John King

John King

Article by Alan Trout

National Hunt jockey John Francis King held a licence from the immediate post-war years until the end of the 1950s yet rode just three winners during that time.

He was based with Beoley, Redditch trainer Dick Langley for the whole of his riding career and it was Langley who provided all three of his winners. The first of them came at Ludlow on October 1, 1947, when Sky Born beat eleven rivals to land the Selling Handicap Hurdle. The six-year-old had won a similar contest at Hereford just four days earlier when trained by Major Edward Champneys but had been sold at the post-race auction for 100 guineas. Now, with a new owner, trainer and jockey involved, Sky Born won by four lengths from Sandon, ridden by future champion jockey Dick Francis. 

After the race, Sky Born was sold again, and John had to wait nearly two years for his second success. This came at Worcester on September 19, 1949, when Vain Travers came home a comfortable winner of the Hallow Novices’ Hurdle (Division 1), beating Ice-Bound, ridden by Leslie Miles, by five lengths. The ten-year-old was not winning out of turn, having been placed in all six of his starts that season, with John in the saddle for five of them. 

It was not until August 7, 1954 that he had his third, and final, winner, when Ticatica II, owned and trained by Dick Langley, won the Hawson Handicap Hurdle at Buckfastleigh, beating Slightly Scruffy, the mount of John Hurley, by eight lengths. 

Although he retained his licence until the 1958/59 season, there were no more winners. 

John King’s three wins were, in chronological order:

1. Sky Born, Ludlow, October 1, 1947

2. Vain Travers, Worcester, September 19, 1949 

3. Ticatica II, Buckfastleigh, August 7, 1954