Ex-paratrooper and prisoner-of-war John Arthur Bullock, aged 34, was the jockey aboard Nickel Coin when that mare won the 1951 Grand National by six lengths.
Johnny, born on January 11, 1917, came from Walsall in Staffordshire and was with the Airborne Division in September 1944 taking part in Operation Market Garden. He was captured at Arnhem.
He first rode as a professional rider in 1937 when aged 19. Like most jockeys, he struggled to re-establish himself after the war until 1949 when he began riding on a regular basis for Fred Rimell.
For that trainer, he rode Mighty Fine to victory in Cheltenham's 1950 four-mile chase beating, among others, Nickel Coin, whose jockey, Dick Francis, declared the mare to be an ideal Grand National horse.
Johnny had found it difficult to get going again after the war. Back on the racecourse in November 1945, he mustered just two rides that season: the next season he took rides from trainers Tom Yates & Charles Birch, winning three races
His luck eventually changed in the season of 1948/49.
Fred Rimell, the four times champion jockey, having suffered a serious fall in 1947, decided to 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. 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 Festival meeting in the Cotswold Steeplechase.
At last he felt that he was on his way, a feeling confirmed when he rode a further seven winners for the stable before the end of the season.
An incident from Nickle 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. No less than 12 runners crashed to the turf after probably the worst start in Grand National history.
Including his National exploit, Johnny rode a total of 32 wins that season, finishing seventh in the jockeys' championship. His last big win came on Stenquill at Manchester in the Emblem Chase, October 1962.
His racing days behind him, he set up a business in the Midlands selling horse food products.
John Bullock retired in 1963 and died in Lichfield on August 10, 1988. aged 71.
