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Mr Brian Cornish who, as an apprentice rode his first winner at Rosehill, passed away recently at Orange after a long career as a jockey and trainer in the Central West.

Apart from riding many winners Brian Cornish was also a successful trainer at Orange with one of his better gallopers being the Rosehill winner Jewelled Knight.

Following are some insights of the long involvement in racing for Brian Cornish, as related by his wife Margaret Cornish.

Brian Cornish returns to scale after a win at Orange races

Brian Cornish was born in Orange on 9 November 1939 and passed away on 4 June 2026.

From Orange, Brian went to Sydney to be apprenticed and rode for trainers S.O. Weber and Tommy Kennedy at Rosehill, his weight at 17 being six stone 10 pounds (43kg).

His first winner was at Randwick on Windsor Rose at 4/1 on 25 April 1956 and he then rode Prince Kiloran to victory at odds of 100/1 at Canterbury in September 1957.

This was followed by a win on 6/1 chance Paranello which was 20 lengths clear at one stage and went on to win by eight lengths, while highly regarded by Brian during his riding career were Neqaro, Fire Shine and many others.

Brian returned to Orange to ride for Dick Cornish, his uncle, for many years. After retiring from riding and raising two children with his wife Margaret, he worked on the property of Lois and Terry Irwin at “Brandywine” Stud at Cudal.

While there and still actively involved in riding, they attempted to establish Quarter Horse racing in New South Wales with the assistance of Bob Lapointe.

After the property was sold, Brian went to work and train horses at “Derowie”, at Cudal with Roger Gordon (one of the properties where Brian worked at Cudal had been owned by the Melbourne Cup-winning jockey Neville Selwood).

Brian moved to “Boonderoo” and trained his horses from Orange Racecourse where he had considerable success preparing 36 winners.

Nigel Seymour, who served as his apprentice, went on to enjoy many great wins on Sydney and interstate metropolitan tracks including wins at Group and Black Type level.

A funeral service for Mr Brian Cornish will be held on Wednesday, 17 June 2026 from 1.30pm at Holy Trinity Church, Orange NSW. - By Colin Hodges