John Gallegos

John Gallegos

Article by Alan Trout

Although John Stanley Gallegos made little impact on the Flat, he did better over jumps, with 17 winners between 1909 and 1913, highlighted by victory in the 1910 November Handicap Hurdle at Liverpool. 

Born in 1892, he served his apprenticeship with Richard Wootton, who had just begun training at Epsom the previous year. John’s first ride was on Flower Saint in the Welbeck Stakes at Lincoln on March 20, 1907. The four-year-old was fitter than most, having run the previous day at the course, partnered by Richard Wootton’s talented son Frank. Alas, John and Flower Saint were badly away and finished down the field.  

Although he rode on the Flat for some years, there were no winners. However, he did well initially over jumps, in which he had his first success on Goldwin, owned and trained by Richard Wootton, in the Kew Selling Handicap Hurdle at Kempton Park on December 28, 1909. The six-year-old was running for the first time in 22 months, while John was having his first ride under National Hunt rules, but they beat Custom House, the mount of Douglas Faulkner, by a length and a half. 

Goldwin obliged again at Gatwick on January 5, 1910, kickstarting a year that would see John ride ten winners. Easily the most important was Liverpool’s November Handicap Hurdle on Eey Falo, also trained by Richard Wootton, beating that year’s Grand National-winning jockey Bob Chadwick on the 7-2 favourite Sore Toes by three lengths. John ended the year with a double at Kempton Park’s Christmas meeting. 

He won another race on Goldwin at Sandown Park on March 2, 1911, but there was an unfortunate incident later the same afternoon. The Sandown stewards called in John after his ride in the last race on Minter, who had swerved badly before finishing fifth of six in the Warren Hurdle. Having heard John’s explanation, they “considered that the manner in which he finished was due to incompetence and not to any dishonest intention”. 

Unsurprisingly, perhaps, this stinging condemnation of his riding ability appears to have had a negative effect on his career, for it was nine months before he rode another winner. He failed to ride one at all the following year. 

John’s last victory came on Royal Turk in the Moderate Handicap Hurdle at Plumpton on March 22, 1913, when he beat Caldwell, ridden by leading amateur rider Jack Tyrwhitt-Drake, by five lengths. His career was ended at Wye two months later, May 14, 1913, when his mount Fireball fell in the Ashford Handicap Hurdle. 

John Gallegos’s wins were, in chronological order:

1. Goldwin, Kempton Park, December 28, 1909 

2. Goldwin, Gatwick, January 5, 1910

3. Collarmaker, Kempton Park, March 2, 1910

4. Goldwin, Folkestone, March 7, 1910

5. Peter Doodey, Plumpton, March 26, 1910

6. Wind Flower, Nottingham, April 11, 1910

7. Marita, Lingfield Park, May 2, 1910

8. Eey Falo, Liverpool, November 12, 1910

9. Top And Run, Folkestone, December 20, 1910

10. Belfast, Kempton Park, December 27, 1910

11. Lagadere, Kempton Park, December 27, 1910

12. Merry Shields, Windsor, January 12, 1911

13. Goldwin, Sandown Park, March 2, 1911

14. Wind Flower, Southwell, December 4, 1911

15. Alcalade, Sandown Park, February 27, 1913

16. Alcalade, Hurst Park, March 7, 1913

17. Royal Turk, Plumpton, March 22, 1913