David Aykroyd

David Aykroyd had lived with dementia for some years. He died on 9 October 2026, aged 89, according to Peerage News, which summarised the family's notice. The Racing Post reported his death on 23 October 2026; no cause of death beyond his long illness was made public.

He was survived by his wife, Lavinia, three daughters from his first marriage and numerous grandchildren. His son, Nicholas, and his first wife, Lydia, died before him. His funeral was arranged for 2pm on 2 November 2026 at St Mary's Church, Nun Monkton.

Paying tribute, his nephew Patrick Cooper said: "Life isn't as much fun without him. He absolutely adored horseracing, it was his big passion in life."

David Peter Aykroyd was born on 6 June 1937, the third son of Colonel George Hammond Aykroyd, TD (1900 to 1972), of The Priory, Nun Monkton, near York, and his wife Margaret Roberts Aykroyd (1903 to 1981), a kinswoman of her husband. The family belonged to the West Yorkshire textile dynasty that held the Aykroyd baronetcy of Lightcliffe, created in 1920. His eldest brother, Michael, later became Sir Michael Aykroyd, 4th Baronet, and his nephew is Sir Henry Aykroyd, 5th Baronet.

As a young man he served as an officer in the Coldstream Guards before settling in Nun Monkton, the village where his parents had lived, to farm.

Aykroyd's interest in racing went back to his twenties. In 1966 his filly Lucaya, trained by Bill Elsey, won the Cheshire Oaks, his first big winner.

His first marriage, to Lydia Huldine Beamish of an Irish landed family from County Cork, made him the brother-in-law of Tom Cooper, founder of the BBA Ireland bloodstock agency, who was married to her sister Valerie. Together they invested in a number of the early bloodstock syndicates formed around the trainer Vincent O'Brien, alongside Robert Sangster and Simon Fraser, the partnerships that grew into the Coolmore operation. The best horse he was involved with was Thatch, who won the St James's Palace Stakes, the July Cup and the Sussex Stakes in 1973.

After meeting the leading American breeders Helen Groves and her daughter Helen Alexander, he was involved in breeding and racing Althea, a brilliant two-year-old who in 1984 became a rare filly to win the Arkansas Derby.

He then left racing for a long period. He ran a garage near Harrogate for some time and invested in other businesses, including Yorkshire Fine Wines.

His second marriage brought him back to the sport. With his wife Lavinia, and with the help of Tom Cooper's son, the bloodstock agent Patrick Cooper, he bought foals and broodmares to form a small breeding band, based most recently at Copgrove Hall Stud in North Yorkshire. Among them were Kitty O'Shea, granddam of Pride Of Arras, who won the Dante Stakes and the Great Voltigeur Stakes at York in 2025, and Colima, runner-up in the Lingfield Oaks Trial, who produced Amiloc, winner of the King Edward VII Stakes at Royal Ascot in 2025.

On 30 October 1958 Aykroyd married Lydia Huldine Beamish (1939 to 2004), second daughter of Richard Pigott Beamish of Castleyons, County Cork. They had a son, Nicholas William (1962 to 1989), and three daughters, including Emily and Matilda; Matilda is Viscountess Clanfield, wife of Ashton Peel, Viscount Clanfield.

In 2005 he married Lavinia Mary Aykroyd, nee Beasley, the widow of his brother John. She shared his love of racing, and the couple bred horses together in his final years. York, close to their home, was their local track and the scene of Pride Of Arras's biggest wins.

Aykroyd's racing life linked two eras of the bloodstock business. As a young investor he was part of the circle around Vincent O'Brien, Robert Sangster and Tom Cooper whose syndicates helped create Coolmore, and he shared in Thatch, one of the outstanding milers of 1973. Half a century later, the small Yorkshire breeding operation he built with Lavinia produced two Group winners in a single season, Pride Of Arras and Amiloc, a rare achievement for a band of only a few mares.