.For a jockey who rode five Derby winners, the history books are exceptionally quiet.
We know that his younger brother Sam rode a further four - and that his son William rode three consecutive Two Thousand Guineas winners, but what of the man himself?
He was born in Newmarket in 1753 to Samuel and Mary.
He rode regularly for the Prince of Wales and, like many jockeys of his day when the weights were set dangerously low, had often trouble passing the scales. John would live mainly on the odd apple, sometimes going days eating nothing at all.
His 1784 Derby victory came on the 3/1 favourite, Sergeant, the first occasion on which the race was run over a full mile and a half.
His second Derby win, in 1790, came on Rhadamanthus, another heavily backed favourite (5/4), who obliged in the colours of Lord Grosvenor. Asparagus, also belonging to Lord Grosvenor, finished second.
Given his constant dieting, it may be regarded as no small achievement that he lived to be sixty-two.
John Arnull’s father, Sam (1722 – 1762), was born in Newmarket and, in 1746, he married Mary, also born in Newmarket and two years his senior. Their first child, Sam, died after just a few months.
John had two sisters, Mary (1749) and Elizabeth (1752). He also had another brother called Sam (1754) named after the deceased child.
In 1775, John married Judith Pilkington at St Genevieve’s Church in Euston, Suffolk.
She bore him two sons, William (1785-1835) and Samuel (1788-1841).
John Arnull’s classic wins:
The Derby: Sergeant (1784), Rhadamanthus (1790), Didelot (1796), Archduke 1799, Election (1807).
The Oaks: Parisot (1796).
