Bernard Dillon, born in Tralee, Ireland, came over to ride for the Druid's Lodge stable of Jack Fallon at the age of 14. His elder brother Joe was already apprenticed to Captain Purefoy. It obviously suited the Confederates to employ unknowns such as the Dillons, rather than established jockeys whose form was already recognised. Bernard's first coup for them was with Ypsilanti in the Kempton Park Jubilee Handicap which netted the confederates todays equivalent of many millions of pounds. The following year, his win of the Cambridgeshire on Hackler's Pride was another great success for them. After leaving Druid's Lodge, Dillon had a few years at the top of his profession, during which he won the 1000 Guineas twice and the Derby, and rode Pretty Polly to her last four victories. His Classic wins came for outside stables and one year after his Derby success he hung up his boots, having been warned off by the Jockey Club for betting. During World War I, Dillon served in the transport lines at Belton Park, Grantham, the Machine Gun Corps training depot. He was not a good soldier, and was often in trouble. However, Marie Lloyd would travel to Grantham to upbraid any officer who had punished her husband. These officers would often go missing when she arrived. Dillon was the third husband of the music-hall performer Marie Lloyd, who could match her husband's ability to spend money; when she died in 1922 the couple were living in a house provided by her sisters. Dillon died in 1941 at the age of 54, having become a night porter at South Africa House in Trafalgar Square. http://www.horseracinghistory.co.uk/hrho/action/viewDocument?id=1232
Heres his medal card ! wonder if his records are on line yet ? Medal card of Dillon, Bernard Machine Gun Corps 104016 Private Date 1914-1920 http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/...asp?Edoc_Id=2789624&queryType=1&resultcount=5
