Owner-rider Maxwell to retire from racing

Image © Healy Racing

David Maxwell, one of the last remaining owner-riders, has announced his retirement from the saddle.

The London-based businessman has been a familiar presence within the hunter chase ranks for a number of years, with his red and brown silks enjoying success on both sides of the Irish Sea.

Announcing his decision having suffered a fourth fractured back in the Aintree Foxhunters earlier in the year, he told the Telegraph: “It wasn’t the worst fracture I’ve had but it’s cumulative.

“How many impacts can you take? And at 47 I just don’t heal as well as I used to.”

As a result, a dispersal sale of his horses will take place at Cheltenham on October 24th.

“I’ll keep a few horses in France, but I don’t know about the UK,” he said. “October 24 will be a very tough day. 

“But if riding was a mid-life crisis, how do you solve the mid-life crisis after the mid-life crisis? People have suggested various things, but I’ll take a bit of time and let a new interest develop.”

One of Maxwell’s greatest days in the saddle came aboard Bob And Co when the pair outbattled Billaway to scoop the Champion Hunter Chase prize at the 2021 Punchestown Festival.

Afterwards he declared: “It’s absolutely unbelievable. I thought I was up, the horse just wants it badly and he was never going to lie down. 
 
“Turning in I thought oh god this is Patrick Mullins, if there is one man up against you it is Patrick on something good that his Dad trains.”
 
“He was just always pulling out a bit more – he deserved it.
 
“It has got to be my biggest winner; this is the heart of racing here and Cheltenham. I love it, it is the most fun that you can have with your trousers on. 
 
“It is amazing to come here, I know there is no crowd, but usually there is, it is an unbelievable sport that a 43-year-old businessman can do that.”

The son of Judy Maxwell, who is well-known within the industry for her work with Baileys Horse Feed, David twice rode between the flags on these shores, partnering the David Christie-trained Darwins Fox in open races at both Tinahely and Oldtown in 2017.