Morphet, John

1916-2003

John, from Preston, Lancs, was born on April 21, 1916, and rode his first winner, Ruby Pearl, at Catterick on 18 March, 1950.

A farmer and a permit trainer, John broke his back, two shoulders and ten collar bones during his career.

He rode his own horse, Dovetail, in the 1957 Cheltenham Gold Cup.

He died on October 25, 2003, aged 87.

He caused a minor shock on November 7, 1956, when making most of the running on his own horse, the 100/8 shot Dovetail, to beat the favourite, La Glaive, in the Leamington Amateur Riders' Plate at Nottingham.

In a career which consisted of about 100 rides, his greatest victory came in the Lancashire Chase at Manchester, when he dead-heated on Dovetail in 1958

He married Renee Rawcliffe on November 29, 1941: she gave him two daughters, Patricia & Margaret.