John Cousins

John Cousins

1917-1997

Article by Alan Trout

Amateur rider John Horace Edward Cousins was born in 1917. He was among the leading amateur jockeys in the years immediately following World War II. Between December 1945 and May 1949 he rode 32 winners. Then, after an absence of more than a decade, he added another 18 between 1961 and 1973. 

He had his first win at Catterick on December 21, 1945, when steering his own horse, Gyppo, trained by Bobby Renton, to victory in the Tunstall Handicap Chase, despite the rider putting up 9lb overweight at 10st 9lb. The win was well deserved, for Gyppo had finished second in his last three starts, the last of those being when beaten only half a length by the star Irish-trained chaser Prince Regent, who would go on to win that season’s Cheltenham Gold Cup. 

John partnered Gyppo in the 1946 Grand National, but they fell at the 25th fence when well behind. They had another crack at the world’s most famous steeplechase in 1947, but again they fell. 

John rode ten winners in the 1947/48 season and a further seven in 1948/49. He also finished fourth on Choir Belle in the 1949 Scottish Grand National at Bogside. His last success before his extended break was his sixth victory on Creggmore Boy at Sedgefield on May 21, 1949. Remarkably, that horse would still be running when John resumed riding 12 years later. Creggmore Boy ran for the final time on the Saturday of Cartmel’s 1962 Whitsun meeting, aged 22, a post-war record which still stands and is unlikely to be beaten. 

John probably returned to riding in races in order to partner some of the horses he was by then training. His ‘comeback’ win came at Ludlow on September 27, 1961, when the seven-year-old Coombe Wood, trained by Horace Cousins, just got up in the closing strides to beat Timber, ridden by future Champion jockey Josh Gifford, at the end of the Elton Novices’ Hurdle.

In was in that same Ludlow race 12 years later that John, by then nearer 60 than 50, owned, trained and rode Owenogue to a four-length victory on October 3, 1973, having also won on him the previous month at Cheltenham. 

He trained at Hala Carr Farm, Scotforth, Lancashire, which was also the birthplace of Eric Cousins (born December 12, 1921), who rode his share of winners as an amateur jockey but is better remembered as a trainer who brought off some notable handicap triumphs. 

John Cousins died on March 25, 1997, aged 79. 

His winners were, in chronological order.

1. Gyppo, Catterick Bridge, December 21, 1945

2. Permutations, Bangor-on-Dee, March 30, 1946

3. Permutations, Southwell, April 13, 1946

4. Permutations, Carlisle, April 22, 1946

5. Permutations, Bangor-on-Dee, April 27, 1946

6. Gyppo, Wetherby, May 25, 1946

7. Verbatim, Cartmel, June 10, 1946

8. Bella Bambina, Catterick Bridge, November 16, 1946

9. Peter Penniless, Wetherby, December 26, 1946

10. Lord Louis, Carlisle, April 7, 1947

11. Gyppo, Perth, April 23, 1947

12. Lord Louis, Perth, April 24, 1947

13. Gyppo, Hexham, May 10, 1947

14. Verbatim, Cartmel, May 24, 1947

15. Tartan’s Gift, Cartmel, May 26, 1947

16. False Colours, Catterick Bridge, November 8, 1947

17. False Colours, Wetherby, December 26, 1947

18. Rapidity, Catterick Bridge, March 5, 1948

19. Creggmore Boy, Carlisle, March 27, 1948

20. Permutations, Wetherby, March 30, 1948

21. Five Letters, Kelso, May 5, 1948

22. Five Letters, Hexham, May 15, 1948

23. Creggmore Boy, Hexham, May 15, 1948

24. Creggmore Boy, Cartmel, May 17, 1948

25. Five Letters, Rothbury, May 22, 1948

26. Creggmore Boy, Sedgefield, December 27, 1948

27. National Member, Cheltenham, January 14, 1949

28. Gretna Green, Doncaster, March 21, 1949

29. Peter Penniless, Carlisle, April 16, 1949

30. Creggmore Boy, Wetherby, April 19, 1949

31. Happy Jinks, Hexham, May 7, 1949

32. Creggmore Boy, Sedgefield, May 21, 1949

33. Coombe Wood, Ludlow, September 27, 1961

34. Isobob, Carlisle, October 7, 1961

35. Isobob, Woore, October 21, 1961

36. Gainsborough Lad, Liverpool, November 30, 1961

37. Happy Dene, Catterick Bridge, January 20, 1962

38. Euxton Park, Cartmel, June 9, 1962

39. Coombe Wood, Cartmel, June 11, 1962

40. Euxton Park, Southwell, October 15, 1962

41. Gainsborough Lad, Woore, April 4, 1963

42. Nansen, Ludlow, April 24, 1963

43. Euxton Park, Southwell, May 25, 1963

44. Gaelic Belle, Cartmel, May 16, 1964

45. Black Opal, Cartmel, May 18, 1964

46. Gaelic Belle, Southwell, May 25, 1964

47. Black Opal, Doncaster, March 23, 1965

48. Tealing, Cartmel, May 26, 1969

49. Owenogue, Cheltenham, September 26, 1973

50. Owenogue, Ludlow, October 3, 1973.