John Kerly

John Kerly

Article by Alan Trout 

Having ridden four winners as an amateur, John Leslie Kerly turned professional at the start of the 1976/77 season and added another eleven. 

His first victory was at Fakenham on Whit Monday, May 26, 1975, when Van Gogh beat the favourite, McCall, ridden by the vastly more experienced Michael Bloom, by four lengths to land the King’s Lynn Handicap Hurdle, a race for amateur riders. 

John had luck on his side for his second success, as his mount Bishop Burton had been well beaten when finishing second in the Ouse Selling Chase at Fontwell Park on August 13, but the winner, Rosebrook, was later disqualified for carrying the wrong weight. 

There was nothing fortunate about winner number three, as John teamed up again with Van Gogh to take the Swaffham Handicap Hurdle at Fakenham on September 13. Although placed on both of the gelding’s subsequent outings, John had to wait until May 20, 1976 for his last win as an amateur, this coming at Perth, where the four-year-old Michelle recorded a comfortable victory in the Blairgowrie Novices’ Hurdle. Trained like Van Gogh by George Wallace, Michelle had been ridden by John in all 12 of her previous starts and had finished second three times. 

John’s first ride as a professional was at Newton Abbot on August 2, 1976, but it was not until 14 months later that he celebrated his first victory in the paid ranks. It came at Catterick on October 29, 1977, when Merry Boy led all the way to land the St Peter’s Handicap Chase, though only after holding off a strong challenge from David Goulding on Tatters by a neck. Merry Boy was trained like all but one of John’s subsequent winners by Michael Chapman. The one exception was the horse that gave him probably his biggest success when Oncle Riton, trained by Alan Jarvis, took the Tor House Novices’ Hurdle at Sandown Park on November 4, 1978.  

Among the Chapman horses, the hurdler Danzar Pasha stands out, with John winning three races on him. It was at Southwell on January 10, 1980 that John had his last victory when Blessed Boy enjoyed a comfortable win in the Thorpe Handicap Chase, beating Red Clip by 20 lengths. Just eight days later, Matsuba was his last ride when falling at the third fence in the Dinsdale Handicap Chase at Catterick. As John was having his best season it seems likely that the fall was of a sufficiently serious nature to bring his career to a premature end. 

John Kerly’s winners were, in chronological order:

1. Van Gogh, Fakenham, May 26, 1975

2. Bishop Burton, Fontwell Park, August 13, 1975

3. Van Gogh, Fakenham, September 13, 1975

4. Michelle, Perth, May 20, 1976

5. Merry Boy, Catterick Bridge, October 29, 1977

6. Mercedem, Huntingdon, November 29, 1977

7. Paradise Flight, Sandown Park, April 4, 1978

8. Oncle Riton, Sandown Park, November 4, 1978

9. Danzar Pasha, Bangor-on-Dee, May 19, 1979

10. Buchanan, Cartmel, August 25, 1979

11. Gentle Rose, Fontwell Park, October 22, 1979

12. Danzar Pasha, Warwick, November 17, 1979

13. Danzar Pasha, Market Rasen, December 1, 1979

14. Gentle Rose, Fontwell Park, December 5, 1979

15. Blessed Boy, Southwell, January 10, 1980