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It was especially hard, he agreed, when trainer Smithwick split up his best horses between two riders. Paddy Smithwick took back his jockeys’ title in the ‘62 season with just 29 wins as Aitcheson sat out some of the year with broken collarbones. But the next year Aitcheson won 38 of 181 jump races, the champion title, and stakes to include the Gwathmey, the Laing and the Carolina Cup.
In 1964, Aitcheson broke his first of many records, winning 40 of 152 steeplechase rides, and one on the flat, for a .27 ratio. He was the first American jump jockey to win more than 38 races in a single season. “Some of my favorite horses ran that year,” he said, remembering the “good ones” — Seroual, Amber Diver and Paul Pout’s Moon Rock.
He was toppled in 1965 by Doug Small, then in ‘66 by Tommy Walsh, but in 1967, Aitcheson returned to the top with a vengeance — he was leading rider for the next four years running. He won 126 races in those seasons, partnering such champions as Leeds Don and Top Bid to multiple victories. Though he had his share of falls and injuries from “pick-up” rides, he also had many winners from freelancing, and continued to do so throughout his career, “... hustling with the best of ‘em,” according to Smithwick.
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