Graham Bradley obituary: Decorated Yorkshire jockey who won Cheltenham Gold Cup dies aged 65
Graham Bradley, who has died at 65, was a Cheltenham Gold Cup-winning jockey from Harrogate who enjoyed a decorated career, most notably winning the 1983 Gold Cup aboard Bregawn, who led home a famous one-two-three-four-five for Yorkshire trainer Michael Dickinson.
Bradley, who had been suffering from semantic dementia in recent years, also won the 1996 Champion Hurdle on Jim Old’s Collier Bay and the 1985 Irish Grand National with Rhyme ‘n’ Reason, who three years later landed the Grand National at Aintree under his long-time friend Brendan Powell.
Another headline triumph was Suny Bay in the 1997 Hennessy Gold Cup at Newbury, after which he gave the Charlie Brooks-trained grey a sublime ride under top-weight of 12st to finish second to Earth Summit in the 1998 Grand National.
At the time of his retirement in 1999, Bradley had ridden more than 700 winners. In his best season, 1986-7, he rode 53 winners.
After his riding days ended, Bradley enjoyed success with his bloodstock business, including purchasing Seebald for footballers Robbie Fowler and Steve McManaman and top two-mile chaser Well Chief for David Johnson.
For all of his brilliance on the track, Bradley did have his problems off it, being banned for eight years – reduced to five on appeal – in 2002 by the then Jockey Club after being found guilty of breaches of the rules, including passing privileged information to a drug smuggler and gambler in return for rewards.
He made a one-off reappearance in the saddle in the Leger Legends charity race at Doncaster in 2010, finishing third aboard Aflaam.
Bradley grew up in Wetherby and was taught to ride by his father, the trainer Norman Bradley. Graham rode his first winner at age 20, with his career taking off when he joined Michael Dickinson’s yard.
Bradley published an autobiography, The Wayward Lad, in 2000. He had a daughter with his long-term partner Amanda Wilson, and they moved to France in 2020.