John Crickmere , born in Oxford in 1822, was the jockey who rode Discount to victory in the 1844 Grand National.
Amazingly, Discount's ability was not immediately recognised: the horse went from dealer to dealer, each judging it to be useless. Eventually it was off-loaded to the dealer Quartermaine of Piccadilly who entered it for the Grand National and, because of its shocking form, was staggered to find that the horse had been made 5-1 joint-favourite.
It won easily by twenty lengths!
The pair then went on to win that year's Coventry Handicap Chase.
A year earlier, John had made his Grand National debut on the Cheltenham-trained Dragsman. Coming to the last, John was well clear and looking certain to win when, inexplicably, Dragsman suddenly swerved off-course and jumped a gate with John clinging on for dear life.
Incredibly, John regained control and took Dragsman back to jump the last fence and somehow finish third.
John's third and last attempt at the National came on Tom Tug in 1845. He finished fourth behind Cure-All.
Tragically, on September 20, 1846, aged just 24, he died in Oxford of consumption: owing to his illness he had gone through his savings, and a local University started a fund for his family. His widow gave birth to a daughter two hours after his death.
