- Quote: ‘It didn’t take long to ‘warm the cockles’ as Capt. Jim poured me a dram of whisky – and cup of tea – in the lounge of his cottage set in the English countryside’.
By Andrew Atkinson
Captain Jim Wilson, who held a trainer’s licence under both codes for over five decades has died peacefully, surrounded by his family at his home at Sollom, near Southport, Lancashire, on January 8, aged 94.
I recall interviewing Capt. Jim and his daughter Geraldine Rees at his stables in Sollom, near Tarleton, Preston, Lancashire in the eighties on a cold, wintry morning in the eighties.
It didn’t take long to ‘warm the cockles’ as Capt. Jim poured me a dram of whisky – and cup of tea – in the lounge of his cottage set in the English countryside.
Born James Hume Wilson, he first took out a training licence on leaving the South Lancashire regiment in 1948 and trained at Malpas, prior to moving to Sollom, where he remained up until his retirement in 1998.
Geraldine Rees, the first woman to complete the course in the Aintree Grand National on Cheers in 1982, took over Capt. Jim’s licence, until 2010.
Among Capt. Wilson’s notable winners under both codes, were Twidale, Crofter’s Cline, Profilic and Red Rosein.
Red Rosein landed the Wokingham Handicap at Royal Ascot in 1992, his biggest training coup. He also bred Champion Hurdle winner Punjabi.
Julie Bowker, mother of the current two-time champion apprentice Cieren Fallon, son of ex-Flat champion jockey Kieran, started her career with Capt. Wilson.
Capt. Jim married his wife, Junette, who died in 2015, in 1950, having three children, all of whom survive him. Sons Alastair and Hamish and daughter Geraldine.
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