Amateur rider Geoffrey Stanger Langlands, familiarly known as Jock Langlands, was born on February 2, 1901. He had first ride under National Hunt rules on the 14-year-old Friar Tuck, finishing third in the two-mile Farmers’ Chase at the annual United Hunts meeting held at Lingfield Park on May 3, 1926.
He rode his first winner another 14-year-old, 5-1 chance Fair View, in the Avon Selling Handicap Chase at Bournemouth on March 28, 1928. That was the last year of Bournemouth’s brief four-season life as a National Hint racecourse. The figure-of-eight circuit had opened to universal acclaim with a two-day meeting in April 1925 and a bright future looked assured.
However, signs that things were not going quite as planned occurred as early as 1926 when the winner’s prize for the lowest class of races was reduced from £92 to £82. There were six meetings in 1927 but prize money was again limited. Despite being generally well-supported by owners and trainer, the end came with a two-day meeting in April 1928. The Racecourse Company’s ambitious plans had failed to materialise and it went into liquidation.
Bournemouth Racecourse is now just a footnote in history but it can claim two notable ‘firsts’. When Hamlet, trained by Percy Whitaker and ridden by James Hogan, survived an objection to win the Pembroke Handicap Hurdle on April 1, 1926, he became the first-ever winner in Britain for owner Jim Joel, thus starting an involvement with the British Turf that was to last for seven decades and include winners of the Derby and Grand National.
Secondly, Brown Jack, whose exploits on the Flat included winning Ascot’s Queen Alexandra Stakes six years running (1929-1934), had made his British racecourse debut at Bournemouth in the one-and-a-half-mile Southampton Hurdle for three-year-olds on September 16, 1927, finishing a creditable third.
Jock Langlands rode six winners during the 1928/29 season, placing him joint-tenth in the amateur riders’ table. However, he enjoyed his most successful season in 1929/30 with seven winners. They comprised:
1. October 5, 1929: Newtown Wonder, Stratford-on-Avon, Welford Selling Handicap Chase,
2. October 23, 1929: Newtown Wonder, Wetherby, Ribston Selling Handicap Chase,
3. November 22, 1929: Newtown Wonder, Hawthorn Hill, Taplow Selling Handicap Chase
4. December 4, 1929: Newtown Wonder, Gatwick, Tinsley Selling Handicap Chase
5. February 7, 1930: Smilin’ Through, Lingfield, Orpington Amateur Selling Handicap Chase
6. April 21, 1930: Smilin’ Through, Huntingdon, Waterloo Selling Handicap Chase
7. May 5, 1930: Watershoot, Lingfield (United Hunts meeting), Farmers’ Chase
Later that year, on November 21, 1930, Jock notched a double at Hawthorn Hill, the only one of his career, aboard Newtown Wonder in the Taplow Selling Handicap Chase (winning that race for the second time) and Nursemaid in the Cookham Selling Handicap Hurdle (following up a comfortable win at Chelmsford earlier that month).
He had three rides over Aintree’s Grand National fences, all of them in 1931. In March he finished fifth on Rugby Girl in the Liverpool Foxhunters’ Chase, run then over the full Grand National distance of 4 miles 856 yards. In November he finished fourth in a top-class Grand Sefton Chase on All Over, beaten by Heartbreak Hill, Sir Lindsay and Annandale. Two days later, he and All Over were reunited in the Valentine Chase but were among the fallers.
Jock retired on a winning note when guiding Spearman to victory in the Arun Selling Handicap Hurdle at Fontwell Park on Whit Monday, June 5, 1933, bringing an end to a career that had produced 30 winners over jumps.
After quitting the saddle, he trained at Nunnery Stables, Lewes, where his best horse was the five-furlong sprinter Broken Seal, with whom he won a dozen races between 1935 and 1938. He also won three Flat races with Wild Blossom and three hurdles with Boozer’s Gloom.
Jock Langlands died in December 1965, aged 64.