-in-cheek he says he even rode a Derby winner – Nimbus – “But it was only around the paddock!”

The couple have two sons and a daughter, Susan, who also became a jockey, riding for trainer Tony Hyde at Newmarket. They also have six grandchildren.

To mark their milestone anniversary they are to go on a European and Caribbean cruise.