John Brewer
Article by Alan Trout
John Edward Brewer rode six winners over jumps at the turn of the 20th century. He was also one of that unfortunate group of riders who lost their first win on a technicality, through no fault of his own. Luckily, he was soon able to put matters right.
The drama began in the Hawthorn Hill Handicap Hurdle at that Berkshire venue on November 11, 1899. In a close finish, John’s mount Tornado II beat Harry Brown on Mintwell by a neck. An objection was then lodged to Tornado II on the grounds of “insufficient entry” and the horse was disqualified.
Just 17 days later, John won a race and kept it, when Manazona was a four-length winner of the Wood Ditton Handicap Hurdle at Newmarket’s National Hunt course. Two days after that, Tornado II, making his first appearance since the Hawthorn Hill debacle, won the Sunbury Hurdle at Kempton Park by three lengths to give John his second winner. It was a close call, though, for it was the penultimate race on the card, run in fading light, which caused the last race to be abandoned because it was too dark.
John won the second race of the new century when taking the Maiden Hurdle at Manchester on New Year’s Day 1900, his mount Battalion II having two lengths to spare at the finish. Tornado II won again, this time at Gatwick on January 31, scoring by a head in a close finish from Peace And Plenty, ridden by former champion jockey Arthur Nightingall.
His next victory came at Sandown Park on March 3, a four-length success on Sailor Boy III in the Aissele Handicap Hurdle. Finally, at Gatwick on March 13, came John’s sixth and last win when Battalion II won the Wickham Hurdle.
None of the horses that John Brewer steered to victory in that early part of 1900 won another race during the remainder of the year, and he did not take out a licence for 1901, meaning that he had shoehorned his six career victories into a brief four-month timeframe. However, he is listed as the trainer of both Tornado II and Battalion II, hence it is possible that doubling up as a jockey was only ever intended to be a temporary arrangement.
John Brewer’s winners were, in chronological order:
1. Manazona, Newmarket, November 28, 1899
2. Tornado II, Kempton Park, November 30, 1899
3. Battalion II, Manchester, January 1, 1900
4. Tornado II, Gatwick, January 31, 1900
5. Sailor Boy III, Sandown Park, March 3, 1900
6. Battalion II, Gatwick, March 13, 1900
