Victor Knewstub

Victor Knewstub

Article by Alan Trout

Although he rode for nearly two years on the Flat and had one very near miss, Victor Oliver Knewstub did not manage to win a race. He did, though, win three over jumps several years later. 

He was apprenticed to Vic Smyth, a former leading jockey, who had started training in 1926, based at Epsom. Victor had his first ride when unplaced on Wypo in the one-mile Apprentices’ Handicap at Newmarket on July 18, 1928. 

The closest he came to winning was at Sandown Park on August 5, 1929 when his mount, Quick Stick, was beaten a short-head by Lord Beaverbrook’s four-year-old gelding Miscou, ridden by James McGonigal, in the Hermitage Apprentices’ Handicap. 

Victor’s final ride on the Flat came the following year when Royal Heroine finished unplaced in the Kingswood Selling Handicap at Epsom on April 30, 1930. 

Undaunted, Victor re-emerged several years later when taking out a National Hunt jockey’s licence for the 1937/38 campaign. He rode two winners that season, beginning with Bright Armour, trained by former amateur rider Jock Langlands, in the Hopeful Hurdle at Plumpton on March 16, 1937. This was followed by victory on Pitch Bowl in the Yapton Selling Handicap Chase at Fontwell Park on June 6. Matt Feakes usually rode both those horses and had won two races on Bright Armour and one on Pitch Bowl earlier in the season, whereas Victor was riding both horses for the first time. 

He rode for two more seasons and had one more success, when getting 16-year-old veteran Two Royals, also trained by Jock Langlands, home by a neck in the Yapton Selling Hurdle at Fontwell Park on May 29, 1939. 

He appeared for the final time when pulling up his mount St Cyres in the Lavant Selling Handicap Chase, also at Fontwell, on April 24, 1940.