There cannot be many readers of Jockeypedia who are not aware of John Geoffrey Tristram Lawrence, the former name of Lord Oaksey. More than just a fine amateur rider and a top-class journalist, he was the man behind the foundation of the Injured Jockeys Fund, which has done – and continues to do – so much for jockeys past and present. His contribution to the sport of horse racing is immense, but for all his many achievements the IJF remains his greatest legacy.
Few, though, will have heard of the other John Lawrence, a professional National Hunt jockey of the 1960s. This is understandable as he never rode a winner and had a mere handful of rides in public. Even so, he typified many who played such minor roles and his story deserves to be told.
John Bentley Lawrence was born in Tenby, Pembrokeshire, in 1940. In 1954, aged 14, he became apprenticed to the royal trainer Peter Cazalet. The first horse he looked after was Three Stars, owned by the Queen Mother.
In 1959 he returned home to Pembrokeshire and became second whip to the South Pembrokeshire Hunt, then in 1961 he went to work as a stable lad to trainer Alfred Gilbert at Andoversford. However, rising weight was already becoming an issue. One of his first rides in public was on Bob’s The Boy, a faller in the Harry Isaacs Memorial Challenge Cup Chase at Hereford on March 16, 1963, on whom he was obliged to put up 13lb overweight to ride at 10st 6lb.
In 1964 he joined John Roberts, who trained near Cheltenham, and rode as his claiming jockey. Roberts only gave him a few rides, including Stoney Hill, who finished seventh at Newton Abbot on May 28, 1965 and Royal Lien, unplaced at Stratford on May 19, 1966.
Later in 1966 he moved to Gloucestershire permit holder Michael Dunn, who provided him with a couple of mounts on Irish Chief, falling at the first at Wolverhampton on October 31 and finishing unplaced at Cheltenham on November 11. In 1967/68 he worked for trainer Bill Denson and Woodmancote. However, he found it ever harder to keep his weight in check and eventually gave up the unequal struggle.
In 1970 he became head lad to Lambourn trainer Freddie Maxwell, then in 1973 moved to Dorset to look
after horses owned by a gentleman farmer/estate agent who also bred Hereford cattle.
John moved back to Pembrokeshire in 1981 and worked with horses at Haverfordwest until his early death in 1994, aged 54, from a kidney related disease known as ‘good pasture syndrome’, believed to have resulted from being kicked in the kidneys by a horse, which had necessitated him spending a lengthy spell in Chepstow Hospital.