Well-known ex-Luca Cumani man Barry Baxby dies of heart attack in Scotland

Well-known Newmarket figure Barry Baxby, a long-serving member of the Luca Cumani yard and in recent years a horsebox driver for Newmarket Racehorse Transport, died in hospital in Glasgow on Sunday morning after suffering a heart attack at Hamilton last week.

The 62-year-old, who was transporting a horse of George Scott’s for the Wednesday fixture, collapsed not long after arriving at the Scottish track last Tuesday evening.

He was attended to by two of Scott’s staff, Hamilton clerk of the course Harriet Graham and the racecourse stable manager until paramedics arrived.

Baxby was taken to Hairmyers Hospital in East Kilbride, a specialist cardiac unit, but he died in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Originally from Rotherham, Baxby first started out in racing in Lambourn as a 16-year-old but soon moved to Newmarket where he worked for various yards, including Ron Sheather, Gavin Pritchard-Gordon and Mark Wallace before spending over a decade with Cumani as travelling head lad until the latter retired in 2018.

After that he joined NRT and was a well-known figure at racecourses throughout Britain.

Barry Baxby at the Curragh in 2009Credit: Caroline Norris

Baxby leaves daughter Megan and son Daniel, mother Mary and sisters Beverley, Lesley and Barbara.

His sister Beverley Fergusson said: “It’s all a bit raw at the moment but Barry wasn’t complaining of any sort of illness at the time of his heart attack.

“He simply unloaded the horses, did a cough and went down and never regained consciousness. I understand he had excellent help from Hamilton racecourse and the staff that travelled up with him, and we’d like to thank them for helping him.”

She added: “Barry got his interest in racing from his uncle Norman, who was a jockey. He loved the sport and we’ve found out in recent days how well known he was from people all over the country.”

Baxby's longtime employer Cumani said he was sorry to hear of Baxby's death and added: “He worked for me for over ten years and was very reliable. He came to me first as second travelling head lad to Ian Willows and then, when he retired, he became first travelling. He was with me until I retired in 2018.”

Jason Anderson, boss of Newmarket Racehorse Transport, described it as "a very sad day".

"Barry had been with us for four or five years since he left Luca Cumani’s and was a well-respected and well-liked lad among all the racing community and by all of us here at NRT," he added. "Our thoughts are with his family at this time.”

The funeral, details of which have yet to be announced, will be in Newmarket later this month.