Ex-paratrooper and prisoner-of-war Johnny Bullock was the jockey aboard Nickel Coin when that mare won the 1951 Grand National by six lengths, beating the Vincent O’Brien-trained Royal Tan, whose chance disappeared when blundering badly at the last fence. Nickel Coin remains the last mare to win the world’s most famous steeplechase.
John Arthur Bullock was born on January 11, 1917, in Walsall, Staffordshire. He served was with the Airborne Division in September 1944, taking part in Operation Market Garden but was captured at Arnhem.
He had first ridden as a professional jockey in 1937 when aged 19. Back on the racecourse in November 1945, like many other jockeys, he struggled to re-establish himself after the war. He mustered just two rides that season; the next season he took rides from trainers Tom Yates and Charles Birch, winning three races.
His luck eventually changed in the 1948/49 season, when he began riding on a regular basis for Worcestershire-based Fred Rimell. Rimell, a former champion jockey, had suffered a serious fall in 1947, ending his career in the saddle. He had set up as a trainer and asked Johnny to ride a young hurdler called Croupier for him in the Chepstow Novices’ Hurdle. Johnny won and, as a consequence, was offered more rides by the fledgling trainer. He ended that season with five wins from 78 rides.
Johnny responded by riding 10 winners for the stable in the early part of the 1949/1950 season, which peaked with a win on High Level at the Cheltenham’s National Hunt meeting in the Cotswold (now the Arkle) Chase. Also that season, he won the Lancashire Chase and the Queen Elizabeth Chase on the Rimell-trained Coloured School Boy.
At last he felt that he was on his way, a feeling confirmed when he ended the season with 18 winners.
On December 29, 1950, he rode Mighty Fine to victory in Cheltenham’s four-mile Stayers’ Chase, beating, among others, Nickel Coin, whose jockey, Dick Francis, declared the mare to be an ideal Grand National horse. Three months later, Francis’s prediction would prove spot on.
An incident from Nickel Coin's National is worth recalling. As the field milled around the start waiting to be called in, the starter suddenly released the tapes. Almost one third of the field was hopelessly left, another dozen or so were caught flat-footed and gave away lengths as they left the gate. Others got a flier. With some racing too fast in an effort to catch the early leaders, there was always going to be mayhem at the first fence. No less than 12 runners crashed to the turf after probably the worst start in Grand National history. Only Nickel Coin, Royal Tan and the remounted Derrinstown completed the course.
Including his Grand National victory, Johnny rode a total of 32 wins that season, finishing seventh in the jockeys’ championship. He continued to ride his share of winners throughout the remainder of the decade, including three more at Cheltenham’s National Hunt meeting. His last big race victory came on Stenquill in the Emblem Chase at Manchester in October 1962.
His last win was on Gay Sari in the Longcourse Handicap Hurdle at Wolverhampton on January 25, 1964. His final ride was on Model Agent, finishing unplaced in the Gopsall Novices’ Hurdle (Division 1) at Leicester on January 9, 1965.
His racing days behind him, he set up a business in the Midlands selling horse food products. In later years he and his wife Penny, daughter of Derby-winning Flat jockey Sam Wragg, ran a café in Walsall.
Sadly, Johnny suffered a stroke in the mid-1980s which left him unable to talk. He died in Lichfield on August 10, 1988. aged 71.
His Grand National rides were:
1950: Cavalireo – fell 1st
1951: Nickel Coin – WON
1955: Steel Lock – knocked over, last ditch
1956: Clearing – 8th
1957: Armorial III – fell 4th
1958: Rendezvous III – fell 5th
1959: Eagle Lodge – refused 28th
Biggest wins:
1950: Cotswold Chase – High Level
1950: Lancashire Chase – Coloured School Boy
1950: Queen Elizabeth Chase – Coloured School Boy
1950: Stayers’ Handicap Chase – Mighty Fine
1951: Manifesto Handicap Chase – Nickel Coin
1951: National Hunt Handicap Chase – Land Fort
1951: Grand National – Nickel Coin
1953: Grand Annual Handicap Chase – Rose And Crown
