Orville Clarke, Freelance Writer

Pall bearers (all trainers) Lee Clarke (partly hidden at left), Richard Azan (second left), Wayne DaCosta (centre), Percival 'Burt' Tomlinson and Tensang Chung (right) carry the coffin holding late racehorse trainer, Eileen Cliggott, at the service of thanksgiving held on Thursday at the Church of St. Margaret, Old Hope Road, St. Andrew. - Peta-Gaye Clachar/Staff Photographer

Scores of mourners turned up at the Church of St. Margaret, Old Hope Road, on Thursday afternoon to pay their final respects to the life of the late racehorse trainer, Eileen Cliggott.

Affectionately called the 'First Lady of Racing', Cliggott died on October 15 (Heroes Day) in the Tony Thwaites Wing of the UWI Hospital, after suffering a stroke on October 9. She was 90.

First female grooms

Tributes to her life and work were made by leading patron and close friend over the years, Alex Hamilton, as well as the chairman of the Jamaica Racing Commission, Rudolph Muir.

In his remembrance, Hamilton, a former president of the Jockey Club of Jamaica and the man whose horses Cliggott trained for almost 40 years, recalled that her love for horses transcended anything else.

He recalled that during the early '50s in England, Cliggott was one of the first female grooms to lead in a winner at the prestigious Royal Ascot meet.

Hamilton said she came to Jamaica in 1958 on his invitation along with her husband, John, to run his Dawkins Stud Farm on the Caymanas Estates. And the rest is history.

He described Cliggott, who took up training at Caymanas Park in 1962 when her husband decided to return to England, as one in a million.

Inset: The late trainer Eileen Cliggott.

"She was a gentle and loving individual. She never had a bad word for anybody or any horses, even if it was a horse who couldn't win a race. She will be sadly missed."

In his remembrance, Muir recalled many milestones in her professional life - her induction to the 'Hall of Fame' of Thoroughbred racing in 1986 and the fact that for many years, she distinguished herself as the only female trainer at Caymanas Park.

"Her love of horses, her infinite patience and her quiet and gentle calm earned for her the respect of her peers and the entire racing fraternity."

Muir said Cliggott was stricken with osteo-arthritis and walked with a limp since 1974. He said she recounted having had two hip operations and a knee operation, quipping that 'she was all spare parts'.

Training apprentices

Continuing with his tribute, Muir said: "Her significant contribution to the sport she loved included the training of apprentices prior to the advent of the Jockey Training School, several of whom went on to become leading jockeys: Richard Depass, Donovan Lindo, Karl Brown, Vassel Najair and Jamaica's first and only female jockey, Azel Cowie.

"She paved the way for other female trainers such as Emma Chen, Bev Rhoden, Pauline Dwyer and Margaret Parchment," said the JRC chairman.

The service was conducted by Rev. Cannon C. Vivian Cohen who noted that "what she has left us is the legacy ... the legacy is important."

Among those present were Ruth Ann Smith-Sutherland, general manager of the JRC, Jockey Club president Hugh Levy Jr., TOBA president Howard Hamilton, the Deputy Mayor of Kingston, Lee Clarke, Pat Rousseau, Tony Gambrill, Dr. John Masterton, noted breeders Henry Jaghai, Tony Browne and Alec and Jaqui Henderson of Orange Valley Estates, Dr. Paul Wright, Mark Wates, Gordon Robinson, Henry J. Rainford, Ed Barnes, Lincoln 'Happy' Sutherland, Rita McKenzie, Lesley Ann Fong-Yee and Hubert Bartley, along with trainers Wayne DaCosta, Allan 'Billy' Williams, Kenneth Mattis, Richard Azan, Percy Hussey, Burt Tomlinson and Tensang Chung.