Spring Handicap

Spring Handicap (1937)

Tagline: "A hot favourite for the laughter stakes"

Starring: Will Fyffe, Maire O'Neill, Billy Milton, AIleen Marson, Frank Pettingell

Featured Racecourse: Lincoln

Director: Herbert Brenon
Producer: Walter C. Mycroft
Writers: Ernest E. Bryan (The Last Coupon) - Screenplay by William Freshman & Elizabeth Meehan

Release Date: May 1937
Runtime: 64 mins

BFI Synopsis: Comedy. A miner inherits a lot of money and is foolishly tempted to gamble it away. His sensible wife tries to stop him.

Where to Buy: Amazon
Film Links: IMDB, BFI, Wikipedia

Personal Review


Jack Clayton (Will Fyffe) is a semi-retired miner and compulsive gambler who has recently inherited a small fortune from his Aunty. He lives with his sensible long-suffering wife Meg (Maire O’Neill) in a quaint little cottage come local shop that has an added bonus of a medicinal natural water spring in the cellar. Jack also runs the local bookmaking racket and stands to lose heavily if Richmond Lad and Rodeo win at the races as most of the villagers have backed them in singles and doubles. Jack appears doomed when both horses come first and he soon learns that Ben Scullion (Frank Pettingell) is getting the red hot tips from his nephew and passing them onto the other villagers.

Jack pays a visit to his solicitor Mr Selby (Hugh Miller) to withdraw some money from his inheritance to pay his creditors but he finds out that his investments have failed and he has no funds left. Mr Selby also has insider knowledge about a new bypass is being built in the area and that Jack’s cottage will be subject to a lucrative compulsory purchase order – he pays a visit to Jack and his wife and offers to buy their cottage for £250. Meg is the official owner of the cottage as Jack’s aunt didn’t trust him to keep a roof over the family’s head and she refuses to sell – she then gives Jack her own savings so that he can pay back all the money he owes to the local villagers.

Jack and Meg’s actress daughter Barbara (Aileen Marson) returns home from London where she has been sacked from her show and she is soon followed by her publicist boyfriend Len Redpath (Billy Milton), with it becoming apparent that the two have had a tiff. Len and Jack go to the local pub and learn from Ben that Ravenscroft is a sure thing for the big race that day so Jack borrows £5 from Len and places a bet with the new local bookmaker Greenwell. Ravenscroft wins at 100/6 and Jack treats all the regulars in the pub to several rounds before learning that Greenwell has welshed and left town on a bus – jack swears to never back another horse as long as he lives.

Jack then decides to setup a horse racing tipster service called “Mr Webster” with the help of Len’s advertising and Ben’s tips and they settle on the Spring Handicap at Goston racecourse for their first tilt – “Hanky Panky” being chosen as the dead cert. Ben and Jack, acting as Mr Webster, even travel to the races to meet their customers and watch Hanky Panky run but they are bitterly disappointed when the horse trails in a distant last, as too are the local punters who confront Jack outside the course and throw him to the muddy ground. Jack consoles himself at the pub and bumps into Hanky Panky’s owner, who is also very drunk, and before you know it Jack has bought the animal for five pounds and rides the horse home.

Back at the cottage Jack and Meg learn that Ben had given out multiple tips for the Spring Handicap and Jack decides his last chance of making money is to enter Hanky Panky in the County Cup but once again the horse lets him down leaving Jack penniless. Meg finally agrees to sell the cottage to Mr Selby for £350 so that her and Jack can start a new life in Blackpool but once the deal has been signed, Meg learns that the natural water spring in her cellar is worth a fortune and simultaneously Selby learns that the bypass route has been changed and that the cottage requires extensive repairs. Mr Selby offers to sell them the house back and Meg negotiates a deal for just £50 and then tells Selby that Lord Harrogate has offered a fortune to purchase their land to develop the water spring.


Spring Handicap was based on Ernest E. Bryan’s play called “The Last Coupon” (132) with the pools winning coal miner being switched in the adaptation by W. Freshman & E. Meehan for a compulsive horseracing gambler. Director Herbert Brenon cast leading Scottish music hall performer and actor Will Fyffe in the lead role as Jack Clayton and gave the role of Meg Clayton to Irish actress Maire O’Neill. The two play off each other rather well with some witty dialogue and Jack was more than matched by his long-suffering wife who always managed to get her husband out of trouble. Jack’s American friend Amos (David Burns) seemed to be a pointless accessory but comedian Frank Pettingell certainly added some humour to proceedings with his portrayal of Ben Scullion.  

The film illustrates that wealth can’t bring you happiness and Jack’s failed attempts at being a bookmaker, gambler, tipster and owner shows that whatever angle you attack the racing game from, you can’t always come out on top. In fact, the film suggests that money and horse racing don’t mix at all and you’re better waiting for some natural good luck to put a spring in your step.

The one piece of horse racing action in the film comes from a fictional Goston racecourse when Jack and Ben go to watch their hot tip “Hanky Panky” run in the Spring Handicap. Most of the racecourse action was filmed in a studio but the big race itself uses archived footage from a left-handed oval racecourse with houses on the far side of the track and a large numbers board complete with clock adjacent to the finish line. After doing hours of study looking at old British Pathe newsreels I’m fairly certain these short clips come from Lincoln racecourse primarily due to the numbers board and clock. This would also make sense as the Lincoln “Spring” handicap, the first major race of the flat season in Britain, used to be run at Lincoln racecourse right up until 1964 when the Carholme course was closed and the race transferred to Doncaster.

Jack had no luck with his tip in the Spring Handicap race but the natural water spring in the cottage cellar certainly proved to be no handicap. Having said that, the film, like Jack himself, was carrying a little too much overweight from me and despite the good script, cast and gambling theme, the lack of racing action makes this film a no bet for me. (Rating 4/10)

Favourite Quotes
Hanky Panky's Owner: "You know I like you, what's your name?"
Jack Clayton: "Mr Webster"
Hanky Panky's Owner: "Not Hanky Panky's friend - let me offer you a bond of sympathy"
Jack Clayton: "Why?
Hanky Panky's Owner: "I'm Hanky Panky's owner"
Jack Clayton: "Oh, has he passed the post yet?"
Hanky Panky's Owner: "No not yet, I found him on the last bend picking daisies"


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